Brass

Matthew Knight is Co-Principal Trombone of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, where he also serves as Vice-Chairman, having been a member of the orchestra’s Board since 2015. He has performed with almost all of the UK orchestras, often as a Guest Principal with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Knight graduated with a starred first in music from Cambridge University, where he was Senior Choral Scholar at Gonville & Caius College. From 2005 to 2008, he was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music as a postgraduate, receiving a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and the 2008 Principal’s Prize. In 2016, he was appointed an Associate of the Academy and now teaches the trombone at the Royal College of Music.

Along with fellow Academy graduate Simon Cox, Knight is Artistic Director of the brass septet Septura, described by trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom as setting a standard ‘absolutely higher than brass playing has ever been before’. Currently Ensemble in Residence at the Academy, the group is recording a series of 10 discs for Naxos Records, each focused on a particular period, genre and set of composers. Septura has performed around the world, including tours to New Zealand, Japan and the USA, and has recently made its debut in the Chamber Music Season at Wigmore Hall.

An active composer, arranger and orchestrator, Knight has arranged music for nine of Septura’s releases so far, as well as arranging and orchestrating for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Classic FM.

Huw Morgan is Principal Trumpet of the Sinfonieorchester Basel in Switzerland, a founder member of the acclaimed brass ensemble Septura and Assistant Lecturer at the Musikhochschule Luzern. He has won a number of international trumpet competitions including the Prague Spring, Ellsworth Smith, Girolamo Fantini, Only Brass and Lieksa.

Recent solo highlights include concerto appearances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, Hamburg Camerata, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Irish Chamber Orchestra. He has also featured at numerous international festivals including Cheltenham, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ticino, International Trumpet Guild and Kaposvár. A passionate exponent of contemporary music, Morgan has premiered works by Leif Segerstam, Paul Max Edlin, Karl Jenkins and Jonathan Harvey.

Morgan has been featured on over thirty commercially available recordings (EMI, Decca, Chandos) and can be heard as the solo trumpeter on the soundtrack to the BAFTA-nominated film, Me and Orson Welles. The first album in his ground-breaking series for Naxos Records, The Art of the Modern Trumpet, has garnered international acclaim since its release in 2019, described variously as a “sensational debut”, “exquisitely interpreted”, and “played with great elegance”. The second and third volumes will be released in 2021.

Alongside his solo activities, Morgan appears regularly as guest principal with many leading ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and Nash Ensemble. A frequent guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, he has presented masterclasses throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.

Born in South Wales, Morgan studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music and the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. His principal teachers included John Dickinson, Murray Greig, James Watson, Mark David, Robert Farley, and Frits Damrow.

Huw Morgan is a Yamaha Artist.

Kira Doherty moved to London from Quebec in 2004 to complete her studies at the Royal Academy of Music at postgraduate level. After graduating in 2006, she enjoyed a varied freelance career before accepting the post of Second Horn in the Philharmonia Orchestra in 2013. She has appeared as a guest orchestral player with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, among others. In 2014, Doherty joined the board of the Philharmonia and held the post of chairman for two years before stepping down in 2018 to focus on her part-time studies in history. She has recently completed a Master’s degree at Oxford University, focusing on the social history of unlawful hunting in the 17th century. Doherty also teaches at the Royal College of Music.

Photo by Marina Vidor Philharmonia Orchestra