Kirsten grew up in a musical family in Northampton, where playing with the county youth orchestra and other ensembles cultivated her passion for orchestral and chamber music. She studied the cello at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Alice Neary and Rosie Biss, achieving BMus and MMus degrees in 2010 and 2012. She also took baroque cello lessons with Joseph Crouch. Whilst there, she gained a place on the orchestral schemes with both the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera orchestras, rehearsing and performing with them on several projects.
Kirsten plays on a Peter Wamsley cello c.1750, and enjoys a varied portfolio career with Cardiff as her base. She has performed with the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, British Sinfonietta, Welsh Chamber Orchestra, International Film Orchestra, Welsh Sinfonia, Cardiff Sinfonietta, Orchestra De Cymru, and the Alternative Orchestra. She also plays with her own chamber group, Borders Ensemble, a flexible combination of clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. Additionally, she performs regularly with the Electrik Live Orchestra, a touring ELO tribute band.
She has played with many musical organisations, including Leeway Productions, Concept Players, the South Wales Gay Men’s Chorus, Songbirds Choir, Llandaff Choral Society, the Women’s Arts Association in Wales, and Dance Company Wales. She has recorded and performed extensively with artist David Ian Roberts and appears on 4 of his albums and EPs, as well as albums by Novo Amor, Eleanor Brown, Samuel Barnes, and Ed Tullett. She has also recorded or performed for composers Alexander Thacker, Rob Westwood, Christopher Fossey, and Yfat Soul Zizzo.
Kirsten loves curating inclusive musical experiences for diverse audiences, which she does through her outreach work with Live Music Now, Arts Active, and Music in Hospitals and Care. As a proud member of the LGBT community, Kirsten’s passion project is researching and performing music by LGBT women and non-binary composers. She believes that through music, you can educate, tell stories, and heal wounds. She also composes and arranges music herself.
Kirsten qualified as an ITM Alexander Technique teacher in 2018. She shares this fascinating work through one-on-one and group lessons in and around Cardiff, as well as teaching at the UK ITM Alexander Technique training weekends and summer workshops.
When she’s not playing her cello or teaching, Kirsten enjoys reading, singing, and Lindyhop dancing!
