Player Profiles

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Irish born, Annemarie began studying viola at the age of 17 with Elizabeth Csibi at the Royal Irish Academy of Music Junior School. Awarded an Irish Permanent High Achievers Award and numerous Feiseanna prizes, Annemarie continued her studies at the RSAMD in Glasgow unter the tutalage of Lev Atlas, principal viola Scottish Opera, and Andrew Berridge, co-principal of BBCSSO.

Currently in her Post Graduate year, Annemarie has performed in many masterclasses, including Robert Ireland, Gareth Knox and Barbara Westphal. Annemarie is a keen chamber musician, involved with various ensembles, and is in regular demand from RSAMD's Symphony, Chamber and Opera Orchestras.She recently performed with Scottish Opera and their Apprenticeship Scheme.

Annemarie teaches violin and viola with RSAMD Musicworks and the High School of Dundee. She perfroms regularly with bands and solo artists, composing string arrangements for recording and performing, playing both violin and viola. Annemarie is also currently working as a music producer for Scottish bands. In her spare time Annemarie volunteers with Community Music project "Sounds in Progress".

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Fiona McLachlan was born and brought up in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, and began playing the cello at the age of 8. At 16 she was offered a place at the RSAMD Junior School, where she studied with Tim Paxton. While there she was awarded the Wolfson Scholarship, and was principal cellist of both the Chamber and Symphony Orchestras.

In 2003 she gained a place at the RSAMD, where she studied with David Watkin, principal cellist of SCO. She also received regular lessons with Johannes Goretzki, and has had masterclasses with William Conway, Robert Cohen and Emma Ferrand amongst others. As well as regularly performing with the RSAMD Symphony, Chamber and Opera Orchestras, she has appeared numerous times with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Fiona has also performed as soloist at the International Summer School in Debrecen, Hungary, and at the International Summer School in El Escorial, Spain, where she studied with Kate Price. As well as performing, Fiona also enjoys teaching and co-ordinating community music projects throughout Scotland, including events organising for Oxjam. Fiona also performs, records and writes parts for numerous bands and solo artists. Since graduating with a 2/1 BMus(Hons) in July 2008, she has been in constant demand as a freelance musician, and also enjoys teaching posts with North Lanarkshire and Fife Council, and RSAMD Musicworks.

Katie is a professional freelance violinist with several years experience of performing. Born in 1984 and brought up near Tain in the Highlands, Katie began learning the violin at the age of seven. Before accepting her place at RSAMD, Katie enjoyed playing in a number of ensembles and folk groups, and was also a member of The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. With these ensembles she was given the opportunity to play abroad in Krakow in Poland, and also toured Montana in the USA.
In 2005 she graduated from the RSAMD with BA Hons having studied violin with Jerre Gibson and Olivier Lemoine, as well as viola with Lev Atlas. During her time there Katie was involved in the busy orchestral programme at the Academy including symphony, chamber and opera orchestras, leading and co-leading the orchestras. She was awarded the John McInulty Prize for Orchestral String Playing in 2004.

As First Violinist with the Ragazzi String Quartet, she was invited to Berwick-upon-Tweed to take part in the Paxton House Summer Music Festival in July 2005, performing Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet at the Young Musicians Platform. That same month, the Ragazzi Quartet worked alongside critically acclaimed guitarist Allan Neave, on the soundtrack for a nationwide television advert for Minute Maid Juices.

Katie has since returned to the RSAMD, and completed a Postgraduate Diploma, which she achieved with distinction.
As well as her busy freelance schedule, present Katie enjoys teaching children of all ages for local councils and the RSAMD Musicworks centres.

Marta Linkmeyer Gabino was born in 1986 in Madrid. At the age of eight she started violin lessons with Ala Voronkova in Barcelona. Very soon she began participating yearly in the German competition ‘Jugend Musiziert’ and obtained several prizes in the violin and chamber music category passing to the final round in Germany from 2001-2006. In 2003 she was the chosen finalist in the violin category of the competition ‘Festival de Jóvenes Músicos de Catalunya’. In 2004 and 2005 she enjoyed her participation in the music festivals Tanglewood and Bowdoin. During several years she was a member of the ‘Jove Orquestra Gèrminans’ in Barcelona and in the last couple of summers she enlarged her orchestral experience by playing with the ‘Bayreuth Young Artists’ Festival Orchestra’ and the ‘National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands’.
She is currently studying a BMus degree in the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and gets private lessons from Tamas Fejes. She also enjoys teaching violin, and is looking forward to playing Side by Side with the Scottish Ensemble this October celebrating the opening of their 40th anniversary Scottish Season.

