About the performers . . .

Scott Lygate is 16 and lives in Irvine.  He studies clarinet with Alison Waller at the junior school of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he also studies percussion and composition.  In his first year, he was awarded the William Hume Award and this year he won the Gilbert Innes Prize for Woodwind.

At the National Wind Band Festival in 2002, Scott was awarded the "most outstanding instrumentalist Award". He is the current North Ayrshire Young Musician of the Year and also  won the Ailie Cullen Memorial Prize and John Fife Trophy for the most outstanding performance at the 2006 Glasgow Music Festival.

Scott made his concerto debut at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in February.  He is a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain with whom he played in his first BBC Prom which was televised from the Royal Albert Hall.  As a percussionist, Scott played with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland on tour to Amsterdam and Berlin in 2005. He played saxophone with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland in 2004 and won the Associated Board Gold Award for Grade 7 in the same year.

In August, Scott worked with the conductor Christopher Ades when he gave performances of   Alan Ridout's Concertino and Weber's Second Clarinet Concerto with the RSAMD Symphony  Orchestra.  His plans for the forthcoming months include auditioning for music colleges in November and he hopes to play in St Paul's Cathedral during the Christmas break.

Jane Lindsay began playing the cello at the age of eight in her primary school and subsequently studied for four years at the junior school of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow with Patricia Hair and latterly with Betsy Taylor.  In 2004 she auditioned successfully for Chetham's School of Music in Manchester where she now studies cello under Nicholas Jones. Jane plays piano as her second instrument and hopes to go to music college on leaving school in two years time.

Jane is a member of the Chetham's Symphony Orchestra and plays in a number of ensembles. Music has enabled her to travel extensively. As leader of the cello section of the National Childrens' Orchestra of Scotland she toured  China in 2004 and in the previous year travelled to Australia and New Zealand with the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra. She also took part in a European city tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in August 2005.

Jane has performed in a number of music festivals and, in 2004, won the prize for best overall performance at the Ayrshire Music Festival. At the 2006 Glasgow Music Festival, Jane was awarded The St Mungo Challenge Trophy.  The highlight of her musical career to date was appearing in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition (2006) in The Sage, Gateshead where she reached the quarter finals.

Walter Blair is one of Scotland's most versatile musicians, combining a career in music education with that of a performing musician in the profession.  He received a Fellowship from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, having been Associate Director of Music there for a number of years.  Walter has a long association with Glasgow Music Festival, most recently as an official accompanist and also as an adjudicator.