Press and Contact

• concerto performances
• recitals
• workshops
• masterclasses
• handmade reeds

Contact Celia:

celia@celiacraig.com.au

"Celia, interviewed live on stage with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, by TV presenter Dave Benson Phillips and conductor Jurian Hempel."

"Celia plays oboes by Marigaux and cors anglais by Patricola. Her instruments are maintained and serviced by Richard Craig."

“…eloquent…the wonderful Celia Craig..” London Evening Standard

“….a marvellous cor anglais player…” The Telegraph

“..excellent...sinuously melodic and beautifully phrased…” The Times

“…Celia Craig’s sound…full and eloquent….” The Guardian

Celia has performed, toured and broadcast all over the globe, working with some of the world’s top players, soloists and conductors on a daily basis. Based in the Blue Mountains near Sydney since late 2006, she makes regular trips back to the UK to teach and perform. Before emigrating, Celia was Principal cor anglais (and former Chairman) of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, based at the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican and was a regular guest player with the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom she toured in Russia in 2006 with principal conductor Valery Gergiev. Other UK orchestras that have invited her to guest with them regularly include the City of Birmingham Symphony, The London Philharmonic and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Her discography includes recordings of the complete Walton orchestral music with Andrew Litton and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the complete Vaughan Williams Symphonies with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Kees Bakels, live television broadcasts of The Rite of Spring with Valery Gergiev and Daphnis and Chloe with Pierre Boulez. She can also be heard on film soundtracks recorded at Abbey Road in London and Trackdown in Sydney. In 1996 the Royal Academy of Music awarded her an Honorary Associateship for her achievements in the music profession.

Since moving to Australia with her family, the distinguished instrument technician and Music Director Richard Craig and their two children, Celia has been in constant demand as a freelance player. She has appeared with the Australia Ensemble, the Sydney Soloists, broadcast on ABC Classic FM and 2MBSFM radio stations and was a guest artist performing with Michael Cox at the Sydney Flute Festival 2008. As an experienced orchestral player, she has performed with the Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmanian, Adelaide and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras as well as the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Australian Idol orchestra. Celia has been invited to give masterclasses, recitals, reedmaking demonstrations and performances all over Australia, New Zealand and the UK and has formed a duo with the distinguished organist Amy Johansen.  Her most recent project is the co-founding with Kirsten Williams, co-associate Concertmaster of the Sydney Symphony, of Sound Academy- an exciting new chamber ensemble featuring some of Australia’s most acclaimed string players.

Equally at home in front of the orchestra as within it, Celia was Principal Oboe of the London Chamber Players for three years and performed as soloist in tours of Europe and the Far East. With the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with whom she was appointed principal cor anglais in 1998, she was frequently featured as soloist on television, radio and in concert, and sold out Gloucester Cathedral at the Three Choirs Festival in 2003. Again featured as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra immediately after joining in 2003, she performed with conductors Sir Andrew Davies and John Adams at the Royal Albert Hall on live television. She engages with her audience in performance, with critics frequently describing her playing as ‘eloquent’. As an East Midland Arts Sponsored Artist she  performed concerti and recitals in the East Midlands area of Britain, her performance of the Strauss Concerto with the York Chamber Orchestra being described as “a most moving rendition.” Celia was invited to partner the young British trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Copland’s ‘Quiet City’. In recognition of Celia’s outstanding talent, the BBC commissioned a solo work for her with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. ‘Tristessa’ by Michael Berkeley, was recorded under Richard Hickox in 2003 and chosen by Gramophone Magazine as Editors Choice of the Month. With a continuing interest in contemporary music, Celia has worked closely with many of the great names of 20th century music including Boulez, Berio, Bernstein, Adams, Andriessen, Carter, Ligetti, Birtwhistle, Knussen,  Michael Gordon, James MacMillian and John Cale. In 1990 she gave the UK premiere of Carter’s ‘Pastorale’ for cor anglais, marimba and strings at the Royal Academy of Music in the presence of the composer.

Celia’s eminence has been recognized by her invitation to judge the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2006 on national television. She was invited to be an expert panel member and guest principal oboe for  the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and has been frequently interviewed on radio and on stage. The BBC also commissioned a piece for Celia for solo cor anglais from the Spanish composer Carlos Miranda for national radio broadcast, the world premiere performance of which will be given in Birmingham at IDRS2009.

Committed to education and connecting players all over the globe, in 2007 Celia was elected President of the Australasian Double Reed Society. In 2009 she will travel to Birmingham UK to perform as a featured artist and delegate for Australia at the International Double Reed Society Conference. Celia now teaches oboe at Sydney Grammar School and gives consultation lessons to all levels of players on oboe and cor anglais. She has been invited as a guest lecturer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Professor of Cor Anglais at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and external examiner at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Celia herself studied with Nicholas Daniel at the Purcell School for gifted musicians in Harrow where she was a scholarship holder. She won awards, scholarships and prizes while studying as an Exhibitioner at the Royal Academy in London , including the National Festival of Music for Youth Oboe Competition at the Southbank, and the Craxton Chamber Music Prize at the Royal Academy of Music, as well as awards from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Celia was awarded places in the European Community Youth Orchestra, conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the first Pacific Music Festival Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas. In 1989 she graduated with honours in Music from the University of York.