Catherine began studying violin at the age of 8 in her home town of Carnoustie in Scotland. Between the ages of 14 and 18 she attended the RSAMD Junior School before gaining a place at the RSAMD in 2004 where she graduated with a BMus (Hons) in 2008. During her time there she studied with Peter Lissauer, head of the string department, as well as Edwin Paling (leader of the RSNO) and Justine Watts (leader of the Scottish Ballet Orchestra). As well as performing in the Academy's chamber and symphony orchestras, she also regularly played in both classical and baroque chamber groups.

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Gergely Horvath was born in Budapest (Hungary), and started playing the violin when he was 6. In 1993, he was accepted at the Zoltán Kodály Hungarian School of Choir. He played at the Ede Zathureczky Violin Competiton, the Bartók-duos Competition and played for concerts with the Symphonic Orchestra of Ernő Dohnányi Music School in the Netherlands and in Switzerland.
In 2001, he was accepted at the Bartók Conservatoir, Budapest. During these years he took part in several master courses such as the Summer Academy of International Junior Musicians in Debrecen, Pal Eder's master class, and Vilmos Szabadi's master course in Keszthely.
After finishing the Conservatoir in 2006, he got the Louis Stevenson Scholarship at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, studying under Peter Lissauer. In 2006 he won the Robert Highgate Prize for Violin, and as member of the Cosmopolitan Quartet, he won all the Academy's major chamber music competitons, and toured around Scotland and England.
He have had masterclasss with numeruous artists, such as Ilyan Gringolts, Andras Keller, Jonathan Morton and Daniel Bell. With the Horvath Quartet, he have had several masterclasses with the Maggini and Brodsky Quartet, and recently asked by the RSAMD to perform Sir Maxwell Davies' 8th Naxos Quartet for the celebration of his 75th Birthday.
He has lead the Academy's opera production in Cosi fan Tutte, and he recently performed with Scottish Opera as part of their Apprenticeship Scheme.

Currently, he is playing on a Gustav Methfessel violin, sponsored by the Sir John Barbirolli Foundation.

Helena Flint, 25, graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music &Drama, having studied with Lev Atlas, in July 2006 with a Masters in violaperformance. Helena has rehearsed with the RSNO, performed in ensembleswith BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra violists during the 2005 PrimroseFestival, and she has performed with Scottish Opera. Helena teaches theviola and piano and performs in different venues throughout Scotland andEngland as part of a string quartet.

Jennifer is a professional freelance violinist with several years experience of performing and teaching. She has performed with international artists ranging from Kanye West to Runrig and toured with the Scottish Ensemble on the “High Flyers” tour. Jennifer’s interest in music expands to the Scottish tradition and she is a long standing member of one of country’s leading ceilidh bands - SporranAgain. The band has toured Estonia and Sweden to much acclaim.

Jennifer began learning the violin aged 8 in her home town of Dundee. During her school years she enjoyed leading all of the school orchestras and performing as a soloist for Dundee University lunchtime concerts. In 1999 she gained a place at the RSAMD Junior School to study with Rosemary Ellison. Jennifer held the post of co leader of the Junior School Symphony and Chamber orchestras for the 2000-2001 session.

Jennifer went on to study the BMus course at the RSAMD under the tutorage of Simon Fischer and Peter Lissauer. She had a particular interest in chamber music and was a founding member of the Ceoil Quartet. The quartet participated in a number of residential courses including the Royal Northern “Quartetfest”, the Trondheim Quartet festival and the much celebrated Banff (Canada) Chamber Music Course. The quartet enjoyed masterclasses with numerous ensembles including; the Lindsay and Allegri quartets, Divertimento Ensemble, Levon Chilingirian and Rostropovich.

On completion of the BMus course Jennifer continued her study by undertaking the Post graduate performance course graduating in 2008.
Jennifer is an established violin teacher with 7 years experience of teaching a variety of ages and abilities.

Malcolm Frew has held the position of Venue Technician at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama since 2005. Malcolm is involved in all technical aspects of shows, including sound, lighting, stage set ups and stage management, from small classical concerts to full scale drama productions. Malcolm is also a freelance sound engineer, in both the recording field and live venues. He is in demand throughout Scotland in venues including The 02 Academy (previously the Carling Academy) and The Soundhaus in Glasgow, amongst others. In 2008, he held the role of Head of Sound at the George Square venues during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. on the critically acclaimed musical theatre shows “Zanna Don't”, “Whiskey Kisses”, “The Jonah Boy” and “The Spitfire Grill.” 

He is currently the engineer for singer/songwriter Oli Melville and is continually recording work for the Glasgow based rock band Sooth. 

Glasgow based Richard Bett, is currently studying and composing at the Royal Scottish Academey of Music and Drama. Equally proficient in Piano, Clarinet and saxophone, Richard has been in demand as both composer and arranger of music from a young age. Richard has recieved the prestigious award for compositional studies from the RSAMD and is pleased to have own compositions and arrangements publicly performed throughout Scotland by differing ensembles.