Originally from the South-East of Scotland, Christina Marroni started bassoon aged 12, and attended St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh before completing an undergraduate degree in Music at the University of Manchester, under the tutelage of Hallé Orchestra principal, Graham Salvage. After graduating, she took up a scholarship at the Royal College of Music (RCM), studying with Sarah Burnett and Andrea Di Flammineis, and was supported through her studies by the Wiseman Prize from the Sir James Caird Trust. In 2011, she completed a 3 month European exchange scholarship at the Conservatoire National Superieur de la Musique et Dance in Lyon, in the class of Carlo Colombo.
Interested by a diverse range of orchestral and ensemble music, Christina has given solo recitals and performed with many different ensembles. She spent the summer of 2012 playing with the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra, based in Rendsburg, Germany and held the position of principal bassoon with the Young Musician’s Symphony Orchestra for two years. Since graduating, she has also worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, and under prolific conductors including Edward Gardener, Takao Yuasa, Matthias Pintscher and Christoph Eschenbach.
In 2011, Christina won the RCM's prestigious concerto competition, resulting in a performance with the RCM Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rory MacDonald. In addition, she has appeared as concerto soloist with the Schleswig Holstein Festival Chamber Orchestra, the University of Manchester Chamber Orchestra and the University of Manchester Baroque Orchestra. She has also given solo and chamber recitals in the RCM Rush Hour concert series, for Classical Revolution Manchester, in the University of Manchester lunchtime concert series, at the Music at Paxton festival and for Hawick Music Society.
Royal College of Music
London, UK
University of Manchester
Manchester, UK
What or who inspired you to become a professional musician?
I always knew I wanted to work in the musical world, whether it was on stage or in the back office, as music has always been a huge part of my life. I think the moment I finally decided I wanted to be a performer was during a concert of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in 2009. I was sitting on principal bassoon, surrounded by fantastic musicians playing this amazing music and I remember thinking ‘this is what I want to do forever.
What is your most embarrassing or amusing musical moment?
There are two choices here.
Number 1: Tripping over, and tearing, my floor length skirt while walking on stage at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh for a NYOS concert. I was too busy looking for a boy I fancied, who was in the audience, to pay attention to where I was putting my feet.