Sue McKenzie is a Yanagisawa UK Artist / D’Addario Woodwinds Artist and a Director of the Scottish Saxophone Academy.  Her UK/USA trio, Multifarious (with banjo player / composer Paul Elwood and cellist Susan Mayo) has performed in Scotland, France, Croatia and the US.  

Sue was a recent guest artist at the RADD Jazz Series (University of Wisconsin River Falls, US) and has recently given masterclasses at University of Tennessee (Chattanooga, US) and Georgia Southern University (US).

She regularly performs with the internationally renowned Salsa Celtica, Grupo Magnetico, Glasgow Improvisor's Orchestra and Australian DJ, Hot Dub Time Machine. Recent gigs include Jazz Cafe / 606 Club (London), West Holts Stage (Glastonbury), and with BBC DJ Sara Cox.

As part of the McKenzie Sawers Duo, Sue has given UK and Scottish premieres of many new works and has released two albums (“The Coral Sea” / “After the Tryst”) with Delphian Records. She was an Assistant Director of the 16th World Saxophone Congress (2012) and is the leader of the Scottish Saxophone Ensemble.

More information can be found on Sue McKenzie's website here.

Steph read Music at the University of Liverpool, specialising in composition and orchestration. Following this she trained as a Music teacher and began working in Liverpool at a specialist Arts College. After a return to her home in the Isle of Man, she became Director of Music at the esteemed Liverpool College, then moved internationally as Director of Music at Kellett School in Hong Kong, followed by Doha College.

 As a choral conductor, Steph has led many choirs, music festivals and productions over the years. A pianist and singer herself, Steph enjoys sacred music and has performed in numerous choirs and at festivals. 

As a Director and Producer, Steph hosted the COBIS Music Festival 2023 in Qatar, alongside Qatar School Choir of the Year from 2018-2023. She developed the competition from a small Primary event over five years, to a large through-school model, with 28 choirs and over 1200 children entering at its peak. Steph has also produced Qatar National Battle of the Bands and directed the community choir Doha Singers - Qatar’s longest running choral group for adults. 

Steph has held numerous professional development events for music teachers and students, alongside concerts, recitals and large-scale productions. She is delighted to have been asked to adjudicate the composition and performance at this year’s festival in Bahrain, including holding a choral workshop for the students. 

Her top tip to those submitting compositions is to really think about how their melody and texture develops throughout their piece, alongside how they exploit the instruments/timbre and range to their best potential - good luck composers! She also has a keen interest in sequencing and music technology and would like to see young composers push the boundaries with electronic music production; synthesising their own samples and loops. “For those performing, always take a breath before you begin, settle yourself and remember the audience is always with you, wanting you to do well - so enjoy it!”

Jamie enjoys a varied musical career as a performer, accompanist and teacher. Since graduating from Edinburgh Napier University in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in music he spent a number of years freelancing in and around Edinburgh and built up a portfolio career in accompanying, working with individual singers and instrumentalists to choirs and musical theatre production teams. The latter being a particular interest, he has worked as a musical director for a number of shows and played keyboards in many others and also held posts in choral direction.

 A notable highlight was performing a programme of solo piano repertoire at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The reviews of this sell-out concert were full of praise:

... there is a maturity, warmth of tone and engaging flair here which flow from his jazz tradition but do not disturb the finer classical line.

As a teacher Jamie has worked for Loretto School, Mansfield School of Music and Edinburgh Napier University. In 2021 he took up the full-time post of accompanist and piano teacher in George Watson's College where he is now based.