Callum Coomber is a classical guitarist, composer and performance artist studying at the Royal Northern College of Music. In 2018 Callum became a Britten-Pears funded artist after being accepted onto the Composition, Alternative Performance and Performance Art course at Snape Malting.
He has played at various events like the VIRTUALLY REALITY, Decontamination, Kinetic, CLAC and PRiSM concert series; the Enlighten Bury, New Music North West and Barnes Music festivals; the Bridgwater Hall, and for the Hull UK City of Culture Celebrations.
Callum has worked alongside musicians like Markus Stockhausen, Mauricio Pauly, Eyvind Gulbrandsen, and the ensemble Psappha. As a classical guitarist Callum made his concerto debut in November 2016 performing Richard Rodney Bennett’s Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Ensemble.
Isobel Mortimer is a clarinettist, composer and workshop facilitator. Her work focuses on exploring non-traditional modes of performance, blurring the boundary between 'performer' and 'creator' and broadening access to arts participation. She believes that inter-disciplinary exploration and collaboration is the key to creating exciting, original works which challenge and engage contemporary audiences.
Isobel has collaborated with choreographers of the Northern Ballet School, filmmaker Barney Cunningham and arts production company Collective31. She has participated in projects such as Animiiki Physical Theatre's Northern Theatre Laboratory, Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera (ensemble led by the Vonnegut Collective), and performed her own composition, 'Points of Light', in a unique composition/clarinet masterclass series led by Mark Simpson.
Isobel is a member of the 'Women in Music' programme at the Southbank Centre, participating in mentoring as well as their annual 'World of Women' Festival. A former workshop assistant with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Isobel now designs and leads her own series of educational workshops encouraging exploration and creation of new music.
A graduate of the University of Birmingham and the Royal Northern College of Music, Isobel is originally from Cumbria, where she trained for many years with the Cumbria Youth Contemporary Dance Company.
Lucy Nolan began studying the harp at the age of seven with Eira Lynn Jones after being inspired when it was featured in an episode of the children’s television show, Teletubbies. After graduating from Oxford University in 2013 with a BA in Music, she continued to study for a Masters in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction.
During her time at Oxford she was awarded the Margaret Irene Seymour Award, the Archibald Jackson Prize for outstanding postgraduate results, an Alice Horsman Scholarship and the Oxford Philomusica Young Artists’ platform. She was subsequently awarded an entrance scholarship from the Royal Northern College of Music for an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction.
Lucy’s work to date has been eclectic and ranges from giving solo recitals and performing Handel's Harp Concerto with New Chamber Opera to appearing on Hollyoaks performing her arrangement of Abba’s ‘I do, I do, I do’ and ITV’s drama, Victoria. As well as featuring in performances for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, Lucy has had the honour of working with many inspirational musicians including, Sir Mark Elder, Markus Stenz, Gabor Takacs Nagy and Ian Bostridge and has performed in renowned music venues such as Cadogan Hall, The Sage, Bridgewater Hall and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Lucy is a keen orchestral player and has enjoyed freelancing with professional orchestras such as the Hallé and Northern Sinfonia. She recently worked with Manchester Sinfonia to record a CD featuring works for string orchestra and harp and was invited to be principal harpist for the newly formed ProYouth Philharmonia. She currently holds the reserve place for the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Future Firsts Scheme and whilst at the RNCM she was selected to participate in the BBC Philharmonic’s competitive orchestral placement scheme. In 2017 she toured with the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra in Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands. As well being part of the orchestra in residence for the World Music Championship in Kerkrade, they were invited to perform at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles’ International Conference.
Lucy is particularly interested in helping to develop new music for the harp and was invited to work closely with the composer, Paul Patterson, to prepare his solo work, Armistice, for a performance at the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong. She also gave the European premiere of his harp duet, ‘Scorpions’, as part of the Chroma Harp Duo, a piece for which they were awarded first prize in the ensemble class at the Camac Harp Competition in London and the UKHA prize for the best performance of a work by a British composer.
She is a founding member of the contemporary music group, SHOAL, who were selected to work with the Norwegian composer, Eyvind Gulbrandsen, as part of a Moving Classics project. They have since enjoyed working with a variety of composers and have premiered new works at a number of events, including New Music North West Festival, Bury Light Festival and Hull City of Culture. Most recently they were invited to compose and record music for a short film for Channel 4.
Lucy also enjoys collaborating with the singer, Supriya Nagarajan for Manasamitra, an arts organisation specialising in delivering a range of South Asian arts in innovative ways. They have performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and for the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and are looking forward to performances at The Sage, Gateshead later this year.
Lucy is passionate about bringing classical music to a wider audience. She worked closely with staff and patients at the Intensive Care and High Dependency Units at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, performing and introducing them to a variety of harp music in a study measuring the impact of music in hospitals. She spent two years working at a school in North London as part of the Teach First Leadership Development Programme where she helped to establish an orchestra and secured positions and funding for 5 pupils in the National Orchestra for All, rehearsing with them in preparation for performances at Alexandra Palace and Leeds Arena. She is an enthusiastic teacher and has been awarded a Leverhulme Scholarship for her work as a harp tutor for the Junior RNCM department and RNCM Young Harps’ Scheme. As well as having a number of private pupils, she is currently the harp tutor for Uppingham School and the Transpennine Branch of the Clarsach Society.
Lucy is grateful to the WM & BW Lloyd Charity Trust, Rotary Club of Darwen, Hilda Clarke Memorial Trust, John Frederick Leach Trust and RNCM Scholarship who have helped to fund her studies.
With a focus on creativity and imagination, Rosalind Ridout is an adventurous and versatile flute player. A music graduate of the University of Cambridge, Rosalind previously spent a year studying at the Guildhall School of Music, and went on to complete her Masters' at the Royal Northern College of Music as an ABRSM scholar, graduating with distinction.
Rosalind’s performance interests lie primarily in the baroque and contemporary repertories and devotes much of her time to chamber music, primarily with Endelienta Baroque and SHOAL.
She has played in workshops with ensembles such as the Academy of Ancient Music and the Britten Sinfonia, and has worked with numerous composers, including Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Eyvind Gulbrandsen, and has improvised alongside Markus Stockhausen. Rosalind is deeply committed to musical outreach and education, and has been involved in a great variety of projects, including in nursery schools and prisons. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is an important inspiration for Rosalind, and she will present her research connecting contemporary performance with movement at the International Conference of Dalcroze Studies in Poland, 2019.