Music in the City – Marsyas Quartet , The New Season Series

Professional classical music on your doorstep, or accessible by public transport. Come and be inspired by wonderful live music at St Nicholas Priory: classics, new accessible works and family favourites

Marsyas Quartet Dreaming in Sound

Programme includes music by: Mozart, Bach, Andrew M. Wilson, Judith Weir and Sungji Hong.

Enjoy the sound of flute, violin, viola and cello in an intimate ensemble formed by these experienced and collaborative musicians. What do these composers from different centuries and cultures have in common? They all know that music is not a luxury, that our dreams are essential to the essence of our humanity. Come and dream together, as we explore music both new and old.

Julie Hill is a professional violinist and teacher based in Exeter.  Specialising in early and contemporary music, she performs in ensembles including Devon Baroque, Corelli Orchestra and a variety of chamber ensembles.  Much of her current work is in leading and directing chamber ensembles for music directors and choirs across the South West.  With her string quartet and trio, she performs regularly at weddings and other functions.  She is a founder member of Exeter Contemporary Sounds who devise programmes of contemporary music by established and local composers. Julie teaches violin, viola and ensembles at Blundell’s School, Tiverton,  Exeter Cathedral School and St Peter’s School, Lympstone as well as maintaining a successful private teaching practice.

Emma Welton is a musician. She plays the violin and viola and composes music which often involves listening and recording in her habitat. Emma likes to make new music with adventurous musicians of all ages and experience and with artists who work in different artforms. With Tony Whitehead she runs A Quiet Night In, creating performances exploring the creative possibilities in quiet/silence. Emma is a Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra musician, touring the south west with BSO chamber groups, and co-leading with Hugh Nankivell BSO’s Exeter Family Orchestra. Emma is decarbonising her music practice in practical ways and offers her music as a creative response to the climate emergency.

Annabel Rooney is a former National Youth Orchestra musician and read music at Cambridge with a university instrumental award on the cello. She continued her studies there with an MPhil and a PhD on eighteenth-century opera. Annabel moved to Devon in 2006 and currently combines instrumental teaching, playing in various ensembles, and composition. A CD of her choral music, As a seed bursts forth, recorded by the choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, was released in 2019, and some of her music has been published by Selah and Oxford University Press. Alongside regular appearances at Evensong at Christ’s, Annabel’s music has been performed by choirs including those of Exeter and Ely Cathedrals and the Chapel Royal, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Ruth Molins is a founding member of Flute Cake, Marsyas Quartet, Zephyr Duo, Volo Trio and part of the collective A Quiet Night In. Devon-born, she believes in the value of high quality, professional music within the local community. She performed as a soloist with Exeter Symphony Orchestra in 2012 (Rutter, Suite Antique) and again in 2015 (Mozart, Concerto for Flute and Harp). She has been featured on Phonic FM, Soundart Radio, BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio 3. In 2019 she curated and performed the Flute@37 concerts, a series of intimate performances given from her own music studio. During the 2020 lockdown, she gave live-streamed performances of Les Chants de Nectaire by Charles Koechlin, connecting weekly with listeners world-wide. In 2017 her composition, Make Room was performed at Waterstones, The Glorious Art House and Studio 36 in Exeter. Ruth teaches flute at Exeter School and privately. In 2021, Ruth was invited by Pearl flutes artist, Elizabeth Walker, to record a performance video with practice tips, as part of the Fürstenau Challenge project.