Jaimee Pickard-Forsyth
Jaimee Forsyth-Pickard began playing clarinet aged twelve and achieved a Distinction in her ABRSM Grade 8 just three years later. She made her concerto debut in 2014, performing Il Carnevale di Venezia. Other performances as soloist include Carmen Fantasy, Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2 (with GSO in 2017), Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and Krommer’s Double Clarinet Concerto. She was a finalist in the European Yamaha Clarinet Competition 2018 and Highly Commended in the Edinburgh Concerto Competition Festival 2016.
Jaimee spent a year at the Junior Conservatoire before completing her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has been taught by eminent clarinetists such as Ruth Ellis, Alison Waller, Yann Ghiro, John Cushing, Lawrence Gill, Joe Pacewicz and Heather Nicoll.
Jaimee has won both the RCS/SCO Side By Side scheme and the RCS/BBC SSO apprenticeship. She has been a member of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and the New Generation Festival Orchestra, and has been guest principal clarinet with the Scottish Sinfonia.
Jaimee currently plays with Glasgow-based international clarinet quartet The Silver Keys.
Laura Hundert
Laura Hundert is an award-winning clarinetist who is passionate about exploring all styles of music and building inclusivity within the arts community. She received the 2022 Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Alumni “Make It Happen” Award, was Highly Commended in the 2019 Governors’ Woodwind Recital Competition, and was a 2018 Classical Concerto Competition finalist. She was awarded the 2018 Young Artist Award at the Zodiac Music Academy & Festival in France, and won the Contemporary Performance Competition at the 2016 Cortona Sessions for New Music in Italy.
As a soloist, Laura has performed with the Nevis Ensemble, the Perth Symphony Orchestra, the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and for the Musica Scotica Celebration of Sir James MacMillan. A contemporary music enthusiast, Laura played with the American Modern Orchestra for the inaugural Mostly Modern Festival in 2018, and attended the 2017 Fresh Inc. Festival with the Fifth House Ensemble.
Laura is currently the Groove Coordinator for Paragon Music, a charity which seeks to make music more accessible to children and adults with disabilities. She holds a Master of Music from the RCS, and a Bachelor of Music with a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where she graduated with High Distinction and was awarded the Anne T. Cummins Prize in Humanities. Her principal teachers have been John Cushing, Kenneth Grant, Luiz Coelho and Louis Gangale.
Laura plays with Glasgow-based international clarinet quartet The Silver Keys.