Catriona McDermid

Catriona McDermid leads a varied career as a modern and period instrument bassoonist, educator and arranger. She received first-class degrees for both her undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford (UK) and Masters degree at the Royal College of Music in London and his since built up a busy freelance career. Orchestrally, she has performed as guest principal with ensembles such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (previously The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland) and with period ensembles including Florilegium and the Armonico Consort. As a soloist, Catriona has given several concerto performances, performed solo recitals across the UK and is a previous recital artist for Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Handel House. In 2018, she premiered a new commission for bassoon and string quartet, Toby Young’s Creation of Electricity, performing with the Navarra String Quartet.

Catriona is a passionate chamber musician; she is a member of baroque ensemble Convivio, and also of the Magnard Ensemble, a wind quintet for whom she regularly arranges. The Magnard Ensemble has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall and the Culture & Convention Centre (Lucerne, Switzerland) and have been artists for the Tillett Trust, Tunnell Trust and Making Music UK. They have released three recordings, two discs of Stephen Dodgson’s woodwind chamber music on Toccata Classics and their debut disc with Orchid Classics entitled Revolting Rhymes and Marvellous Music, receiving a four-star BBC Music Magazine review. Her arrangements for this ensemble have been published by ALRY Publications and Wonderful Winds. Catriona also strongly believes in the importance of education and community work; she tutors for the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain and regularly works on and leads a whole variety of projects, with organisations such as the Worshipful Company of Musicians, Sinfonia Cymru, Wigmore Hall and the Magnard Ensemble.