Niall Keatley began his musical studies at the age of nine at the City of Belfast School of Music. He was a member of the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra and also performed with several marching bands. Niall was principal trumpet of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, performing in some of the best concert halls in Europe. Niall received a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music where his teachers included Ian Balmain, James Watson and John Wallace. During this time Niall was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and spent a short period with the Black Dyke Mills Brass Band.
In 2002 Niall performed Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra as part of the BBC series Last Night of the Proms, Proms in the Park. As well as being a member of Onyx brass, Niall has performed with a number of chamber ensembles including London Brass, LSO Brass, London Winds and the Wallace Collection.

After beginning horn lessons with her mother at the age of eight, Angela Barnes went on to study at Chetham’s School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she was recently invited back as a as a horn teacher. During her final year of studies, she was offered the second post of horn at the LSO, and after joining, she became the first female member of the brass section.
An avid chamber musician, Angela is featured in the second installment of Cala Records’ ‘London Horn Sound’ series and appears alongside tenor Allan Clayton in Britten’s Canticle Three, recorded for BBC Radio 3 as part of the New Generation Artists programme. Solo appearances include Strauss’s Second Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2002 BBC YMOTY Final and as part of Schumann’s Konzertstuck Solo Quartet with the LSO.

Ben Thomson studied at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School and then went on to graduate college. He won BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Soloist of the Year in 2006 and 2007. Since winning the awards Ben has performed concertos with ensembles including the Ulster Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Black Dyke Brass Band, and has given recitals for the Manchester Midday Concert Series at Bridgewater Hall, Leeds International Concert Season and RNCM’s International Festival of Brass.
Ben was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the European Union Youth Orchestra. Since then he has performed with most orchestras in the UK, including as Principal Tuba of the Royal Opera House Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and has also worked overseas, including with the ‘Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, the Sydney Opera House and the Tenerife. Symphony Orchestra.

Patricia studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. While there, she received the prestigious Ulster Bank Fellowship, the GSMD Wind Prize and a scholarship to the Cité de la Musique, Paris, to study with Pierre Boulez and David Robertson.
She now lives in London and enjoys a busy career as an orchestral and chamber musician. She regularly performs with the country’s top symphony orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and chamber orchestras such as the London Mozart Players, Camerata Ireland and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. She also performs with many opera and ballet orchestras, such as the Royal Opera House, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and English National Opera.
Patricia has toured Japan extensively with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Crawford Piano Trio. Her career has seen her perform in the United States, South America, Russia, the Baltic States, China and throughout Europe. She regularly coaches students in major London colleges. She has recorded numerous CDs with Daniel Harding, Valery Gergiev, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink and performed on major film scores such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Rise of the Guardians and Monuments Men. Patricia performed for the Queen at her Golden Jubilee celebrations at Buckingham Palace and for Mikhail Gorbachev’s 80th birthday celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall.

Saito came in first at the 7th Adolphe Sax International Competition and received the award for best interpretation for a new work, becoming the second Japanese to receive the honor of becoming Premier Laureate since the late Hiroshi Hara in 2002.
After graduating from Senzoku Gakuen College of Music with an Excellence Award, he took a special postgraduate course at Tokyo University of the Arts.
He placed third in the saxophone division of the 31st and 34th Japan Wind and Percussion Instrument Competitions. At the 27th Omagari Newcomers Music Festival held in Daisen City, Saito received the Wind Instrument Division Grand Prize and a Special Recognition Award from the Judges. He also placed second at the 9th International Saxophone Competition in Nova Gorica, Slovenia.
Saito performed H. Tomasi’s Saxophone Concerto with the Senzoku Gakuen New Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama).
He studied saxophone with Hiromitsu Kanai, Kazuhiro Ninomiya, Nobuya Sugawa, Masato Ikegami and Hirokazu Hayashida. He also studied chamber music with Masato Ikegami and Sumichika Arimura, as well as jazz saxophone with Tatsuya Sato and MALTA.
He goes by the stage name KENTA as a member of the “Five by Five” saxophone quintet.
He is also concert master of the winds of the Blitz Philharmonic.