Presented by the Royal Academy of Music
Currently undertaking a Master of Arts in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music, Craig McLaren is embarking on his journey as a professional clarinettist. To date, Craig has held the position of clarinettist with the international touring production of Cameron Mackintosh’s Les Misérables; performed with Arch Sinfonia, the Australian Symphony Orchestra, the University of Western Australia Choral Society Orchestra, Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra; was a reserve clarinettist with the Australian Youth Orchestra; and was a member of both the West Australian Youth Orchestra and West Australian Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed under the direction of notable conductors Edward Gardner, Jac van Steen, Gareth Hancock, and Ennio Morricone, and Stephen Brooker. Craig has performed in masterclasses with Andrew Marriner, Patrick Messina, Robert Plane, Franklin Cohen, and Michael Collins.
Craig has a passion for chamber music and, during his undergraduate degree, received the Janet Anderson award for best woodwind performance. Craig also received First Prize in the Open Recital and Open Chamber sections of the Fremantle Eisteddfod in 2015.
Craig is the current recipient of the Christopher Hogwood Scholarship, Royal Academy of Music Entrance Scholarship, and the Friends of University of Western Australia Music Travelling Scholarship.
Jack Tait Westwell began his involvement in music making at the age of 5, playing fiddle with the Orkney Traditional Music Project. He started piano lessons at The City of Edinburgh Music School tutored by Gillian Gray and then studied at the University of Edinburgh, under the tutelage of Peter Evans, before moving to London to take up the offer of a place on the Advanced Instrumental Studies Piano Masters Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is currently tutored by Professor Charles Owen and Professor Paul Roberts.
Jack has had success at both piano and fiddle competitions throughout Scotland and was awarded The Audrey Innes Prize at the Edinburgh Competition Festival Concerto Final in 2015. Jack is a ballet and musical theatre accompanist, piano and fiddle teacher and currently musician/pianist at Lewisham Unitarian Church. Having been a volunteer at the BIG Project Youth Choir in Broomhouse, Edinburgh, Jack is particularly interested in community music and has performed in a variety of diverse venues throughout the Scottish mainland and islands.
Jack is supported by The Bucher-Fraser Trust, The McGlashan Charitable Trust, The Caird Trust, The Argyll Educational Trust and Goodenough College Halls of Residence