We are a collective that offers recitals of varying instrumentation. Here are some of our core players.
Nicola Hands (oboe, co-founder) is a busy freelance performer, whose playing has been described by reviewers as ‘beguiling’ and ‘exquisite’, and whose ‘warm, full tone is affecting’ (MusicWeb International). Nicola was second oboe and principal cor anglais for the Orquestra do Norte from 2015 to 2017, and has played regularly as a freelancer with Philharmonia Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Orquestra Metropolitana, Aurora Orchestra and Orpheus Sinfonia, amongst others. She also plays for musical theatre; from 2013 to 2014 she was the oboe and cor anglais player for ‘The Light Princess’ by Tori Amos at the National Theatre, and was a cover player for ‘Miss Saigon’.
As a soloist, Nicola has performed oboe concertos by Marcello, Martinu, Mozart, Richard Strauss and Vaughan Williams. In 2015 she was awarded a Jellinek Soloist’s Award by Croydon Symphony Orchestra. With her duo partner, pianist Jonathan Pease, she performs regularly across the UK, and the duo have released two albums.
Nicola graduated with Distinction from the Masters programme at the Royal Academy of Music in 2013, where she was awarded the Evelyn Barbirolli Prize for Oboe and the Grimaldi Cor Anglais Scholarship.
Penelope Smith (oboe, co-founder) has freelanced with orchestras throughout the UK and Ireland such as the London Mozart Players, RTE Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Her concerto performances include J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe d’Amore with the Exeter Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Concerto for Oboe with the Orchestra of Situation Opera, Agrell’s Oboe Concerto with the Amadè Players, Marcello’s Concerto for Oboe in D Minor and Holst’s Fugal Concerto with the Astor Palm Court Orchestra.
Penelope’s musical studies began whilst at school in Mid-Wales. She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and received lessons at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department.
In 2005 she was awarded a full scholarship to Trinity College of Music, where she studied under Josephine Lively and Christopher O’Neal. During her time at Trinity, she was invited to record works by Alan Hovhanness for Naxos with the TCM Wind Ensemble, and Haydn’s Nocturnes and Scherzandi for the British Haydn Society.
After graduating from Trinity College of Music with a BMus(Hons) degree in performance, Penelope went on to study at the Royal College of Music under the tutelage of David Theodore, Christopher Cowie and Christine Pendrill. She was the recipient of the Evelyn Rothwell Oboe Prize in 2011 and gained her Masters in Orchestral Performance (MPERF) in 2012.
Nicola Crowe (flute) splits her time between London and Sydney and enjoys a diverse career of performing and teaching. She studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with James Kortum and later at the Royal College of Music with Simon Channing and Jaime Martin where she was awarded the RCM All Flutes Plus prize.
In 2014 she was a member of the Southbank Sinfonia before returning to Australia in 2015 to begin a fellowship with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, followed by a second flute contract with the orchestra in 2016. In 2022 she completed a PGCEi funded by the musical charity Music Masters, and is passionate about championing diversity through inclusive music education. She has also taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and held the Lecturer in Flute position at the Australian Institute of Music.
Since 2015, Nicola has regularly performed with the Opera Australia Orchestra as a freelance and contract musician and has played with orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the English National Ballet, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Macao Orchestra.
Emma Halnan (flute) first came to prominence as woodwind category winner of BBC Young Musician 2010. She has since appeared at major venues worldwide and has performed concertos with orchestras such as the London Mozart Players and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. Other competition successes include the Sussex Prize for Woodwind in the Royal Overseas League Competition 2019 and first prize in the Sir Karl Jenkins/Arts Club Award 2016. Emma was selected as a “Making Music” Young Artist 2018-20 and is a City Music Foundation Artist.
Emma was principal flute of the European Union Youth Orchestra 2014-16. She has also freelanced with orchestras including the London Mozart Players, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She teaches privately, for the University of Cambridge, and at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She has given a masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music, and has also taught at the international Oxford Flute Summer School.
Emma studied at the Royal Academy of Music with William Bennett and Kate Hill, then with Robert Winn. She previously studied at the Purcell School with Anna Pope.
Jennifer Dunsmore (clarinet) studied her Undergraduate at the Royal College of Music, then Masters in clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music with Mark van de Wiel, Angela Malsbury, and Laurent Ben Slimane. She freelances with ensembles and orchestras around the UK, at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, Hackney Empire, St David’s Hall, and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, as well as festivals, namely the Edinburgh Fringe, Cumnock Tryst, and the BBC Proms. Jennifer has also recorded at Abbey Road Studios and the English National Opera’s Lilian Baylis House.
