Abi Adam & Ingrid Sawers (Piano and Bassoon) – Classical Concert Series

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Abi Adam studied bassoon with Edgar Williams and piano with Margaret Wakeford at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow firstly as a McFarlane Scholar at the Junior RSAMD, then as an undergraduate and post-graduate student before going on to participate, thanks to a Countess of Munster Scholarship, in the National Centre for Orchestral Studies in London graduating with distinction. She successfully auditioned to be a soloist with the NCOS and performed the Mozart Concerto in January 1989. 

Between 1985 and 1988 she was principal bassoon with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. In 1988 she won the prestigious Governors’ Recital Prize for Woodwind at the RSAMD, awarded by the eminent oboist Anthony Camden who described her playing as world class, as did Jack Brymer in an RSAMD woodwind masterclass. 

She has freelanced since the age of 16 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Baroque Ensemble, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and has appeared as a soloist on numerous occasions performing the Mozart, Weber, Gordon Jacob concertos and many of the forty Vivaldi concertos. 

From 1982 to 1990 she was a member of the highly successful Flaxton Ensemble a professional wind quintet which is renowned for commissioning and giving the first performance of Sir James McMillan’s Untold, a work which quintets continue to add to their repertoire as a significant work in this field. 

She is currently exploring repertoire that reflects the natural world that is particularly atmospheric, capturing different facettes of the bassoon’s tonal range, and working towards a further qualification as a Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music. 

Ingrid Sawers is in demand as one of the UK’s finest accompanists and chamber musicians, performing widely throughout the UK, Europe, and Canada. She is equally at home performing vocal repertoire at the Oxford Lieder Festival or instrumental music at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg. Work as a soloist ranges from Mozart’s Ch’io mi scordi di te, with soprano Lorna Anderson, to Berio’s Sequenza IV. She has toured widely with Classic FM presenter John Suchet in his talk Beethoven – The Last Master, has performed for HRH Prince Charles at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and broadcast on BBC Arts and BBC Radio 3 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Ingrid has a long-standing commitment to new music and has given premieres of works by many composers including Judith Bingham, Thomas Adès, Graham Fitkin, Martin Butler, Richard Causton, Eddie McGuire and Andrew Keeling. With saxophonist Sue McKenzie, she has performed live on BBC radio and released two CDs by Mckenzie Sawers Duo, The Coral Sea and After the Tryst, (Delphian Records) to critical acclaim. Other recordings include works by Anthony Whittaker, Scree with Manon Lewis (oboe) and Serenata with Steven Wilkie (violin), and Memory Box by Andrew Keeling. A keen collaborator, Ingrid has worked with instrumentalists from all the major Scottish orchestras, the Curve Dance Foundation, the Calton Consort and with many leading young singers including Claire Debono, Carolyn Dobbin, Nicholas Mulroy, Nicky Spence and Alexander Grove.

As a rehearsal pianist Ingrid has worked with international soloists and conductors including Peter Maxwell Davies, Joseph Swenson and Antonio Pappano, and for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent, Edinburgh International Festival Chorus and Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. Ingrid was educated at Edinburgh University, and studied piano with Peter Evans, Alexandra Andrievsky and Roger Vignoles. She has taken part in masterclasses with Imogen Cooper at the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Peter Donohoe at the Edinburgh International Festival and with lieder specialists Paul Hamburger and Malcolm Martineau.

Additionally, she has a thriving practice as a teacher and coach including vocal coaching at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, staff accompanist at Oxenfoord International Summer School and travelling worldwide as an ABRSM examiner for Classical Grades, Jazz Grades and Diplomas.