Scott Slapin’s viola playing has won critical acclaim in Fanfare, The Strad, the American Record Guide, Mundo Clásico, and Musical Opinion. His compositions have been performed by hundreds of violists worldwide. Many of his Neo-Romantic works are featured on albums by the Wistaria String Quartet, the American Viola Quartet, the Penn State Viola Ensemble, Viola Around the World, and the award-winning Slapin-Solomon Viola Duo. A trailblazing soloist, Scott has premiered new music at Carnegie’s Weill Hall and international viola congresses. Notably, he is the first person to have recorded J.S. Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas on the viola. He can also be heard on soundtracks for film and television playing his own music, solo Bach, and Paganini Caprices. (He’s recorded all 24.) Scott’s career began early; at eighteen, he was one of the youngest graduates of the Manhattan School of Music.

Internationally recognised cellist Alexandra Mackenzie and pianist Ingrid Sawers regularly collaborate in concert and in the studio, with the duo’s ‘Beyond Twilight’ CD a top twenty hit when it was released int 2023. London-based Alexandra spent eight in New York playing with chamber orchestras, ragtime bands and recording with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. She has played with the English Chamber Orchestra for over a decade and is in frequent demand as a guest principal with orchestras across the UK. Ingrid is one of the UK’s finest accompanists and chamber musicians, performing widely throughout the UK, Europe and Canada and has has performed for HRH Prince Charles at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and broadcast on BBC Arts and BBC Radio 3 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Ethan Loch was a 2022 BBC Young Musician of the Year finalist, delivering a mesmerising and emotive performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Philharmonic. The performance garnered widespread acclaim and led to a series of engagements with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and sold-out performances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home in recital, Ethan performs regularly throughout Scotland and across the UK. In 2023, he was a prizewinner at the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland. His competition successes also include first prize at the Scottish International Youth Piano Competition (2019), the Premio Assoluto at the 15th International ‘Giuseppe Sciacca’ Awards (2016), and second prize at the inaugural Nashville International Chopin Piano Competition (2023).

Scottish flute player, and our season’s ‘Rising Star’, Cliodhna Scott is heralded as one of the most exciting young talents of her generation. She regularly plays with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish National Opera on both flute and piccolo. She has also worked with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, the Finnish National Opera and Tapiola Sinfonietta. Her broad orchestral training has seen her work with world renowned composers and conductors such as John Adams, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. Cliodhna also enjoys a wide range of chamber music and solo repertoire. She was invited by Esa-Pekka Salonen to perform his quintet work ‘Memoria’ for his biography release held at the Finnish National Opera. She performed Mozart’s Concerto in G Major as a soloist with the Borders Chamber Orchestra. She’s also been a member of the Sibelius Academy’s contemporary ensemble “NYKY” – performing works based on the music of Brian Eno at Flow Music Festival in Helsinki.

David Gilbert leads a triple life: as an oboist, as a Catholic priest and as an academic. He began studying the oboe at the age of twelve in his hometown of Vichy in central France. He completed his studies at the Gabriel Fauré Municipal Conservatoire (Paris, 5th arrondissement), in Laurent Hacquard’s class, whilst also studying history. He subsequently honed his instrumental skills under Hélène Gueuret (a teacher at the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Regional Conservatoire) and Jean-Louis Capezzali (a former teacher at the Paris and Lyon National Conservatoires). He performs regularly throughout France, with organ accompaniment and in chamber music ensembles. He is the dedicatee of Laurent Coulomb’s Sonata Religiosa for solo oboe, which he premiered in Paris in March 2026. Ordained as a Catholic priest in 2011, David Gilbert is a professor in Church History at the Catholic University of Paris. He is also involved in the training of future priests at the Saint-Sulpice University Seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris.