Katherine Lacy (clarinet)

Katherine Lacy is from Wrexham, North Wales and studied clarinet at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and the Royal Academy of Music in London.

During her time at the Academy she won the Buffet Crampon Clarinet Prize in her first year and from third year started regular freelance work with orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta.

Katherine's first permanent orchestral position was as Principal Bass Clarinet with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She was appointed almost immediately after graduating and spent eight happy years there, combining her role as bass clarinet with the orchestra with regular chamber music and occasional solo performances. She appeared as clarinet soloist with the RLPO in performances of the Weber Concertino and Finzi's Five Bagatelles and in 2010 gave the world premiere of Ian Gardiner's "Spinning and Weaving" for solo bass clarinet with the orchestra's Ensemble 10/10 at the Wigmore Hall.

Following a brief two years as Principal Bass Clarinet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, in 2015, Katherine was delighted to be offered the Principal Clarinet position with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Katherine performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the RPO throughout 2017 in many of their regional venues and in April 2018 she made her Cadogan Hall solo debut with the orchestra where she played the Mozart once again and also officially launched her solo CD of the Mozart Concerto and Quintet, recorded with the orchestra in January 2018 to critical acclaim and now a regular feature on Classic FM.

More recently, Katherine has enjoyed many more Mozart concerto performances with the RPO and has also performed concerti with Manchester Camerata and the Orchestra of Opera North.

Katherine is a mum of two and enjoys finding a balance between family life, playing with the RPO, teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music and sometimes playing in West End shows!