David Johnson
artistic director

David Johnson is one of Scotland’s leading musicologists. He is author of Music and Society in Lowland Scotland (1972, second edition 2003), Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th century (1984, second edition 1997) and Chamber Music of 18th-century Scotland (2000), and is a contributor to the 2001 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music. He was for many years the cellist of the Edinburgh-based McGibbon Ensemble.

He is also a composer with a catalogue of some 50 works, including five operas and 12 Preludes & Fugues for piano, recorded by the distinguished American pianist Ian Hobson. He has recently completed his third Suite for solo cello, and an opera libretto based on R. L. Stevenson’s Kidnapped. In his spare time he cooks for friends and sings folksongs.

Hilary Bell
soprano

Hilary Bell was born and brought up near the Border town of Gretna. She studied music at the RSAMD in Glasgow and now lives in the inspirationally beautiful Yarrow Valley.

She has appeared in all the Borders Festivals, and in many Edinburgh Festival Fringe performances, mainly with the Rowan Tree Company(a small Borders-based company which specialises in stories and music from the Scottish Borders). She has also written music for Rowan Tree Company productions.

Hilary has travelled abroad with her music, broadcast on radio, and is in constant demand for concert performances, weddings, Burns Suppers etc. In 1987 she recorded the album “Keltswells” with the Borders-based traditional folk band Wheelans.

1995 saw the recording of two new albums in which she was involved, namely Echoes from a Tower (Yarrow Records) featuring works by James Hogg and new poems by Judy Steel, and The Art of Robert Burns (Scotstown Records). In 1997 she was asked by the James Hogg Society and Stirling University to record many Hogg songs for an educational CD and in 2000 she contributed to the Land of Creativity compilation CD, and also provided material for the Scottish Borders Council’s Music Education pack.

In February 2001, she released her first solo album, Breaking all the Rules, and in May 2002 participated in the launch of an album of songs for Selkirk Common Riding, Pride o’ Borderland.

She has recently become the teacher of traditional singing at the brand new Borders Traditional Music Centre in Selkirk.

Paul Rendall
tenor

Paul was born in Orkney and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he took part in masterclasses and various productions in the opera school.

Paul has become well known throughout Scotland and the north of England as an oratorio soloist. His performances have included Purcell’s “King Arthur”, the arias from Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” and both arias and evangelist in the “St. John Passion”, Handel’s “Messiah”, and Mozart’s “Requiem”. He has also sung the parts of Obadiah in Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”, Uriel in Haydn’s “Creation” and was the soloist in a performance of Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Solstice of Light”.

Paul has sung and recorded extensively with Cappella Nova, The Dunedin Consort and The John Currie Singers. Other recordings include Notes of Noy-Notes of Joy with the Rowallan Consort, Greysteill on the Dorian label, and The songs of Alexander Montgomerie with Rob MacKillop for the ASV Gaudeamus label.

He is now in the full time chorus of Scottish Opera where his roles have included Messenger in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”, Giuseppe in Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Marschallin’s Major-Domo in Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier”. He has also covered the roles of Charles Lamb in “Monster” by Sally Beamish, Dr. Blind in “Die Fledermaus” by Strauss, and the roles of 1st Priest and 1st Armed Man in Mozart’s “Magic Flute”.

Paul is also one of The Caledonian Tenors, Scotlands newest three tenor group. They have just released their first C.D. with the KRL label. You can find out more about them at their website www.caledoniantenors.com.

Geoff Davidson
baritone

Geoff Davidson studied at the Royal Scottish Academy Music and graduated with honours in singing and piano. After teaching for a number of years, he went to London as a freelance Singer/Musician and quickly became associated with prestigious groups such as the BBC Singers, the Ambrosian Singers and the Monteverdi Choir. He was for seven years a staff member of the BBC Singers touring extensively and appearing as soloist in London’s major venues working with some of the world's greatest conductors including Andre Previn, Pierre Boulez, Sir George Solti and Sir Simon Rattle. He ran a parallel career as a jobbing musician, music arranger and composer and conducted the Alexandra Choir of London giving regular concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. He has also conducted the BBC Singers and has acted as chorus master for the Monteverdi Choir and its illustrious conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

One of Scotland’s most distinguished singer/musicians, Geoff has appeared as soloist in virtually every European Capital as well as Poland, Scandinavia, the Ukraine, Canada and the USA where he appeared at the Lincoln Center, New York, and the Kennedy Center, Washington.

