Isabel Ainsworth

RH1
Isabel is an award-winning harpist currently based in Surrey and performs across England. She’s been playing the harp since she was four-years-old and as a key member of the National Youth Harp Orchestra of Great Britain (NYHO) for 14 years, in which she was Section Leader, Co-Leader and ultimately Leader. She has enjoyed performing at a variety of concert venues including St Johns Smiths Square, Cadogan Hall, St James’s Church Piccadilly and Menhuin Hall. 
Her ensemble career has taken her around the UK, Europe and the United States, performing in numerous beautiful venues including Albi Cathedral in the South of France and St Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest. One of her key achievements was playing Mahler’s 6th Symphony at The Royal Festival Hall as part of the Duet Philharmonic Orchestra.
Isabel has also supported the musical director with the Junior Section of the NYHO in which she taught 15 young harpists, aged 5-11, helping them build their ensemble and performing skills. 
Isabel was also awarded the Most Promising Harpist award from the Four Girls Four Harps at just age 13.
Having achieved her Grade 8 at 13, she has attained her Diploma from the London College of Music and has spent her time widening her solo repertoire. 
She’s a very versatile harpist with an eye for sight-reading, and would be able to accommodate any specific music requests, so would be a great addition to any event or concert.

Audrey Douglas
Audrey Douglas studied at the Royal College of Music and following her studies was harpist with the BBC Northern Ireland and subsequently the Ulster Orchestra. 
Audrey has lived and worked in the Midlands for many years, having playing with several major orchestras and worked on numerous productions for the Royal  Shakespeare Company. 
Audrey has over 20 years experience as a specialist wedding harpist. She is familiar with most venues throughout the Midlands and is recommended by many of them. Audrey has a vast repertoire which is constantly updated and will always try to accommodate any  particular musical requests.​

Ruth Faber

BS31
Ruth Faber studied the harp at the Royal College of Music with Marisa Robles. Since then she has worked with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Symphony and BBC Symphony Orchestras, along with the English Chamber Orchestra and London Mozart Players. Regional orchestral work has included Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Welsh Opera and Birmingham Royal Ballet, a post she held before moving to the West Country.
Ruth’s busy solo schedule has featured recitals all over the UK and abroad, notably concerts at the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. She has played concerti with the English Chamber Orchestra and Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Performances for television have seen her appear for BBC 1 and BBC 2 and also on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4.
Teaching is an important part of Ruth’s life and she currently teaches at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Wells Cathedral School, Junior Guildhall, Bristol and Bath Spa Universities. Ruth also holds her own residential childrens’ harp courses each summer.
On a lighter note, Ruth has travelled the world playing for British Airways Promotions. 

Vera Khait

B1
Vera started playing the harp when she was 12-years old in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her teacher was Bella Oganyan. In 2002, Vera entered the harp class of the St. Petersburg Mussorgsky College of Music as a full-time student under the guidance of Irina Donskaya, and later continued her studies in the St. Petersburg Rimisky-Korsakov Conservatory in 2006.
In 2008 she decided to continue her study in the UK entering a Bachelor course in the Birmingham Conservatory with Catherine White and graduated in 2012.
Vera gained a lot of experience during the studies, performing at the numerous master-classes with Skaila Kanga, Katherine Thomas, Jana Bouskova, Isabelle Perrin, Gabriella Dall'Olio, Park Stickney and other renowned harpists.
She took part in a number of competitions throughout her career, such as the Vera Dulova IV Harp Festival in Moscow (2005), the North Wales Camac Harp Festival (2010) and the North London Camac Harp Competition (2011). Vera won the first prize of Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music Competition in 2012 and the Birmingham Chamber Music Society Prize in 2012.
Vera performed and keeps performing with a large number of orchestras and the UK including CBSO (within the CBSO Training Scheme), Birmingham Philarmonic Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Winds, Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Conservatoire Repertoire Orchestra, Birmingham Festival Orchestra, Queens Park Sinfonia and Birmingham Schools Concert Orchestra.
Vera is an experienced harpist and frequently performs at weddings, as well as performing academic music with various chamber groups, orchestras and solo.
vkhaitharp@gmail.com
07887 803992

Elinor Nicholson

M14
Award-winning Scottish harpist Elinor Nicholson graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a first class honours degree in 2014. She then went on to complete a Masters in Music with distinction in 2016. During her studies, Elinor won the prestigious RNCM Concerto Competition and was twice a finalist in the RNCM Gold Medal competition- the highest accolade for performance offered by the college.

Professionally, Elinor regularly performs with ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Northern Ballet Sinfonia. She has also performed alongside well known names including Nicola Benedetti, Katherine Jenkins, Russel Watson and the rock band Evanescence. This has led her to perform in some of the country’s most notable concert halls, including; Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham's Symphony Hall, Sage Gateshead, Royal Glasgow Concert Hall and the Bridgewater Hall. 

Erica Sinclair

West Midlands
​Originally from Caithness in the north Highlands, Erica Sinclair began studying clarsach with Bill Taylor aged seven, and then clarinet with Karen Anderson at the age of eleven. At school, she was involved in the Highland Region Youth Orchestra and the National Children’s Orchestra of Scotland. She taught clarsach with Feis Ghallaibh as well as privately, and regularly performed as a soloist. In 2009, she began the BMus programme at Edinburgh Napier University, studying clarinet; she also began her studies in pedal harp with Alina Bzhezhinska. There, she was involved in concerts as a soloist and with the various university ensembles, including Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” with the Chamber Choir. In 2010 she won the Adult Open Clarsach Competition at the Royal National Mòd. She graduated in 2013 with First Class Honours.
In 2013, Erica began her studies on the MMus programme at Birmingham Conservatoire, studying clarinet; she continued her harp studies there with Catherine White. During her time there, she was regularly involved in the college orchestras and ensemble. In 2015, she performed as a soloist alongside Catherine O’Rourke for Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with the Highland Chamber Orchestra. She graduated with Masters with Distinction from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2015.
Recently, Erica composed and performed an instrumental accompaniment to poet Kenneth Steven’s “A Song Among the Stones”. She has performed as part of the Future Blend and Contemporary Voices Projects, which team composers and performers together. She works regularly with Yfat Soul Zisso, and was not only gave Pilgrim Harps’ Electroacoustic Pedal Harp its debut performance with one of Zisso’s pieces, but was also invited to perform at the harp’s launch. Erica is also a member of the Mahler Players, who specialise in performing chamber arrangements of Mahler’s work, alongside works from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Amanda Whitling

CF15
Amanda is based in Cardiff where she is the Jazz harp tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She also is the Jazz harp tutor at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Amanda started the harp when she was six and completed her BMus and LRSM with Caryl Thomas. She later went on to study a Masters in Jazz. 

Her recordings and series of books are used around the world and her pieces are on the Trinity exam Syllabus of Music.

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