Kirsty holds the position of Sub-Principal First Violin with the English National Ballet Philharmonic and performs extensively across a wide range of musical genres. She appears with leading UK orchestras, in musical theatre, and on recordings for film, television, and contemporary artists. Her work has taken her internationally across Europe, Japan, China, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. In 2025, she was awarded the Barbara Harrison-Frank Award.
Kirsty works regularly with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, and the Oxford Philharmonic. With these orchestras, she often appears on BBC Radio 3, including on Friday Night Is Music Night.
Her recording credits include Harry Potter, Snow White, Hallmark movies, and numerous Netflix releases. She has recorded for BBC programmes including Blue Planet, Wild Isles, Planet Earth, and Call the Midwife, and collaborated with contemporary artists Anne-Marie, James Hoffman, and Mnelia. She has also recorded solo violin and viola for the National Theatre.
Kirsty enjoys musical theatre and performs regularly as a deputy violinist on West End shows and tours including Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella, Guys and Dolls, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. In 2024, she toured the UK with Carrie Hope-Fletcher, performing at the London Palladium, and in 2025 she was violin chair holder for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
She has performed onstage alongside artists including Ed Sheeran at the Brit Awards, Nothing But Thieves for BBC Sport, Adam Lambert on ITV's Starstruck, Marti Pellow on ITV's This Morning, Jamie Cullum, Susan Boyle, the Snuts, Rufus Wainwright, Natasha Bedingfield, Lemar, Father John Misty, Aoife O'Donovan, Evanescence, Unknown T, Adekunle Gold, NSG, and Erland Cooper, with whom she performed as principal violin for his 2021 tour and live on BBC Radio 3.
She has performed privately for Beyoncé and Jay-Z, in the King's Gallery at Buckingham Palace and at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
As a keen chamber musician, Kirsty has been invited to perform at festivals including Mendelssohn on Mull, Festival MusicAlpe, and the Cantelina Music Festival. She was a founding member of the Corran Quartet, which was invited to be Quartet in Residence at the Music Cordiale International Festival in France, and was selected as a quartet for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in 2021.
She holds a Master of Arts with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music and a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. During her studies, she won numerous prizes, including the Hilda Bailey Prize for Violin, the Mabel Glover Prize for Chamber Music, the Thomas and Margaret Roddan Scholarship, the Wolfson Scholarship, the Donald Dewar Scholarship, and support from the Open Music Foundation.
Kirsty also studied Baroque violin at the Royal Academy of Music, Traditional Scottish fiddle at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and took piano as a second study during her Bachelor’s degree. She is a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music in violin teaching.
She is proud to be a co-founder of the award-winning live music company Dahlia Music, managing its London base. Part-time, she gained a Diploma in Paralegal Studies from the National Paralegal College and holds an Advanced Diploma in Nutrition.
Kirsty is grateful to the Harrison-Frank Foundation to be playing on a beautiful Silvestre violin.