About Us
The Bute Wind Quintet is a multi-award winning ensemble, whose mission is to promote contemporary and underperformed chamber music, delivering an uncompromising artistic image to a range of audiences. The Quintet have had a busy 2024, giving recitals at the Beaumaris Festival and Fishguard Music Festival. The group have notably performed for the Royal Society of Musicians, the University of South Wales Graduation Ceremonies and the International Malcolm Arnold Festival. They have held a two year Artists Residency at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre, where they have put on programmes titled; Welsh Spotlight, Contemporary Classics, In Prague, A Parisian Affair, Hungarian Soiree, and Mervyn Burtch: Rediscovered Quintets. The group have given recitals for the Cwmdu Music Concert Series and Concerts at the Crossroads Recital Series.
Individually, Gabriella Alberti (flute), Sam Willsmore (oboe), Hannah Harding (bassoon), Nathan Barker (French horn) and Meg Davies (clarinet) have all freelanced with professional orchestras such as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Welsh National Opera and recently our bassoonist Hannah Harding has joined Sinfonia Smith Square (formerly Southbank Sinfonia) for their 2024/2025 season.
Gabriella Alberti
Flute
Gabriella Alberti is a flautist based in Cardiff, originating from Melbourne, Australia. Gabriella graduated with a Distinction in Orchestral Masters from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, which was funded by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, the A. E. H Nickson Travelling Scholarship and a PPCA Performers Trust grant. Gabriella has worked as a freelance flautist with Welsh National Opera and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She has also played Principal Flute Opera on Location, British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Orchestra de Cymru. In 2023, Gabriella was awarded First Prize in the All Flutes Plus Prize adjudicated by Veronika Klirova, and performed William Alwyn’s Concerto for Flute and Eight Winds with for RWCMD Lunchtime Series.
Sam Willsmore
Oboe
Sam Willsmore studied Oboe at the Guildhall School with Fraser MacAulay, Gordon Hunt, Jane Marshall and Steve Hudson. Sam continued his studies with Steve Hudson, Lucie Sprague, and Patrick Flanaghan, graduating from the MMus Orchestral Performance course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Distinction, where he co-founded the multi-award-winning Bute Wind Quintet. Across his active career he has won multiple awards and prizes, has performed major Concertos, with recent engagements performing the Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Strauss Oboe Concertos, and freelances with professional ensembles such as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Hannah Harding
Bassoon
Hannah Harding is a bassoonist based in London. After gaining a First Class degree in Music from the University of Cambridge, she achieved Distinction on the Orchestral Performance Master's at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She became a member of Sinfonia Smith Square (formerly Southbank Sinfonia) in April 2024 and will be continuing her membership with the orchestra within its 2024-2025 cohort from October 2024. She was recently a member of the Chipping Campden Festival Academy Orchestra for its 2024 festival, and has freelanced with Welsh National Opera, London Concert Orchestra, and Orchestra De Cymru amongst others. She was the recipient of the RWCMD Howarth Double Reed Prize for 2023 for her performance of Adrian Williams' Seven Kilvert Sketches, and sustains her passion for chamber playing as a member of the Bute Wind Quintet.
Nathan Barker
Horn
Nathan Barker is a French Horn player from the North of England. He began playing the horn aged
10, and quickly fell in love with the beautiful sound of the instrument. He went to the University of
York, gaining a BA in Music, where he was taught by Max Garrard and Helen Shillito. Nathan then
went on to further study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, studying with
Jim Mildred, Neil Shewan and Tim Thorpe, for an MMus in Orchestral Performance. Whilst
studying, Nathan began building a freelance career, playing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera. Back in the North East, he now regularly freelances in orchestras and pit bands in the region.
Meg Davies
Clarinet
Meg began playing the clarinet at the age of seven, spending most evenings at Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust. Meg attended RWCMD, studying with Robert Plane, Thomas Verity, Nicholas Carpenter, Timothy Lines, Alison Lambert and Lenny Sayers. She graduated with First-Class Honours in 2022, before returning to RWCMD to graduate with an MMus in Orchestral Performance in 2024. During her studies, Meg won the 2024 RWCMD Concerto Competition with William Mathias’ Clarinet Concerto, which she will perform with RWCMD Symphony Orchestra in 2025 Meg enjoys a freelance career, having played with Welsh National Opera and English Symphony
Orchestra amongst others. She has also been teaching the clarinet and saxophone in multiple schools and in her local community since 2017.