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“The music was linked together by spoken dialogue and description of the composers and some of the events of their lives. They were very together in this effort (which is a novel feature of a recital like this) and the male and female voices complimented each other nicely, and made an appealing sound.

Successful advocates of the music..........a high degree of unanimity and timing. We all know that the viola is somewhere between the violins and cellos in the orchestra, but the educated performance by Ruth Bebb hammered home the smoky individuality of the instrument.”

(Sean Crudden - Independent Media Centre Ireland www.indymedia.ie

Ruth Bebb plays violin and viola. Violin was her main instrument at college, but she took up viola in order to play in a chamber music group, and loved the sound. When she joined the Ulster Orchestra, it was as a viola player, and she is Principal no 2 in the orchestra.

She played first violin in Orion String Quartet - this was made up of players from the orchestra, and it had a long and successful run playing recitals all over Northern Ireland, and recording for BBCNI, as well as playing in Queen's Festival and taking part in educational workshops for the Ulster Orchestra.

Ruth and Chris began playing as Orion Duo about 10 years ago, and both loved the repertoire immediately. They have played all over Northern Ireland for music societies, and during all of their time as a Duo have promoted their own series at Malone House every spring. The Duo offers a range of educational workshops developed for the Ulster Orchestra education department, and Ruth plays a number of unusual instruments in some of these workshops, including the Indian instrument called a ravanhattha, seen in the lower image on the left.

Chris Blake was first horn of the Ulster Orchestra until June 2010, he is now concentrating on piano performance and accompanying, and studying for a Masters in Autism at Queen’s University. He has a lot of experience working with Special Needs children on musical projects, and was recently involved as composer and organiser for a very successful project in the Waterfront Hall involving Special Needs children from all over Northern Ireland, called "Sea Pictures."

Ruth and Chris make up Orion Duo. They are joined for some concerts by other players - John Leeming (section leader of Ulster Orchestra cellos), Chris Blake (1st oboe of the orchestra) and Francesco Paolo Scola (1st clarinet of the orchestra).

Melanie Armitstead studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio after taking a degree in Russian and French at Durham University. She has been a soloist with English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Opera Northern Ireland, Kent Opera and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. She has given recitals in Japan, Spain, France, Holland and all over the UK. She is a recitalist for BBC Radio 3 and has appeared at the BBC Proms on several occasions. Melanie has also produced opera.

She is Senior Singing Teacher at Sherbourne Girl's School in Dorset, and regularly adjudicates for festivals and competitions in Britain and Hong Kong.

Chris Blake is first oboe of the Ulster Orchestra, and has played with us at Malone House as part of our spring series and also on 3 October 2011.

Francesco Paolo Scola was born in Sicily. He studied at the Vincenzo Bellini music conservatory in Palermo, graduating with full marks at the age of 19. He has won a number of national and international competitions, such as the ʻ16th concorso internazionale di esecuzione musicale Provincia di Caltanissettaʼ, and the ʻ3rd concorso di musica Valle del Baroccoʼ, and was selected from all of the European Conservatories to play as soloist at the event “Flauto dʼOro” in Udine in 2001. He is a member of the ensemble "Soni Ventorum" which performs all over Europe. Soon after graduating, Francesco joined the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, playing under conductors such as Riccardo Muti and Placido Domingo. He recently joined the Ulster Orchestra as principal clarinet.

John Leeming is principal cello of the Ulster Orchestra, and has been playing trios with Ruth and Chris for several years now, exploring the best of the classical and romantic repertoire for piano trio.