LINDA BEGBIE (Bassoon)
Linda Begbie studied bassoon with Russian soloist and former principal of Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Arnold Irchai.
She was educated in Warwickshire and New College, Oxford, where she read Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. After graduating she entered the BBC, where she worked as a researcher, writer and producer for Radio 4 and Radio 3; both in news and current affairs, and in the production of investigative radio documentaries, drama, arts, history, and literary features.
In 2005 she returned to music during a period of private loss as her mother battled with, and then succumbed to, spinal cancer.
She studied in Britain with Martin Gatt, Sarah Burnett, and Julie Price of the Royal College of Music; and in 2007 was appointed full member of London's Southbank Sinfonia. In 2009 she took up a fully-funded place at the Royal Northern College of Music as a student of international soloist Stefano Canuti, a post-graduate study which she subsequently completed with distinction in 2010.
As a soloist and chamber musician Linda has performed in London's Wigmore Hall, Bishopsgate Hall and in the Italian Montepulciano Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte -performances broadcast on Radio 3, Radio 4, and National German Arts Radio. As an orchestral musician she has performed and recorded with the BBC Philharmonic and Halle orchestras in the UK, and in Europe with Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Linda currently lives in Bristol and is raising two daughters.