Claire Parkin (violin)
Claire began music-making in Bournemouth, where she learned violin with Ernest Element and Colin Verrall, and played both violin and flute in the National Youth Orchestra. She continued her post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music with Professor Dona Lee Croft. As a freelance orchestral player, she works with the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra and National Orchestra of Wales, as well as with Opera North and various other ensembles, and has been a member of Bath Philharmonia for 15 years. She has a particular love of Bampton Classical Opera because of the unusual repertoire. She teaches at Eton College.
Emma Chamberlain (cello)
Emma was a member of the contemporary chamber music group Double Image performing premieres of works by Judith Weir, Erika Fox and Nicola Lefanu (“ever-inventive and imaginative” - The Guardian). She completed her LRAM at the Royal Academy of Music and is a practising barrister. She plays in a number of Oxford and London chamber music ensembles including Fidelio Orchestra, Orchestra of St John and the Radcliffe Chamber Ensemble. Emma is a trustee of the London Music Fund which funds free music lessons for primary school children and of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Andrew Blankfield (piano)
Andrew is a pianist, conductor and occasional tenor. For many years he combined his various musical pursuits with a career as a City lawyer. On the concert platform, he has performed all five of Beethoven’s concertos, along with the Schumann concerto and two of Mozart’s. He plays in a number of chamber ensembles including, on occasion, the Blankfield trio with his daughters Susie and Izzy. As a collaborative pianist, he has been working with baritone Rupert Pardoe on 20th century English, American and German song repertoire. Andrew studies piano with Elizabeth Altman.