Born: Scotland

Studied: The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Career before the Royal Ballet Sinfonia: I was just doing the usual freelance/audition rounds. I was also quite heavily involved in education work.

Joined: 1992

Favourite piece of music: Jesse Norman’s recording of Strauss's Four Last Songs always hits the mark. There is something about her phrasing that is visceral and always evokes an emotional response.

First ballet you watched: La Fille mal gardée and my Mum had to stop me dancing along!

First album: 10cc's Deceptive Bends. It is so clever and it has aged pretty well.

Why the piccolo? It chose me. The waiting list at school for the clarinet was too long (thank goodness) and my fingers were too small for the oboe (thank goodness). My piano teacher’s husband was second flute in the Hallé orchestra at the time, so I started the flute.

Favourite ballet to play: Daphnis and Chloé, any Stravinsky ballet and Cinderella. As a piccolo player, all those composers treat the piccolo as a voice in itself and a proper instrument, not just the sparkly icing on the cake.

Most challenging non-musical thing you have done: Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I have never felt so ill in my life, it was really tough and largely pretty unpleasant.

A person outside who inspires you: Lots of people, it’s hard to narrow it down. At the moment it is a young woman from the UK who is cycling the length of South America over a year. She is very inspiring in many ways: her courage, her tales of the depth of human kindness that she is meeting along her journey, her use of language in documenting the journey. Her tales are very positive and life affirming. I am also listening to Trevor Noah’s podcasts. I find him really insightful whilst being entertaining.

Interests outside of work: Exercising and playing Pickleball.