Woodwind
Oboes
Lynn Marcell Carter 
Born in the American Midwest, Lynn studied with Ray Still, first oboist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At 21 she was offered the job of Principal Oboe of the Orquesta Filarmonica de la UNAM in Mexico City, where she enjoyed frequent solo and chamber work. In 1977 she moved to Germany to study with Heinz Holliger at the Freiburger Musikhochschule, after which she played in many German and Swiss orchestras, including the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra, where she was a soloist, touring all over Europe and North America. She came to Somerset in 1985, and plays with many local groups as well as being a founder member of OrchestraWest.
As well as her oboe skills, Lynn is a fine singer and can frequently be heard in the alto section of Amici – when she’s not playing in the band!
As well as her oboe skills, Lynn is a fine singer and can frequently be heard in the alto section of Amici – when she’s not playing in the band!
Flutes
Catherine Handley
Catherine Handley studied the flute with Gareth Morris at the Royal Academy of Music where she received a special prize for woodwind playing and completed her training at the National Centre for Orchestral Studies
Her playing career of orchestral and chamber music is varied. She plays principal flute with the Welsh Sinfonia, Orchestra West and the West of England Philharmonic Orchestra and has played with the Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic, BBC Concert, Royal Philharmonic and English Symphony Orchestras and also the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Chamber music recitals including flute and harp duos and wind quintets have taken Catherine all over the UK and Ireland.
She has recorded for HTV, BBC and ABC Radio in Australia and is a score-reader for BBC Classical Music productions.
Catherine has taught in Wells Cathedral School, Christs College Brecon, Colstons Girls School Bristol and presently in the Junior Department of the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Out of hours, she enjoys hill-walking, swimming, tennis and playing and singing folk music.
Her playing career of orchestral and chamber music is varied. She plays principal flute with the Welsh Sinfonia, Orchestra West and the West of England Philharmonic Orchestra and has played with the Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic, BBC Concert, Royal Philharmonic and English Symphony Orchestras and also the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Chamber music recitals including flute and harp duos and wind quintets have taken Catherine all over the UK and Ireland.
She has recorded for HTV, BBC and ABC Radio in Australia and is a score-reader for BBC Classical Music productions.
Catherine has taught in Wells Cathedral School, Christs College Brecon, Colstons Girls School Bristol and presently in the Junior Department of the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Out of hours, she enjoys hill-walking, swimming, tennis and playing and singing folk music.
Clarinets
Michael Langdon Davies
Michael Langdon-Davies studied the clarinet at the Guildhall School of Music with the great Israeli clarinettist, Yona Ettlinger. During his career he has played principal clarinet with orchestras touring in Italy, France and Germany, as well as Britain. His chamber music, solo, and teaching activities also take him all over Europe. In recent years, he has given many solo recitals, including concerts at St. George’s Brandon Hill and the Purcell Room. He now lives in the West Country.
Bassoons
Shelly Organ 
Shelly Organ was born in Somerset in 1979. Her musical studies began at the Somerset Rural Music School and at The Blake School, Bridgwater where she was taught bassoon by Stephen Fawcett. She later studied as a DfES Scholar at Wells Cathedral School and then at Cambridge University. Shelly went on to study at the Royal College of Music, winning scholarships from the RCM/John Lewis Partnership, The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund and The Ann Driver Trust.
Since graduating from the RCM in 2002 with distinction and the Arthur Somerville Prize, Shelly has given numerous recitals with her duo partner Matthew Schellhorn, in England (most recently at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Germany and the Far East, combining her solo career with a post as principal bassoonist of the Southbank Sinfonia (2002 - 2003), freelance orchestral playing and teaching. She has recently been on trial as second bassoon with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, performing Rossini’s La Cenerentola throughout the 2005 Winter tour, and also with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the position of Associate Principal bassoon. She was awarded the Antony Saltmarsh Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music during 2003 - 2005.
Shelly has been the soloist in concertos with the chamber orchestras of St Catherine’s and Girton Colleges, Cambridge, the Somerset County Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia. As a chamber musician, Shelly performs throughout the country with Opera Box’s Mozartissimo and plays regularly with the Gallimaufry Ensemble, Thorne Trio and Syrinx Ensemble. As a member of the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra she performs frequently in the Purcell Room, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. John’s Smith Square.
Shelly’s interest in contemporary music has led to performances and recordings with Camberwell Composers Collective (Aldeburgh Festival 2005), Contemporary Consort, New Perspectives Ensemble, and study at the Dartington International Summer School. She has active associations with many composers and has commissioned several new works, including Humoresque, Interlude and a concerto by rising British composer Tim Watts, as well as solo pieces from Jeffery Wilson, Before the Chakra, and Anna Meredith, Axe Man (for electric bassoon).