He has also appeared in several roles at Wexford Festival Opera, Scottish Opera and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and sang Luciano Berio's CORO at La Scala, Milan.

His countless BBC broadcasts have included an astonishing variety of music from English lute songs (to his own lute accompaniment) to songs by Britten, Stanford and himself and for the last twelve years he has been a frequent "star" guest on Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night.

Recently he sang the baritone solo in the world Premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies's Canticum Canticorum with the Nuremberg Symphony orchestra and Opera Chorus.

His solo commercial CDs include Stainer’s Crucifixion conducted by Brian Kay, Schubert part-songs and Brahms's Liebeslieder with Jane Glover. The Art of Robert Burns, with the Musicians of Edinburgh, is a brand new release and available at Prelude Records, Norwich.

For the last two years he has taught singing at Jesus College, Cambridge and recent concerts have included Handel's Messiah in King’s College, Cambridge and concerts in the USA, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Beethovenhalle in Bonn.

Bonnie Rideout
violin

Bonnie Elizabeth Rideout grew up on a retired farm in Michigan but spent much of her childhood on Cliff Island in Casco Bay, Maine. There she attended a single classroom school where her musical ear began to develop.

Ms. Rideout also received a formal education on the violin. As a child in Michigan, she played in public school orchestras and took private violin instruction at the University of Michigan where she joined the youth symphony. When she attended the university for her undergraduate studies, she began as a viola major and eventually returned to violin. In 1985, she earned two degrees, one in violin performance and another in fine arts. A new world opened up when Ms. Rideout heard the work of Scottish fiddler Dr. John Turner. Over the past ten years, she has immersed herself in the music of her family’s ancestral Scotland by fusing the traditions of her Scottish-American upbringing with those of the old country. She has performed with numerous strathspey and reel societies in Scotland and learned the different styles of fiddling from such greats as Ron Gonnella, Bill Hardie, and Angus Cameron. When Ms. Rideout lived in Scotland, she was greatly influenced by a farmer named Jim Falconer and his wife Katherine. The couple had kindly adopted and welcomed her into their home. Ms. Rideout recalls, "Jim played fiddle and spent many evenings by the fire coaching me and tearing away my ‘classical’ edges." She also lived on the Isle of Skye where her research led her to the Patrick MacDonald Collection of tunes from the eighteenth century. This resulted in her first solo recording, Soft May Morn.

In the past five years, she has resumed a prolific recording career on the Maggie’s Music record label, releasing four more multiple award-winning solo CDs entitled: Celtic Circles, Kindred Spirits, A Scottish Christmas, and Gi’me Elbow Room: Songs from a Scottish Childhood. Ms. Rideout’s labors have made her a three-time US-Scottish Fiddle champion and brought her prizes in many fiddle competitions in North America and Europe. She has been featured on the CBS news show Sunday Morning, is consistently featured on NPR’s The Thistle and Shamrock, and has performed on other NPR programs including Morning Edition and Performance Today. In addition, she has won numerous WAMMIE Awards from the Washington Area Music Association (Washington, DC) and has authored four books for Mel Bay Publishing Company. Ms. Rideout has performed in venues from The Kennedy Center to Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. She has presented eighteenth century and Highland fiddle styles at the Edinburgh International Festival, the only American ever to receive this honor. She is a sanctioned Scottish F.I.R.E. teacher and adjudicator for Scottish festivals throughout the United States. Ms. Rideout currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and three young children. She enjoys mountain climbing, gardening, painting, and sailing.

