| Biography | Irish flautist Fiona Kelly has been hailed by the New York Times as a player with impressive technique and elegant musicianship.
Based in London, Fiona is a highly sought after orchestral player and chamber musician. The youngest of a family of classical musicians, she began her studies at the Cork School of Music with her mother Evelyn Grant and Sabine Ducrot before completing her Bachelor of Music studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, with Anna Noakes. While in London she won numerous awards including 1st Prize in the British Flute Society International Competition, the Royal Overseas League Sussex Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Societys Julius Isserlis Scholarship.
On completing her studies in London she was awarded a scholarship on the Masters degree course at The Juilliard School, New York, studying with principal flute of the New York Philharmonic, Robert Langevin. While there, she won first prize in The Juilliard School Flute Competition and made her Lincoln Center debut performing Bernsteins Halil with The Juilliard Orchestra and performed as a guest flautist and toured with the New York Philharmonic.
Following her Masters Fiona spent four wonderful years as principal flute of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra from 2012 2016, which included highlights such as performing Nielsen Flute Concerto under Andrew Manze and Bach Orchestral Suite No. 2 under Thierry Fischer.
Since relocating to London, she has been invited to perform as guest principal flute with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the City of London Sinfonia and the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
Fiona is in demand as a soloist and chamber musician and has performed concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Jönköpings Sinfonietta, Irish Chamber Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland in venues such as Köln Philharmonie, Liszt Academy Grand Hall Budapest, Heidelberg Festival and Rheingau Festival. She has performed with the New York based Argento New Music Project and Continuum new music ensemble, and is a founding member of the Moirae Ensemble. Performing in a duo with her sister, harpist Jean Kelly they perform recitals throughout the UK and Ireland and have recorded an album with other London based Irish musicians called Toss the feathers with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Highlights of 2018 include her debut at the BBC Proms where she will perform as a soloist in the Brandenburg Project. She will perform concertos no. 2 and 5, and perform the UK premieres of companion concertos by Uri Caine and Steven Mackey, with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. |