Jennifer has played with internationally revered conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Semyon Bychkov, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Christopher Hogwood, and Ed Gardner. Outside the UK, she has performed across Europe, Asia, and North America. She enjoys playing diverse musical styles – performing on the Wilderness Festival’s Atrium stage, in a birthday celebration for jazz legend Norma Winston at Cadogan Hall, Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s music conducted by the composer, an opera with libretto written and performed by Stephen Fry, and New York Counterpoint at the Glasgow Minimal Festival in the presence of Steve Reich. Jennifer was invited to perform a sonata for clarinet and piano composed by the pioneering Alice Mary Smith at the Royal Academy of Music’s Amazing Women of The Academy exhibition opening.
Helen Pierce (clarinet) graduated from Goldsmith’s University and continued her studies at Trinity College of Music for a Masters degree, which she passed with distinction. She was awarded the Wilfred Hambleton prize for clarinet and went on to study in Germany and Italy with Hans Deinzer. Whilst in Germany Helen worked with the country’s leading contemporary music group ‘Ensemble Modern’, touring with them to Cologne, Brussels and Frankfurt. She also played with Darmstadt Staatstheater Opera Orchestra and with Frankfurt Schauspiel.
In the UK Helen has worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, English Sinfonia, Manning Camerata, Covent Garden Sinfonia and Britten Pears Orchestra amongst others. She plays principal clarinet with St Paul’s Sinfonia. In the field of chamber music, Helen plays with the quartet Clariphonics who were semi-finalists in the Royal Overseas League Competition and were selected as Park Lane Group Young Artists in 2009. Their Purcell Room recital was received with great acclaim:
‘Clariphonics delivered spirited musicianship’ according to The Guardian who awarded the performance four stars.
Sessions Helen has played on include Miguel d’Oliveira’s score for The Prosecutors (BBC 4) and Walton’s Façade for Suzy Klein’s ‘Our Classical Century’ (BBC 4). As a bass clarinettist and saxophonist Helen is a regular visitor to Cornwall’s St. Endellion Summer Music Festival.
Amy Thompson (bassoon) studied as a Musicians' Company Lambert Scholar at the Royal College of Music in London, where she was generously supported by the George Drexler Foundation, the Countess of Munster Trust, and Help Musicians UK. Amy is an enthusiastic chamber musician, having recorded multiple CDs of bassoon quartets and trios for Hyperion Records. She has given recitals at the Lansdowne Club, International Anthony Burgess Foundation (as a duo with bassist Leon Bosch), Surrey Hills International Music Festival, and for the British Double Reed Society. Amy also has an interest in contemporary music and, in 2017, performed the world premiere of a work for unaccompanied bassoon by Andrew Mulhern at the National Portrait Gallery. She has performed concertos by Weber, Vivaldi, and Bach with orchestra as well as earning 2nd place in the 2021 RCM Concerto Competition for her performance of the Hummel concerto and winning the RCM Bassoon Prize.
Amy's orchestral work includes performances with the Brandenburg Sinfonia, Southern Pro Musica, Orion Orchestra, London Firebird Orchestra, and St. Paul's Sinfonia. She was awarded the bassoon place with the Chipping Campden Festival Academy Orchestra for 2022/23, and has taken part in the ENO Evolve and BBC Symphony Orchestra Pathway schemes. In addition to this, Amy is an experienced teacher, having tutored for the Junior RCM's Mini-Bassoon Programme, the British Double Reed Society, Uppingham School, Wind Serenades, and for five years with the Musicians' Company.
Lana Bode (piano) is an American-British pianist, programmer and artistic director, whose performances have been described as ‘expertly calibrated’ (BBC Music Magazine) and ‘deeply examined’ (Gramophone). She is a leading interpreter of contemporary music and an innovative cross-arts programmer. She performs as a solo pianist and in collaboration with leading singers and instrumentalists including Robert Cohen, Marcus Farnsworth, Alessandro Fisher, Anna Harvey, Robert Murray, Mark Padmore, Lucy Schaufer and James Turnbull. A champion of new music, Lana has commissioned works by Charlotte Bray, Richard Barnard and Jeremy Thurlow. She has also collaborated with composers Alison Bauld, Harrison Birtwistle, Jonathan Dove, Helen Grime, Sadie Harrison, Libby Larsen, Kevin Malone, Zoë Martlew, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Judith Weir.
Lana’s recital career has taken her from major London venues to festivals around the UK including Aldeburgh Festival, Barbican Hall, Kings Place, Purcell Room, Snape Proms and Wigmore Hall. Her discography on Delphian Records includes the highly-acclaimed I and Silence: Women’s Voices in American Song with mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons, and dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices with soprano Samantha Crawford.
Lana is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Virginia Woolf & Music concert project, and a faculty member at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.