Kevin McCrae
cello

Kevin McCrae is from Aberdeen and after spending two years in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain he won a foundation scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London where he won many prizes. Since graduating in 1983, Kevin has enjoyed a varied musical career as a 'cellist, pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He was the principal cellist in the Scottish Baroque Ensemble from 1984 to 1986 appearing many times as soloist and has since been the co-principal cellist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

He has also appeared as guest principal cellist with Halle Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He is the cellist in the string quartet "Quartz" and the Leda Piano Trio. He is also a very popular pianist playing classical, jazz and folk music with groups and artists such as Czardas, Eddi Reader and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Kevin is also a much sought after music arranger and has written for the SCO, the RNSO, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BT Scottish Ensemble, BBC television, Grampian television, the Discovery Channel, as well as for artists such as Dougie MacLean, Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, James Grant, Patti Smith, Phil Cunningham, Aly Bain, Michael Marra, Brian McNeill, Joan Rivers and the pop group Deacon Blue.

He has also conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Strings at the Lochinvar Festival with Dougie MacLean and for the BBC drama series "Gruth is Uachdar" (the award winning score was orchestrated by the conductor), the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in two sell out concerts at the Glasgow Royal Concert hall with Eddi Reader at the 2003 Celtic Connections Festival, the Ulster Orchestra at the 2003 belfast festival, The BT Scottish ensemble for many CDs and films, the Edinburgh University Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival. He also works as a conductor with many Scottish youth orchestras.

Philip Sawyer
harpsichord/fortepiano

Born in Birmingham in 1948, Philip sawyer took organ lessons, while still at school, with George Miles at the Birmingham School of Music. At the Royal College of Music (1966 -1968) he studied organ with Douglas Guest. In 1967-68 he was awarded Sawyer and Dr FJ Read prizes for the ARCO diploma.

He continued his studies at the University of Cambridge (1968-71), as well as with Piet Kee in Amsterdam and Haarlem. He was also involved in organizing and performing at Haarlem Summer Academy and various organ residencies at Cambridge, working with Lionel Rogg, Anton Heiller, Piet Kee and Rene Saorgin.

In 1973 he won a French Government Scholarship that funded his study of Classical French organ music at Nice Conservatoire, where he also studied harpsichord continuo playing with Huguette Gremy- Chauliac.

Philip Sawyer has lived in Scotland since 1975 holding a position of Lecturer in Music at the then Napier College as well as several positions as organist and choirmaster at Edinburgh churches, the last being the Parish Church of St. Andrew and St. George, where he co-designed the Wells -Kennedy organ which was installed in 1985.

In 1987 he was appointed Head of the Ian Tomlin School of Music at by then Napier University. From 1999 to 2003 he was Director Of Music of St. Mary's Collegiate Church in Haddington, East Lothian.

Currently he is devoting most of his time to research and concert activities.

Edna Arthur
violin (guest appearance)

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Edna Arthur had her first professional recording with the BBC at the age of sixteen. At seventeen she received the Associate of the Royal College of Music Diploma and a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied from 1945 to 1948. In 1970 she co-founded the Scottish Baroque Ensemble, became the violinist for the McGibbon Ensemble in 1972, and in 1974 - the Founding Member of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Philharmonia. While the member of these ensembles, in the following years, she became also the violinist of the New Music Group of Scotland, a Partner in the Waddle School of Music, the Violin Coach for the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, Head of String Teaching at Daniel Stewart's and Melville College and Visiting Teacher at Napier University.

In her concert career she performed regularly as a principal in chamber concerts and broadcasts with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish baroque Ensemble and McGibbon Ensemble. She performed at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1970, 1985, 86, 88 and 91.

Her solo performances include Brahms Double Concerto with the Scottish Sinfonia; a performance with Sir Yehudi Menuhin in Mr. Menuhin's Delight and in a number of Royal events including the Opening Library of Scotland, Opening of Queen's Hall and Queen Mother's 80th Birthday Concert at Holyrood Palace.

Her recordings include Scots Fiddle - High Style, Music of Classical Edinburgh and Fiddle Pibroch and Other Fancies. She is also the editor of violin parts for Stepping Northward, Scots on the Fiddle and other eighteenth century music books published by David Johnson Music Editions.

In 1977 she was a recipient of Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal.

List of artists and ensembles