Ormonde Ensemble are a London-based wind quintet who are quickly establishing themselves on the UK’s professional music scene, both collectively and individually. They are particularly passionate about seeking out, commissioning, and performing lesser-known and underrepresented works, and their diverse range of musical experiences allows them to explore more familiar wind quintet repertoire with a fresh and engaging approach.
The quintet have a wealth of performance experience, giving numerous recitals at prominent venues in London and around the UK. Ormonde Ensemble also share a strong commitment to outreach and education work. In 2022/23, they were fellows on Wigmore Hall’s acclaimed Chamber Tots training programme, in which they delivered exciting, engaging, and original musical workshops for young children. They have experience leading educational projects in schools, and are looking forward to expanding this work over the coming year, with the support of an RCM Accelerate grant.
Individually, the group’s players have an extensive and varied range of professional experiences. These include playing with many of the UK’s major symphony orchestras, including the LSO, RPO, LPO, RLPO, Orchestra of the ROH, CBSO, BBC NOW, BBCSSO, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and the London Mozart Players. Two of their members currently hold full-time orchestral positions, in the RLPO and the Gothenburg Opera. The players have also received further professional training through schemes such as the LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts programme and the London Sinfonietta Academy, as well as carrying out outreach and education work around the country with Live Music Now and the RSNO.
Ormonde Ensemble was founded by the group’s members at the beginning of their postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. The group draws upon a wide range of educational backgrounds, with its members having previously studied at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Birmingham, and the Royal Northern and Royal Welsh Colleges of Music.
Members:
Alec ross
Horn
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Alec Ross is a freelance horn player, originally from Glasgow. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Alec has established a wealth of orchestral and chamber playing experience in his career to date, performing in prominent concert venues around the UK and in Europe.
He regularly works with a number of the UK’s leading symphony orchestras, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. During his studies, Alec featured frequently as the Principal Horn of the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, in which he performed under the baton of numerous renowned conductors. He is a passionate and versatile chamber musician, with experience playing in a variety of wind, brass, and string ensembles, ranging from quintets to dectets.
As well as performing, Alec is strongly invested in educational work, carrying this out through projects with Ormonde Ensemble and individual instrumental tuition. Before going on to study French horn performance, he completed his undergraduate degree in Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Birmingham.
Bruce parris
Bassoon
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Bruce Parris plays bassoon and contrabassoon in the Gothenburg Opera, a position he has held since 2024. He has played with numerous orchestras around the UK, including Royal Opera House, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra.
Bruce completed his Master of Performance degree at the Royal College of Music, where he was a Leverhulme Arts Scholar and was taught by Joost Bosdijk, Martin Field, Emily Hultmark and Andrea de Flammineis. His studies there were supported by an ABRSM Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award. Bruce was a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Foyle Future Firsts Professional Development Programme for 2022/23 and took part in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Academy in 2023. In 2016, Bruce was joint-principal bassoon of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Before studying at the Royal College of Music, he completed a Master’s degree in Physics at the University of Oxford.
Cara Houghton
Flute
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An alumna of both the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, Cara Houghton is a freelance flautist, teacher and writer based between London and Manchester. She enjoys playing a broad range of music, but has a particular interest in commissioning and performing contemporary music and was selected as a London Sinfonietta Academy Musician for 2023.
During her studies, Cara had the privilege of learning with many renowned flautists that have helped her to grow her love for not only the flute, but also the piccolo, alto and bass flutes. She enjoys taking this expertise into her outreach work, developing workshops and interactive concerts for Early Years, Primary and SEND schools to introduce participants to the flute family.
Cara has worked with Students’ Unions for several years, becoming the Chair of Conservatoires UK Student Network for 2021/22 and campaigning for the health and support of students across the country. She won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Writer’s Prize in 2022 and has since been featured on the Gramophone website. Her combined passion for playing, teaching, writing and wellness has resulted in the creation of her new project Happy Practice, which will be launched in Summer 2025.
Helena mackie
Oboe
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Helena Mackie started playing the oboe whilst a girl chorister at Salisbury Cathedral. Whilst at secondary school she was taught by the inspirational Liz Fyfe, who encouraged her to make a career as an oboist. After a music degree at the University of Cambridge she went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where she learned with Chris Cowie, Ian Hardwick, Patrick Flanaghan and Jane Marshall. She also studied the baroque oboe with Katharina Spreckelsen. Helena has been principal oboe of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra since September 2023 and has also enjoyed the privilege of freelancing with other major UK orchestras.
Aside from the oboe, Helena is a keen singer and held a choral scholarship in the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with whom she can be heard as a soloist on recordings of music by Arvo Pärt and Benjamin Britten on the Harmonia Mundi Label.
Isaac prince
Clarinet
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Originally from a small village in the Midlands, Isaac Prince made his solo debut in St. David’s Hall, Cardiff performing Mozart’s Concerto For Basset Clarinet, after winning the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama 2021 Concerto Competition. In 2023, he graduated with Distinction from the Royal College of Music in London, as an HR Taylor Charitable Trust Scholar. In his final year of study, Isaac received the Countess of Munster Trust Neil Black Award, becoming the first clarinettist to do so.
Isaac enjoys a variety of freelance engagements, performing regularly with the UK’s top orchestras and opera houses. He was one of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s MMSF Emerging Artists for 2023/24. Isaac also teaches extensively around London, alongside arranging for Ormonde Editions.
Isaac has played in masterclasses with world-leading clarinettists in the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, and the UK. Other recent highlights include performing in the presence of the then-Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall at Llwynywermod, and giving recitals at the Hellensmusic, Bloomsbury and Music in Country Churches Festivals.