Fiona Winning (Artistic Director/Viola)

Fiona Winning graduated from the Juilliard School in 2001, and has since gone on to build a reputation as a multifaceted musician. Performing as soloist, chamber musician, music-theatre performer and orchestral musician, The Herald calls her "technically sure-footed…confidently expressive" while The Scotsman applauds her "rich, golden tone". She was born in Glasgow and attended St Mary's Music School before going on to study at the RNCM and Manchester University. At the RNCM she won all the prizes for string chamber music and was awarded the Professional Performer's Diploma. As a Sir James Caird Scholar, she was the winner of the 2000 Bloch Prize for best Scottish String Player. Fiona has performed as soloist with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival Strings, The Westport Chamber Players and the American Chamber Orchestra. In the US Fiona is Principal Viola with the Westchester Chamber Orchestra and the Rutgers Festival Orchestra and is violist of the DaGama Piano Quartet. She is Director of Strings at the Rodeph Sholom School and on the faculty of the Westport School Of Music.

Donald was born and brought up in Roybridge in the highlands of Scotland. He was a student at St Marys Music School before going to the RNCM where he was a concerto award winner, a Major scholar and was winner of both the salon prize and the John Webster String Prize. He has performed concertos with Camerata Scotland, the Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra, the RNCM Sinfonia and the Scottish Bach Consort. As founder member of the Johnston string quartet, Donald was second prize winner in the Ninth London International String Quartet Competition. They were also quartet in residence at the Britten Pears school, 2002-03 and future performances include the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Rooms. As a fiddler, Donald has performed at many festivals, including headlining at Fiddle Fest 99 with Alasdair Fraser. He recorded his debut album in 1996.

Tom Hankey graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2001, having studied with Levon Chilingirian and Yossi Zivoni. Since then he has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. From 1999-2003 he was a member of the Tavec quartet (winners of the Royal Over-seas League Ensemble prize 2000, the Helen Just Prize and the Net 4 prize in the Bristol Millenium chamber music competition) who performed in the Wigmore Hall and the QEH and in festivals such as Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and King's Lynn.s. Thanks to the Countess of Muster Music Trust they performed for music societies around the country. He has recently performed Prokofiev's 1st violin concerto in St John Smith's Square with the South Bank Sinfonia.

Eilidh Martin was born in Skye, and began playing the cello with her mother and Audrey Scott. She studied at St Mary's Music School with Ruth Beauchamp, going on to the Royal College of Music to study with Steve Doane. At the RCM she was awarded the Leslie Alexander Cello Prize and the Earl of Dalhousie Prize, and in 2000 she was a member of the International Musicians' Seminar at Prussia Cove. She has been a student with Steve Doane at the Eastman School of Music in the USA with a full scholarship. She is also the recipient of scholarships from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Virtuosi Society, the Scottish Arts Council and the Musicians Benevolent Fund. In 1999 Eilidh played on the album The Captain's Collection for the Greentracks label, and she also performs as a Gaelic singer.

Other Members of Kuotet

Matt Baker (Double Bass)

Matt Baker, a native of Sioux City, USA, is a diverse musician, performing regularly on the jazz, folk and classical music scenes. As a jazz musician he has performed with Clark Terry, Victor Mendoza, Ryan Kior and Mike Walker. His many classical performance prizes include the Brown Shipley Improvisation Award 2001, the Eugene Croft Double Bass Prize, 2001 and he was a semi-finalist in the Izuminomori International Double Bass Contest. As a soloist he has performed in the Wiener Saal for the Mozarteum Sommerakademie and in the RNCM Gala Concert. Matt is an alumnus of the Eastman School of Music, USA, and the Royal Northern College of Music and will continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Duncan McTier.

Harpist Catriona McKay was born in Dundee and studied at the RSAMD in Glasgow before going on to postgraduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where she was awarded the Professional Performer's Diploma. She is a recipient of many scholarships and awards including Sir James Caird's Travelling Scholarships Trust and an RNCM scholarship. As a classical harpist she performs regularly as soloist, recitalist and orchestral musician throughout Scotland. As a folk musician, she is a member of the band Fiddler's Bid, with whom she has travelled throughout Europe, and to Canada and the USA. Catriona recorded her first album in 2001.

Pianist Eric Hachinski, age 26, has performed throughout his native Canada, the United States, Italy, The Netherlands and Bulgaria as soloist, chamber musician and collaborative artist. In 1989, he was awarded the Silver Medal from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. He has been featured in broadcasts on PBS-TV and MuchMusic cable network and is frequently heard on National Public and CBC Radio. Eric received his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School in 1998. He is also an alumnus of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he completed his Bachelor of Music degree "with Distinction" and was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate at graduation. Eric devotes much of his time to performing in public schools, at nursing homes and prisons and for other community-outreach programs. He is currently Artist-Teacher at the Westport School of Music in Connecticut.

Mathew Fuerst graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and the Eastman School of Music in both piano and composition, and he is currently a candidate for the Doctoral degree at Juilliard. Matt has had his works performed in prestigious venues throughout the US, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Miller Theatre. In 2001 he was the winner of the Juilliard Composition Prize, and in 2002 won the Orchestral Composition Prize, leading to a Lincoln Centre performance of his music. As one of a dozen composers selected to study at the Paris La Schola Cantorum in July 1999, he had the opportunity to study with world-renowned composers Christopher Rouse, Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. He has been involved in several multi-media projects at Juilliard, including collaboration with dancers and choreographers.

Sarah Beaty was born and brought up in the North East of England. She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, where her teachers were John Reynolds, John Bradbury and Chris Swann, and is currently a Masters student at the Juilliard School. In 2000 Sarah was the winner of the Granada Prize for string and wind chamber music, and a recipient of the Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Foundation award. She was recently a semi-finalist in both the Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year Competition and the Shell/LSO Competition.

Cellist Donnie Gillan, born in Aberdeen, received scholarships to study at both the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music. He currently performs in Scotland with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with whom he took part in three BBC proms at the Royal Albert Hall, BT Ensemble, Scottish Opera, Hebrides Ensemble, One Voice and various singers and bands. In theatre he has worked as composer/musician with Rain Dog and Grid Iron, and performed with composer David Paul Jones in 'Something There' with Cryptic Productions.