Sofía Patterson-Guitterrez – Flute
Sofía, from Stockport, is currently studying with Michael Cox at the Royal Academy of Music in London on a full scholarship. Previous to the Academy, she attended Chetham’s School of Music where she studied with Fiona Fulton. She went on to win the Chetham’s concerto competition in 2021 and was the woodwind grand finalist of the BBC Young Musician competition 2022. She was also the principal flute of the National Youth Orchestra in 2022 and 2023. Sofia is very grateful for the opportunities at the Royal Academy, having played as principal in the Academy Symphony Orchestra and was the recent winner of the piccolo prize. This year, Sofia won the Wind, Brass and Percussion final of the Royal Overseas League.
In July 2025, Sofia performed at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany as a soloist and chamber musician representing the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT). Alongside regular appearances in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, recent highlights include concerts as guest-principal flute with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra; performing as one of the solo “Shadow Flutes” in Boulez’s “Explosante-Fixe” with the London Sinfonietta; winning the Academy’s Altus Flutes William Bennet Prize; playing with the Aurora Orchestra for the premiere of Colin Matthews’s opera “A Visit to Friends” at the Aldeburgh Festival; performances with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall; and a solo and chamber recital at the Wigmore Hall. Masterclass highlights at the Academy include. Lorna McGhee, Gareth Davies, Emily Beynon, Adam Walker, Silvia Carredu, Benoît Fromanger, and Denis Bouriakov.
Emily Long – Oboe
Emily is in her third year reading music at Clare College Cambridge. Currently studying the oboe with Christopher Cowie through the CAMRAM scheme, she previously attended the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Jo Lively and Debbie Goodyer. Here, she performed the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto with the Senior Strings Chamber Orchestra under Suzie Collier. Her passion for orchestral music was fuelled by her time as the principal oboist of the National Youth Orchestra in 2022 and 2023.
Now, she is the principal oboist of the Cambridge University Orchestra, and has played with the Dmitri Ensemble in Sinfonia Smith Square. She plays in other recitals, chamber groups and orchestras throughout the university, such as featuring as the cor anglais soloist in Copland’s Quiet City and playing in the Cambridge Camerata . She has enjoyed performing in masterclasses with Alexei Ogrintchouk and Nicholas Daniel. Next year, Emily will study as for a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music on an entrance scholarship.
Raj Bhaumik – Clarinet
Raj Bhaumik is a London-based clarinettist with a wide range of professional performance experience. His orchestral experience includes concerts with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Gabrieli Consort and Players, the Vauxhall Band, the Britten-Peers Contemporary Ensemble and the Academy Symphony Orchestra. Raj has also benefitted from the training of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House’s “Overture” Scheme and is currently on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Experience Scheme.
Raj commenced studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 2023, on an ABRSM Scholarship. Raj studies Clarinet with Christopher Richards, Sonia Sielaff, Maura Marinucci; E-Flat Clarinet with Chi-Yu Mo and Thomas Watmough; Bass Clarinet with Laurent Ben Slimane; and Historical Clarinets with Katherine Spencer.
Raj was a member of NYOGB for 5 years, which included one as principal, and a feature on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune.” Other notable solo achievements include a broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland’s “Classics Unwrapped,” and duo recitals at St Cyprian’s Lenzie, Southwark Cathedral and the Tetbury Goods Shed. Concerto performances have included Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue and Riffs” at the Royal Academy of Music with Jeroen Berwaerts; Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto with the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Symphony Orchestra, and a tour of Scott McAllister’s “Black Dog” with Edinburgh Youth Orchestra. Raj has won awards from Glasgow Music Festival and the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain, and recently at the Academy won first in the Buffet Crampon Clarinet Prize and second in the Nancy Nuttal Early Music Prize. Raj is the clarinet teacher at the Youth Music Centre in North London.
Chloe Harrison – French Horn
Chloe is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music under a full scholarship (Drapers Company for Music Award) with David Pyatt, Richard Watkins and Martin Owen. She has appeared as principal horn with the Academy Symphony Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival under Edward Gardner, performed at the Wigmore Hall with the Academy Chamber Soloists Ensemble, and won the 2024 John Solomon Brass Prize at RAM.
As a soloist, performances include Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with James Gilchrist, Strauss’s 2nd Horn Concerto with the Islington Sinfonia, Mozart’s 4th Horn Concerto with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with the Camerata Chamber Orchestra. Chloe regularly performs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Her other orchestral experience includes playing with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and with the Britten Sinfonia at Wigmore Hall. Formerly Principal Horn in the National Youth Orchestra through 2022-2024, she now contributes to its outreach projects in collaboration with NYO Inspire.
Tom Donkin – Bassoon
Tom is currently studying with Robin O’Neill, Jonathan Davies, and Fraser Gordon at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) under full Entrance Scholarship. Tom recently visited Jordan as guest-principal bassoon with the Amman Chamber Orchestra. His other recent orchestral performances include multiple appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, including Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 at St Paul’s Cathedral. At the academy he has played Scheherazade (principal) and Mahler’s 4th Symphony (contrabassoon) with the Royal Academy’s Symphony Orchestra; and a full season as principal bassoon with the Odyssey Festival Orchestra. Tom is currently on trial with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the role of Associate Principal Bassoon (No.2).
Before joining RAM, he studied at the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for six years. Tom won the Junior Conservatoire’s Concerto Competition in 2022 and was awarded distinction for his Bassoon Diploma ARSM exam in 2023. He was a member of the National Children’s Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYOGB) and Joint Principal Bassoon for the NYO-GB in 2023. In 2023-2024, Tom was the Young Artist of the Year for the Moffat Music Society and a member of the prestigious Overture Programme at the Royal Opera House.
Dogoda Quintet 