With assistance from The Felicity Belfield Music Trust and The Foundation for Sports and the Arts, Shelly performs on a Püchner bassoon.
Shelly Organ was born in Somerset in 1979. Her musical studies began at the Somerset Rural Music School and at The Blake School, Bridgwater where she was taught bassoon by Stephen Fawcett. She later studied as a DfES Scholar at Wells Cathedral School and then at Cambridge University. Shelly went on to study at the Royal College of Music, winning scholarships from the RCM/John Lewis Partnership, The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund and The Ann Driver Trust. Since graduating from the RCM in 2002 with distinction and the Arthur Somerville Prize, Shelly has given numerous recitals with her duo partner Matthew Schellhorn, in England (most recently at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Germany and the Far East, combining her solo career with a post as principal bassoonist of the Southbank Sinfonia (2002 - 2003), freelance orchestral playing and teaching. She has recently been on trial as second bassoon with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, performing Rossini’s La Cenerentola throughout the 2005 Winter tour, and also with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the position of Associate Principal bassoon. She was awarded the Antony Saltmarsh Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music during 2003 - 2005.
Shelly has been the soloist in concertos with the chamber orchestras of St Catherine’s and Girton Colleges, Cambridge, the Somerset County Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia. As a chamber musician, Shelly performs throughout the country with Opera Box’s Mozartissimo and plays regularly with the Gallimaufry Ensemble, Thorne Trio and Syrinx Ensemble. As a member of the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra she performs frequently in the Purcell Room, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. John’s Smith Square.
Shelly’s interest in contemporary music has led to performances and recordings with Camberwell Composers Collective (Aldeburgh Festival 2005), Contemporary Consort, New Perspectives Ensemble, and study at the Dartington International Summer School. She has active associations with many composers and has commissioned several new works, including Humoresque, Interlude and a concerto by rising British composer Tim Watts, as well as solo pieces from Jeffery Wilson, Before the Chakra, and Anna Meredith, Axe Man (for electric bassoon).
With assistance from The Felicity Belfield Music Trust and The Foundation for Sports and the Arts, Shelly performs on a Püchner bassoon.
Martin Gatt
Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Martin’s first musical experience was learning the piano with his father from the age of three. He took up percussion aged 11 and was accepted into the National Youth Orchestra two years later. However, when asked at school what instrument he would like to learn he agreed to try the bassoon, having been told that the French Horn had been taken, and that was that.
He studied with Archie Camden at the Royal College of Music, London and aged 21 became Principal Bassoonist i n the London Philharmonic Orchestra where he stayed for 8 years. During the last 4 of these he also played Principal with the newl y formed English Chamber Orchestra , and when that became a full time post he left the L.P.O. and during the next 10 years devoted his time to playing for such conductors as Britten, Barenboim, and Leppard.
Martin also devoted a great deal of time to all forms of chamber music, and during his years in the E.C.O. also played with The Academy of St. Martins in the Fields , became a founder member of the London Sinfonietta and with Barry Tuckwell founded the Tuckwell Wind Quintet which performed and recorded all over the World for the next 20 years.
In 1978 he was invited by the L.S.O. to become their Principal bassoon, and there he stayed until 1998 when, looking for a quieter pace of life and a new and different challenge, he and his wife, Liz, moved to the West Country, where he has become a member of the Bath Philharmonia, Wessex Winds, West of England Philharmonic in Bristol, and commutes to London to play and teach. Since leaving the L.S.O. he has deputised in the BBC Symphony Orchestra, B.B.C. National Orchestra of Wales, City of Birmingham Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra, and regularly plays in the London based Brandenburg Sinfonia.
He was Professor of Bassoon at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for 20 years and was awarded F.G.S.M in 1979. During a 3 year sabbatical from the L.S.O. (1984-1987) he set up and ran the Department of Wind and Brass at the newly opened Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and resumed teaching in London at the Royal College of Music where, in 2002 he was elected a Fellow.
He has recorded most of the Solo and Chamber repertoire for E.M.I. ,Phillips, Decca, R.C.A. and has performed as soloist world wide.
Most recent activities include forming the Lynn Trio with his pianist Margaret Lynn from Hong Kong and Jane Finch (oboe) with whom he has played and recorded Chamber music repertoire during the last 8 years, and establishing a music publishing company with his friend and horn-playing colleague, Paul Sawbridge. With the Trio he recorded Poulenc and Francaix trios in April and with Margaret Lynn with whom he has performed and recorded exclusively as a duo since 1984, he will record a selection of his favourite Lieder & Arias arranged for bassoon and piano in July 2006, a sequel to their much acclaimed CD of transcriptions of instrumental works of Schumann & Brahms
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