Katherine Spencer
Clarinettist and basset horn player Katherine Spencer made her concerto debut at the age of fourteen at the Royal Festival Hall, and has since performed there as concerto soloist many times. She has appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, made many live Radio 3 solo broadcasts, and performs regularly on Classic FM and European radio stations.
She has recorded the Brahms Sonata and Beethoven Trio for the Oxford Classic label with Sam Haywood and Martin Storey and many of her discs with the Galliard Ensemble, of which she is a founder member, are highly acclaimed in the press and Gramophone magazine.
Katherine is interested in trying to recreate the actual clarinet sound intended by composers and is thus an active member of the period performance scene in Europe and the USA, particularly Principal Clarinet of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Academy of Ancient Music. She is also a busy freelance modern clarinet player with the major orchestras in Britain as well principal clarinet of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia.
As a chamber musician Katherine was invited to participate in the BBC Radio 3 Young Generation Artists Scheme. She continues to perform internationally with her many chamber ensembles regularly in international Festivals such as the BBC Proms and the Barbican’s “Mostly Mozart Festival”.
Recent season highlights include a concerto tour with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, pick of the week with the BBC for her most recent CD release “From the beginning” with pianist Sam Haywood and the Galliard Ensemble and a 2 hour broadcast for BBC radio 3 presenting an eclectic mix of music from classical to cheesy pop. She is looking forward to soon performing the Strauss Duet Concertino at London’s Southbank Centre, the Mozart Clarinet Concerto at Barbican’s Milton Hall with the Academy of Ancient Music and playing her beloved chalumeau at the Wigmore Hall in March 2025.
Katherine is in the final stages of her studies to complete her DMA doctorate at Stony Brook University, New York. She also continues as clarinet professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, alongside her dedication to music participation and education work across the world, in hospitals, community settings and care homes, as she believes in the power of music to changes everyone’s lives for good.