It is with regret that we announce that Alan John and James Campbell will no longer be playing with the Cairn String Quartet.
However, it is our pleasure to announce that Cairn String Quartet have gone all lady-like and welcome Jenny Robbie and Katie Rush as our new violinists.
Jennifer Robbie - Jennifer is a professional freelance violinist with several years experience of performing and teaching. She has performed with international artists ranging from Kanye West to Runrig and toured with the Scottish Ensemble on the “High Flyers” tour. Jennifer’s interest in music expands to the Scottish tradition and she is a long standing member of one of country’s leading ceilidh bands -SporranAgain. The band has toured Estonia and Sweden to much acclaim.
Jennifer began learning the violin aged 8 in her home town of Dundee. During her school years she enjoyed leading all of the school orchestras and performing as a soloist for Dundee University lunchtime concerts. In 1999 she gained a place at the RSAMD Junior School to study with Rosemary Ellison. Jennifer held the post of co leader of the Junior School Symphony and Chamber orchestras for the 2000-2001 session.
Jennifer went on to study the BMus course at the RSAMD under the tutorage of Simon Fischer and Peter Lissauer. She had a particular interest in chamber music and was a founding member of the Ceoil Quartet. The quartet participated in a number of residential courses including the Royal Northern “Quartetfest”, the Trondheim Quartet festival and the much celebrated Banff (Canada) Chamber Music Course. The quartet enjoyed masterclasses with numerous ensembles including; the Lindsay and Allegri quartets, Divertimento Ensemble, Levon Chilingirian and Rostropovich.
On completion of the BMus course Jennifer continued her study by undertaking the Post graduate performance course graduating in 2008.
Jennifer is an established violin teacher with 7 years experience of teaching a variety of ages and abilities.
Katie Rush - Katie Rush was born in 1984 and grew up near Tain in the Highlands, where she began learning the violin at the age of seven. During her time at secondary school Katie enjoyed playing in a number of ensembles, including a folk group, and was also a member of The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. With these ensembles she was given the opportunity to play abroad in Krakow in Poland, and also toured Montana in the USA.
In 2005 she graduated from the RSAMD having studied violin with Jerre Gibson and Olivier Lemoine, as well as viola with Lev Atlas. During her degree Katie was involved in the busy orchestral programme at the Academy including symphony, chamber and opera orchestras, leading and co-leading sections. She was awarded the John McInulty Prize for Orchestral String Playing in 2004.
As First Violinist with the Ragazzi String Quartet, she was invited to Berwick-upon-Tweed to take part in the Paxton House Summer Music Festival in July 2005, performing Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet at the Young Musicians Platform. That same month, the Ragazzi Quartet, and guitarist Allan Neave, were amongst a group of musicians who recorded the soundtrack for a nationwide television advert for Minute Maid Juices.
Katie enjoyed a year out, gaining further teaching experience before returning to the RSAMD in September 2006 to continue her studies with Olivier Lemoine for her Postgraduate Diploma, which she gained with distinction.
At present Katie enjoys teaching children of all ages for local councils and privately, this includes work for the RSAMD Musicworks centres. She combines this with freelancing for a variety of groups and ensembles.
