Staff A-Z

Norman Beedie studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before gaining a Sir James Caird Scholarship enabling him to continue studies with Guido Agosti and Carlo Zecchi. As well as studying with Nadia Boulanger, he was greatly influenced by the soprano, Irène Joachim, granddaughter of violinist Joseph Joachim, friend and colleague of Brahms, and by the late, James Gibb in London. He has pursued an international career of great variety as a conductor, pianist and teacher.

Find out more about Margaret on her Official Website

Hebba Benyaghla is in demand as a collaborative pianist and enjoys a diverse career working with many of Scotland’s national companies including Scottish Opera, Edinburgh International Festival, National Youth Choirs of Scotland and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, alongside her roles as a Lecturer and Accompanist at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Héloïse Bernard has been a French Coach and Lecturer of French Language for Singers at the RCS since 2018 for the Vocal Performance Department. Héloïse has also been involved in the recent Opera productions of the Alexander Gibson Opera School of Les Mamelles de Tiresias, L’étoile, Cendrillon.

Having undertaken his undergraduate studies at RSAMD (now RCS) under the tutelage of Iain Crawford (Co-Principal Bass BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra) Tom continued his double bass studies at the Juilliard School in New York with Timothy Cobb (then Principal Bass Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, now New York Phil) graduating with a Master of Music in 2006.

Dr Laura Bissell (she/her) is an Athenaeum Research Fellow and Lecturer in Contemporary Performance Practice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Laura is a performance-researcher, writer, and educator and has had her poetry, creative writing and academic writing published in journals and anthologies. She is currently writing a monograph on matrescence and performance (Intellect) and is co-editing the International Journal of Performance Art and Digital Media’s special edition: Matrescence and Media with Jodie Hawkes and Elena Marchevska.

Ian Bousfield has been at the top of the profession for over one quarter of a century, excelling in perhaps more facets of the music business than any other trombonist to date. He is also currently International Fellow of Brass at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His list of former students includes some of our current most successful players in orchestras around the world.

For more than thirty years, conductor Martyn Brabbins has been at the forefront of British music in a career that has taken him from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic to the Kirov, La Scala and his current position as music director at English National Opera.

Helen Brew has been Associate Principal Flute of the Royal Scottish National since 1989 and has performed on 4 continents with some of the world’s best conductors including Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel & Neeme Järvi.

As a member of the RSNO, she has recorded over 200 CDs appears weekly across Scotland and plays regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms. Helen teaches at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and has served on the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music and the Chethams School of Music as well as numerous flute courses with Clare Southworth, Trevor Wye & Katherine Bryan.

Helen is a keen advocate for music in community outreach work especially working with young people with special needs.

Professor Stephen Broad is an islander in exile, researcher, teacher, community conductor and occasional broadcaster. He studied at the Music School of Douglas Academy (Piano with Anne Crawford and composition with William Sweeney) and then at the University of Glasgow, where he won prizes in music and physics. He undertook a DPhil in Historical Musicology at Worcester College, Oxford with the late Robert Sherlaw Johnson and with Annegret Fauser, and is Director of Research and Engagement at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Dr Colin Broom is a composer based in Scotland, UK. He studied Composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He has written music for various ensembles and musicians including Red Note, Maxwell Quartet, Tyrolean Ensemble for Contemporary Music and Orchestra of Opera North.

Graeme became a freelance bassoonist in his second year at RCS, working with orchestras throughout the UK, Ireland and France. In 2015, Graeme was appointed Bassoon Principal No. 2 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In this varied role, he can be found rehearsing, performing, delivering educational workshops and recording. He has recently appeared as a guest player with The Philharmonia Orchestra, The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and The Orchestra of Scottish Opera.

Louise’s job is all about Outreach and Engagement. That means she’s out and about all over Scotland letting people know about Fair Access opportunities. She works with young people facing various barriers to participation in the arts, and anyone who supports or champions them. Louise is all about collaboration, partnerships and building communities. She believes that everyone is creative and has the right to a creative life.

Louise studied Applied Drama and Theatre at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, got a degree in English and is a qualified secondary school teacher. She has worked in further and higher education and taught on the Postgraduate in Learning and Teaching in the Arts at RCS before joining the Fair Access team – which she loves.

Jemma is a vocal and piano instructor for Glasgow City Council and co-leads their City wide choirs. She is also Director of Music at Paisley North Church and is currently studying on the MEd in Learning and Teaching in the Arts at RCS.

Katherine is the Principal Flute of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Member of the Fundraising and People and Culture Committees

Cameron graduated with a starred-first in piano performance from New College, Oxford, where he was an academic scholar and organ scholar and he subsequently studied with Mirella Freni at CUBEC in Italy, with Dennis O’Neill at WIAV, and at the National Opera Studio, London. He is an alumnus of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and the Solti-Perretti Accademia. He studied privately with Graham Johnson and Martin Isepp and frequently accompanied Laura Sarti’s lessons in the UK and Paris.

Convenor of the Finance and General Purposes Committee and Member of the Audit & Risk, Development & Fundraising and Remunerations Committees