Ambra Quintet

ARTIST'S BIOS

Ambra Quintet

The Ambra Quintet is a London-based ensemble made up of postgraduate students and graduates of the Royal Academy of Music. Collectively, they have performed at places such as the Royal Festival Hall, Seoul Arts Centre, Esplanade Singapore, Vatican Museum, and Carnegie Hall, and have worked with conductors such as Edward Gardner, Sir Mark Elder, Phillip Herreweghe and Bernard Haitink. With members from five different countries, they enjoy exploring diverse repertoire from around the world with an emphasis on female composers. They look forward to sharing their work with a live audience in the coming year.

Kiersten Gustafson / Horn

Kiersten Gustafson is an American hornist based in London. As an orchestral player, she has toured with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as with numerous amateur and freelance groups. She currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where she has lessons with David Pyatt, Richard Watkins, Kira Doherty, Michael Thompson, Martin Owen, and Roger Montgomery. She also learns periodically with Frøydis Ree Wekre through the Voksenåsen Summer Academies and Musipæd Winter Course. Besides her studies, Kiersten enjoys playing in the Ambra Quintet, an all-female wind quintet, and sharing community-based music through the Open Academy program. Kiersten holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of North Texas, where she studied with Dr. Stacie Mickens and Dr. William Scharnberg. During summers, she attended the Brevard Music Center, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and PRISMA (Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy). In 2021, she worked at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and performed with the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra. She was also an active member of Mu Phi Epsilon Professional Music Fraternity, and continues to serve on the International Horn Society’s Student Advisory Committee.

Lucia Porcedda / Clarinet

Italian clarinettist Lucia Porcedda has won prizes at national and international competitions, including the YAMAHA Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship. She has played with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Knussen Chamber Orchestra and was on trial for the associate principal clarinet position with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Having graduating with honours from the conservatoire of Cagliari (Italy), she then studied with Alessandro Carbonare in Rome and Paul Meyer in Paris. Over the years, she has participated in master-classes around the world with prominent musicians including Romain Guyot, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Calogero Palermo, Herman Stefansson, Florent Héau, Michel Lethiec and Andrew Marriner. Concert engagements have included performances in concert halls in the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden and Netherlands. In 2022, she completed her Master degree with Distinctions at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied with Christopher Richards, Timothy Lines, Benjamin Mellefont, Chi-Yu Mo and Laurent Ben Slimane. Lucia has always cultivated a great passion for chamber music. In Italy, she founded Duo Sardo with pianist Federico Battista Melis, with whom she performed at the Vatican museums in Rome, the Italian institute in Lausanne (Switzerland) and music festivals throughout Sardinia. In London, she is part of the Ambra Quintet (woodwind quintet) and the Zora Trio (violin, clarinet and piano trio). Furthermore with the association “Dimensione Danza” she periodically collaborates with musicians and dancers, creating and performing works exploring the relationship between sound and movement. She is also passionate about contemporary music and has performed with the Ensemble 2e2m in Paris and composition students at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She is currently clarinetist at Southbank Sinfonia.

Rebecca Whitehouse / Oboe

Rebecca is a second year MA student studying the oboe at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) with Celia Nicklin. She completed her undergraduate at the Royal College of Music (RCM) with John Anderson, Gareth Hulse and Fabien Thouand and graduated with first class honours. Rebecca learnt the cor anglais with Jessica Mogridge before starting at the RCM and continued lessons with Christine Pendrill and Jane Marshall. She now learns with Sue Bohling, and is the 2022 prize winner of the Barry Grimaldi Cor Anglais Prize at the Royal Academy. Rebecca’s recent solo work includes performing the Mozart Oboe Concerto with the Southgate Symphony Orchestra, and putting on a recital celebrating female composers. She is also a member of Scherzo Ensemble during their opera season and looks forward to the 2023 Summer performances. When she’s not playing, Rebecca is involved in a lot of education work, teaching a combination of piano, oboe, recorder and music theory privately. She also runs nursery classes and is the head of woodwind for the Camden Youth Orchestra. She particularly enjoys the outreach work that Open Academy offer at RAM and plans to continue this after her studies, alongside freelance playing.

Ruihan Kee / Bassoon

Ruihan Kee is a versatile bassoonist who explores diverse repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary. Also a baroque bassoonist, her interest in historical performance has developed her innate sensitivity to musical styles, allowing her to excel in both chamber and larger orchestral settings. In 2022 she has worked with several renowned conductors such as Edward Gardner, John Wilson and Ludovic Morlot, and played principal at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Semyon Bychkov. She is also currently a fellow at Southbank Sinfonia for the 2022-23 season, making regular appearances with the orchestra in London as well as across Europe. Born in Singapore, Ruihan moved to the UK to study with Andrea de Flammineis at the Royal College of Music, where she graduated with honours in 2016. She recently completed her Masters of Music degree at the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Robin O’Neill and Jonathan Davies. She is honoured to be one of the Yamaha Music Europe Foundation scholars for 2022 and named Winner of the Florence Woodbridge Bassoon Prize 2022.

DaSom Jeong / Flute

South Korean flautist DaSom Jeong is currently studying for her Masters Degree in Royal Academy of Music after getting Bachelor's Degree in the flute class of Kate Hill, Michael Cox and piccolo class of Helen Keen from the Royal Academy of Music. Now she is pursuing her Master’s degree in the flute class of Anna Noakes, Karen Jones and piccolo class of Patrica Morris with the scholarship. She attended and performed at many masterclasses in London and Korea given by Silvia Careddu, Emmanuel Pahud, Denis Bouriakov, William Bennett, Emily Beynon, Sebastian Jacot and Lorna Mcghee all of whom have had a strong influence on her. DaSom has won several prizes in competitions, including 1st prize in the Sejong Art Society Competition, 2nd prize in the Korean Music Society Competition. Also she has been awarded first prize winner in the International Music Competition Vienna “Grand Prize Virtuoso”. Also she was a prize winner of the Jonathan Myall Piccolo Prize in the Royal Academy of Music. DaSom has performed as a flute and piccolo player. She participated in various orchestral projects while she was studying in London for both instruments. DaSom gained lots of orchestral experiences with Trevor Pinnock, Edward Gardner, Sir Mark Elder and other conductors. Recently highlighted with contemporary work, she participated in the Harris Birtwistle memorial concert in Queen Elizabeth Hall with London Sinfonietta. As a chamber musician, DaSom worked with other instruments, Cello, Oboe, Viola and Harp. Now she is a member of all-female woodwind ensemble, Ambra Quintet. Also she has performed in great halls in Korea as a soloist and orchestral player such as KBS Hall and Seoul Arts Centre.