Holly Redshaw is a versatile and accomplished freelance bassoonist based in London. An experienced orchestral musician, Holly has played with the Hallé Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Oxford Philharmonic and Covent Garden Sinfonia. She has performed with the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall and the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble at the Concertgebeouw, Amsterdam, as part of Professional Experience Schemes. For the 22/23 season she was be part of the Southbank Sinfonia, with whom she now regularly freelances.

 

An experienced soloist, in 2021 Holly was the joint overall winner of the RCM Solo Woodwind Prize. In October 2017 she performed Elgar’s Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Manchester University Symphony Orchestra as a prize-winner in their concerto competition.

Holly has a keen interest in contemporary music and has performed works by Harrison Birtwistle, Paul Patterson and George Benjamin in the presence of the composers, the latter in a concert at the Wigmore Hall. In 2018 she gave the world premiere of Dominic Skingle’s piece for bassoon and live electronics, ‘BrQn’. Holly is part of the 2021-2022 cohort for the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s NEXT Scheme, exploring contemporary works alongside other cohort musicians and receiving coaching from members of BCMG and other invited musicians.

 

Holly graduated with a Master of Music in Performance from the Royal College of Music where she studied bassoon with Sarah Burnett, Joost Bosdijk, Andrea de Flammineis and contrabassoon with Martin Field. Her studies at the RCM were generously supported by scholarships from the Derek Butler Scholarship and the David Headley Trust. She previously studied for four years on the ‘Joint Course’ between the University of Manchester (BMus) and Royal Northern College of Music (GRNCM), graduating with First-Class Honours from both institutions in 2019. During her time at the RNCM she studied bassoon with Gretha Tuls, Roberto Giaccaglia, David Chatwin and contrabassoon with Bill Anderson.

 

Alongside her playing, Holly has begun developing her research into how musicians relate to their instruments through her interview series, ‘Personify’. She is also a published poet, featuring in collections for Pareidolia Literary, Pile Press and Unpublishable Zine. In her spare time, Holly enjoys long muddy runs, knitting and trying to perfect her sourdough bread.

 

You can find out more about her on her website.