Born into a family of folk music enthusiasts, I was introduced to music from a young age, first playing guitar and piano. I became obsessed with the idea of playing the double bass after seeing a particularly ‘cool’ bassist at a folk concert, and after much nagging, my parents found they could hire a bass from Devon Music Services for a much-reduced price due to its status as an ‘endangered’ instrument. From that moment on, the bass has been a core part of my life.
My love for orchestral music came later when, after having studied bass classically for a few years, I started using symphonies as the background music while studying for my GCSEs, which then led me to fall in love with the orchestral sound and gain an interest in classical music in general.
Born into a family of folk music enthusiasts, I was introduced to music from a young age, first playing guitar and piano. I became obsessed with the idea of playing the double bass after seeing a particularly ‘cool’ bassist at a folk concert, and after much nagging, my parents found they could hire a bass from Devon Music Services for a much-reduced price due to its status as an ‘endangered’ instrument. From that moment on, the bass has been a core part of my life.
My love for orchestral music came later when, after having studied bass classically for a few years, I started using symphonies as the background music while studying for my GCSEs, which then led me to fall in love with the orchestral sound and gain an interest in classical music in general.
This love for orchestral music led me to join my local amateur orchestra and spend the next few years working towards my initial goal of studying at a conservatoire, a goal I achieved in 2017 when I enrolled at the Royal College of Music in London. At the RCM I had the chance to play with many esteemed conductors and soloists, such as Vasily Petrenko, John Wilson, and Maxim Vengerov. The opportunities and atmosphere of the RCM and the London classical music scene in general further solidified my goal of becoming an orchestral bassist.
In more recent years, due to the recent pandemic and also a personal injury, there have been many moments of difficulty and times when it took a lot of motivation to carry on following my dreams, but thankfully my sheer love for the music itself has kept me on track. I am so excited to continue immersing myself in the music I love within Southbank Sinfonia.
When I’m not playing classical bass, in recent years I’ve also gone back to my roots and started playing and singing more folk music again, sometimes using the bass to accompany my singing, a skill I’d love to utilise and explore more in the future. When I’m not playing music, you can find me enjoying the outdoors through walking, or in the kitchen cooking or trying to make the perfect coffee!
EDUCATION
Royal College of Music
London, UK
QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS
What is your favourite piece of music and why do you love it?
The answer of this is constantly changing but one piece I always go back to is Sibelius’ 7th Symphony. The culmination of his exploration into compacting symphonic form is so satisfying and having read the score so many times there’s never a time when I don’t notice a new detail!
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us.
A funny story that comes to mind is that in 2016, a video of my sister and I singing a popular song from Cantabria in Spain went viral in that region, gaining hundreds of thousands of views, which led to us being flown out to the region to play a concert!
