C A T F I S H S U M M E R S O I R E E !
Catfish Shorts! Summer Soiree was a pre-Cannes Film Festival networking event and our first event in London, hosted in a beautiful private garden in of Earls Court!
E V E N T P H O T O G R A P H S !
Photographs by Toby Leary: www.tobyleary.co.uk
T H E T E A M !
No event is possible without an incredible team of volunteers!
M U S I C A L T A L E N T
Rachel Watson - Cellist
Rachel Watson was brought up in Aberdeen, and currently lives in Oxford, where she combines cello teaching with a varied performing career. She graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 2011 with a first class degree in Music, before studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Alice Neary. She is interested in a range of musical styles from contemporary classical to klezmer, and also plays the baroque cello. She is actively involved in outreach and education, and was recently a founding member of Street Orchestra London.
Rachel is also founder and Artistic Director of the Scordatura Women's Music Collective. She had the idea for Scordatura when reflecting on her own performance and teaching choices. Although she had studied and listened to a wide range of music written by women, this didn’t translate into her own repertoire. She began by starting a blog on music for cello written by women
(https://henselproject.wordpress.com) and is excited to work with the other Scordatura musicians to expand the range of composers who are regularly heard and performed.
Eloise Riddell - Double Bass
Eloise Riddell is a passionate and versatile musician. She has an MA, BMus (Hons) (in the double bass) and LRAM teaching diploma (with distinction) all from the Royal Academy of Music. Currently, Principal Double Bass of the Street Orchestra of London, she has played with many leading London orchestras including the LSO, Side by Side projects with the Britten Sinfonia and London Sinfonietta. She is a pioneer of new music and chamber works and has commissioned and premiered numerous solo and chamber music works for the bass. She has recorded music for animation, popular music artists and contemporary organisations such as Nonclassical and the Coveryard.
Eloise is very excited to be performing alongside Rachel, whom she met during the Street Orchestra of London tour, as part of Catfish Shorts! Eloise is a member of Rachel’s ‘Scordatura Women’s Collective’ ensemble and will play works from their June concert.
A rising star in the teaching world, Eloise teaches double bass on the Junior Guildhall’s String Training Programme, is the Bass teacher in a number of leading London independent schools, the co-founder of London Basses, which runs regular Double Bass workshops for adults and younger players in London, as well as teaching a number of private pupils of all ages from beginners through to experienced players.
Michael Poll - Classical Guitarist and Composer
Classical guitarist and conductor, Michael Poll, has performed across North America, South America, and Europe, including in Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the National Theatre of Panama. Active both as a performer and a conductor, Poll’s 2016-2017 season includes headline concerts for the Wilderness Festival with Yijia Zhang, the Bloomsbury festival as both guitarist and conductor, six engagements conducting the Goodensemble orchestra in London including a Gala Performance in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, and guitar recitals in Boston, Washington, San Francisco, London, Philadelphia, and New York. Poll’s collaborators have included pianists Stephan Ciric, David Malusa, John Fisher, and Jason Bae, tenor Peter Devoran, barritone Jake Muffett, and his brother conductor Edward Poll.
Michael Poll is currently performing works written for him by Chicago Symphony Orchestra Composer in Residence Elizabeth Ogonek and Royal Opera House/Guildhall Composer Na’ama Zisser. He is also collaborating with Joseph Stillwell, Igor Maia, and David Conte on new works for the instrument, as well as with Helgi Ingvarsson on a new concerto for guitar and orchestra. Poll’s own Three Preludes for solo guitar were premiered in 2012 as a part of the Dresden String Spring festival.
A 2010 Fulbright and a 2012 Marshall Scholar, Michael Poll holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. Poll has been a member of the faculty of the Bryn Mawr Conservatory of Music and the Polish Guitar Academy, a fellow of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and has held scholarships to the Aspen Music Festival and the European American Musical Alliance. He has performed live on the radio in Poland and Panama, and has had music broadcast by the BBC World Service.
M E D I A D E P A R T M E N T
Toby Leary - Photographer
A note from Toby Leary:
I am a London/South East based DOP.
I am just starting out in the world of cinematography exploring and researching ways to shoot, and the results of it. I have grown more towards lighting than anything else, as I feel it contributes more towards the feel and emotion of a piece. Because of this I have been exploring kit and learning ways to light - the most effective way by far is by being on set.
I have had opportunities to watch credited DOP’s like Tim Palmer BSC on set and have used these to inspire and motivate me to create my own work, and hence develop my skills. I feel the best way to learn & improve is through practical means and because of this it gives me the opportunity and edge to learn what goes on and the reasoning behind that.
I love being able to contribute towards a narrative through visuals - and emotivate the scene.