Biography

Amelie started playing the cello as a child when her lessons were subsidised by the local authority and her cello was borrowed from the school.

Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, Amelie came to Scotland in 2001 to study at the RSAMD, Glasgow.
In her third year Amelie took up the baroque cello, which was particularly suited to her style of playing, and became the premier practitioner of the instrument at the School.

She has been accepted onto the masters course at Trinity College, London to study baroque cello further. Her tutor at RSAMD sees in Amelie a strong and clear desire to communicate through music and believes that she has something worthwhile to say.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award is helping towards Amelie’s accommodation costs at Trinity College.

Since the Award

In 2010 Amelie graduated with a Master of Music in Baroque cello, with distinction. She continues to work as a freelance performer and teacher.

Biography

Barbara Misiewicz was born and brought up in Elblag, Poland. She came to this country in order to pursue her studies in cello at the RSAMD, Glasgow.

When she was seven, Barbara began studying cello with Russian cellist Oleg Studnicki at Poland’s national music school. From the start she impressed as a young musician of enormous talent and potential. As she was growing up, she competed successfully in many national and international competitions, including the Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer International Competition in Dresden.

Barbara, aged 20, has already impressed her Scottish teachers with her innate musicality, beautiful tone and rare gift to communicate with her audience. She recently performed solo at the opening of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and at the Mozart Festival in Schwetzingen, Germany. In December 2006 she joined the Scottish Ensemble winter tour of Scotland. In January 2007 Barbara played with the Scottish Opera orchestra for performances of Ravel and Puccini operas.

How the Award Helped

Shortly after she arrived in Glasgow, a family tragedy threatened to cut short her studies and possibly deprive us of an exceptionally talented musician. The Dewar Arts Award is helping to support Barbara while she finishes her music degree.

Since the Award

As an undergraduate, Barbara won the Iain D Watt Award and the Dunbar Gerber Competition at the RSAMD and the John McInulty Prize for Orchestral String Playing. In 2009 she won the Craxton Memorial Prize as well as an award from the Elblag Cultural Society.

Barbara graduated with a degree in music in 2009 and is now carving out a career for herself as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. She writes that “coming from Poland, I heard so much about great British orchestras and their ways of working: playing with a blended sound and being incredibly fast at reading music. It is fantastic to experience it from within a British orchestra itself.” Barbara has been invited to the final round of 2010 auditions for the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Biography

Eilidh was born in Dingwall and brought up in Skye. She is a former pupil of St Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh, before winning a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London where she studied with Margaret Moncrieff and Steven Doane. Doane writes, “Eilidh is one of the most intensely musical young people it has ever been my pleasure to teach. I believe she is one of Scotland’s finest young artists, and will bring great credit to her country.”

Among the several prizes Eilidh won at the RCM was the prestigious graduation prize, ‘Earl of Dalhousie Award’, for outstanding potential.

She then went on to study for a Masters at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, followed by a year in Amsterdam studying with Gregor Horsch, Principal of the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

During her studies, she has been supported by many prestigious awards and scholarships, and in fact would not have been able to take up the opportunities she has had, were it not for this financial support.

Eilidh is part of the young Scottish-based chamber group ‘Ensemble na Mara’ whose debut recital will be in February 2007. Future recitals include several in the Wigmore Hall, London and one at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival for the Royal Overseas League, whose Ensemble prize the group won in 2006. She also is a regular guest player with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Eilidh writes, “I am very keen on the idea of musicians performing in all sorts of situations, whether in the Wigmore Hall or village halls and want to experiment further with innovative programmes including contemporary Scottish composers to attract new audiences.”

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Awards helped Eilidh to buy a performance-standard cello.

Biography

Lauren’s family moved from Stornoway so that she could attend Aberdeen City Music School to continue studying ‘cello. The director of the Music School says that Lauren is simply one of the best musicians they have had.

In 2005, she was the only young musician from Aberdeen to win a place on the prestigious National Youth Orchestra for Great Britain.  A combination of outstanding talent and sheer hard work enabled her to pass grade 8 ‘cello by a massive 142 out of a possible 150.

How the Award Helped

Lauren received a Daughter of Dewar Award to buy a new ‘cello bow.

Since the Award

The day after she was told about the Award, she heard that she had been accepted to study cello at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Many string players believe that a good bow is just as crucial to their playing as a good instrument.  Lauren tried a selection of bows before choosing a modern French one for its lightness and ease of manipulation.

She writes, “the degrees of sound production were increased and the actual tone produced was noticeably different….there were many new colours to experiment with.”

Biography

Cellist, Catriona Hetherington, loves extremely challenging repertoire. A specialist in unaccompanied solo cello performance, she has given solo recitals throughout the UK including a performance of all six Bach Suites over two consecutive nights at the RSAMD, Glasgow.

In 2002, she won a Young Soloists Award which led to performances in the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C as well as live on Fox Television. Since November 2002 Catriona has been part of Live Music Now!, which was founded by the late Yehudi Menuhin.

A graduate with distinction of RSAMD, Catrìona won various prizes including the Governor’s Recital Prize (Strings), the Violoncello Challenge Prize and the Hilda Anderson Deane Prize.  Since graduating, she has studied with Robert Cohen in Lugano, Maria Kliegel and Anner Bylsma and has performed for Mstislav Rostropovich.

Catriona is now undertaking an equally challenging practice-based PhD at the RSAMD into violinistic technique on the cello and the performance on the cello of the 24 Paganini Violin Caprices.

As part of her final submission, she will produce a DVD of demonstrations of violinistic techniques and performances of Paganini Violin Caprices Opus 1 for the cello together with written editions of the Caprices.

Early in 2006, as part of her research, Catriona went to the US to view the biggest cello archive in the world and to consult with 87-year-old cellist George Neikrug. Mr Neikrug was very enthusiastic and encouraging about her research and her own cello playing. In turn, Catriona was thrilled to meet one of the last living links to cellist Emanuel Feuermann, who lived in the first half of the 20th century, and was famous for playing the cello with the ease of a violinist.

How the Award Helped

Catriona received a Dewar Arts Award to support her doctoral research.

Since the Award

The original intention was for Catriona to submit for a PhD, however, because of the scope of her research, it was decided that submission for an MPhil was more appropriate.  In 2008 Catriona was successful in gaining an MPhil. It was written of her that “one of the most pleasing aspects of Catriona’s work over the past three years is the intellectual and artistic journey she has made and the maturity of thought she has gained.”

Catriona writes that she hopes that “given that this was research into very advanced cello playing, some cellists may take an interest and use my ideas to further their playing.”