Summer Festival - Raymond Brien (clarinet) and Rob Hao (piano)

Raymond was a Gillian-Freddie Martin Scholar during their studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama between 2016 and 2020. They are a Britten-Pears Young Artist 2020 and award winning soloist and recent solo new-music highlights include guest appearances for the BBC Total Immersion series and performing Birtwistle's Linoi both of which were recorded for BBC Radio 3 this year. After winning the Hatfield and District Music Festival he has also recently performed the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto with DeHallivand Orchestra. Raymond was a semi-finalist in the Royal Overseas League Woodwind Competition 2022. Raymond is part of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Next cohort and has recently appeared at the Mostly Modern Festival in New York, USA. Outside of their solo playing, Raymond enjoys a varied career in chamber music and orchestral playing, and is the artistic director of the Thinking Minds Project new-music recital series which principally explores the world of electro-acoustic music in a multi-media context, with up-and-coming composers and visual artists from around the globe. Raymond is also a composer with recent world premieres including ‘Pained’ for Echo Ensemble and ‘Octo20’ for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Raymond is grateful for the support of HMUK in their work. Raymond also enjoys experimental music and is the co-founder of Egnairio Duo with James McIlwrath and have just released their first collaborative album ‘Alembic’ in 2021.