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PROGRAMME
Oh Lady Be Good - George Gershwin
Three Russian Songs - Nigel Wood
Ain’t Misbehavin’ - Fats Waller
Histoire Du Tango - Astor Piazzolla
Clarinet Circus - Lenny Sayers
Mazel Tov - Lenny Sayers
INTERVAL
Under the Veil - Nigel Wood
Bear Trails from Saratoga Trails - Richard Dubugnon
Clownery for Clarinets - Harry Stalpers
For Four - Lenny Sayers
Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 - Franz Liszt (arr Katie Hole)
Your Feet’s Too Big - Fats Waller
Raisins and Almonds - Lenny Sayers
Biography :
The Bute Clarinet Quartet
The Bute Clarinet Quartet was formed in September 2013 and is comprised of four Masters graduates of the Royal Welsh College of Music. The ensemble has performed recitals across the UK showcasing a wide variety of clarinet quartet repertoire.
The group has participated in various competitions, with notable achievements including winning First prize in the Ensembles category at the National Eisteddfod (2014) and Urdd 16-25 Ensemble category (2015). Most recently, the group have been awarded a place on the prestigious Live Music Now! scheme. Through the scheme the group perform in various community settings including hospitals and additional needs schools with the aim of making live music accessible to every individual. The group has also worked with Making-Music Changing Lives. The charity, based in Ely, Cardiff, promotes live music in an area where young children have limited access to live music opportunities.
The quartet have expanded the clarinet quartet genre through commissioning new works dedicated to them. Lenny Sayers - bass clarinet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales composed two new pieces for the quartet which they premiered at the Cardiff Clarinet Convention with Anna Hashimoto as guest soloist. David Roche also commissioned a piece for them for his residency with Arts Review Wales.
Music education is an important part of Bute Clarinet Quartet's ethos, both as an ensemble and as individuals. As well as teaching around the Cardiff area, the ensemble regularly performs outreach concerts for school groups in South Wales. They aim to continue developing their educational work, making music more accessible to all.
The Artists....
Daisy Evans is a freelance woodwind multi-instrumentalist, teacher and event administrator based in Cardiff, Wales. Daisy graduated in 2014 with an MA distinction in Solo Clarinet Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music, studying with Timothy Lines, Robert Plane and John Cooper. During her studies at RWCMD performance highlights included playing principal clarinet in all the major college orchestras, performing in side-by-side concerts with members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera and premiering a wind quintet with the New London Chamber Ensemble. Her postgraduate studies were graciously supported by the EMI Sound Foundation, the Laura Ashley Fund and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Before attending the RWCMD, Daisy completed her undergraduate degree in clarinet performance at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She studied with Michael Harris, Timothy Lines, Joanna Patton and Mark O’Brien. She played with all of the college ensembles and was awarded a place to study on the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) Orchestral Training Scheme
As a multi-instrumentalist, Daisy is able to play clarinets, saxophones, flutes and oboe. She currently holds the woodwind tripler chair with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra and has performed with the Welsh Musical Theatre Orchestra and various other amateur shows. Most recently, she held the Reed 1 chair- flute, clarinet, alto saxophone and piccolo, for Annie Get Your Gun at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield from November 2016 - January 2017.
Tom Howells is a freelance clarinettist/saxophonist and teacher based in Cardiff. Tom finished his studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in July 2015, graduating with an MA Merit on the Orchestral Performance course. His teachers included Robert Plane, Timothy Lines, Barnaby Robson and John Cooper.
While studying at the RWCMD he played in various different orchestral scenarios, including principal clarinet and Eb clarinet in all of the major college orchestras. During his studies he also took part in a placement scheme with both the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera. This led to professional work with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales upon leaving college. During his final year of college, he was selected to perform Guy Woolfenden's Rondo Variations as a concerto with the RWCMD Wind Orchestra.
For his undergraduate degree, Tom studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire. His tutors were Joanna Patton, Michael Harris, Mark O' Brien and Sally Harrop. During this time, he performed many of the major college orchestras and his final year culminated in a performance of Poulenc's Sextet.
As an instrumental doubler, Tom holds the position of Reed 3 in the Welsh Musical Theatre Orchestra and has performed with them in a number of different venues around Wales.
Darius Gray, originally from Kent, studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under Robert Plane & Timothy Lines where he won the concerto trials and graduated with a Distinction in his Postgraduate Diploma.
Alongside playing in the Bute Clarinet Quartet he now works as a freelance clarinettist, playing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and as principal clarinet of the Welsh Sinfonia.
Katie Hole was born in Exeter and began learning the clarinet at the age of 8. She later moved to Cardiff to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under Robert Plane, Timothy Lines, John Cooper and Lenny Sayers (bass clarinet). Graduating in 2013 with first class honours, Katie won the Howarth of London Single Reed Prize. She continued her studies at the RWCMD after being offered a postgraduate award from Help Musicians UK and a scholarship from the Arts Council of Wales. Recently, she completed her Masters in Orchestral Performance, during which she rehearsed regularly with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera as part of their professional placement schemes.
Katie is currently freelancing as a performer and tutor based in Cardiff. Her orchestral playing includes working with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the English Symphony Orchestra. She recently toured Wales with Opra Cymru in a production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore conducted by Anthony Negus.