Julie Begg, Clarinet
Julie began her musical training at Napier College in Edinburgh, Scotland and continued her studies at Trinity College of Music in London, England. There, she studied clarinet performance with John Stenhouse (London Symphony Orchestra) and saxophone performance with Chris Gradwell (London Saxophone Quartet). After graduating, Julie free-lanced in and around London as an orchestral clarinettist, with scratch and pit orchestras. She was the bass clarinetist with The Forest Philharmonic Orchestra and Chelsea Symphony Orchestra and as a chamber musician played clarinet with the Amabile Wind Quintet and Thayer Octet. She toured Germany with the Thames Wind Ensemble as their solo artist performing the Artie Shaw Clarinet Concerto. She was also the soprano saxophonist with the Jazz-A-Belles saxophone quartet, a cabaret-style group which was featured on national TV and radio. Her most memorable performance to date was for HRH Elizabeth II to whom she was formally introduced. Julie immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1993 and established herself as a peripatetic tutor working in secondary schools and at private music studios. She is a passionate educator and currently tutors clarinet and sax at Collingwood School and Seycove Secondary School, at the Silk Purse Gallery in West Vancouver and at The Royal Oak Conservatory of Music in Burnaby. She maintains a busy studio of approximately 57 students per academic year. Julie is an active clinician working privately and for the Long and McQuade and Tom Lee education departments, directing workshops and taking clarinet and saxophone sectionals for numerous schools and band retreats. She manages a music production company (Quantum Music Works) which sells original music compositions to media companies for use in film, TV and radio broadcast. Julie continues to perform as a soloist, in stage productions and with chamber music groups in and around Vancouver and guests as lead tenor saxophonist with the Sea to Sky Big Band.