Aud the Deep Minded was a real person, documented in the Icelandic Sagas (and in the TV drama Vikings!). However, different historical accounts conflict over the details of her life. We can be fairly sure she was the daughter of Ketil Flatnose, a Norwegian military commander who oversaw areas we now call the Scottish Western Isles and Orkneys on behalf of King Harald Fairhair, and that, after her husband King Olaf the White of Dublin, and her son Thorstein the Red, were killed she commissioned a boat to be built in secret in the Caithness forests, which are in the north west of Scotland. She then captained this boat to Iceland - at that time an uncharted territory - crewed by members of her family and high-ranking thralls (who were slaves or servants). On settling new territories in the West, she gave the thralls their freedom and parcels of land to farm, forming a community where she lived until her natural death as an old woman. Aud was a Christian at a time when most Vikings were still worshiping pagan gods.
The real Aud lived in the 9th Century, so her tale is so far back in time that she is blurred by storytelling, embellishment and omission. Her story set Joanna Nicholson wondering… what if she were reincarnated, if perhaps she was a supernatural being, present throughout time? The ground-breaking chamber opera Aud the Deep Minded is Joanna's imagining of her story, or what might be her story, and how she might tell it.
Premiered in October 2024 at Aberdeen’s Sound Festival, the work has toured in Scotland and was part of the Made in Scotland programme in the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe, where it received numerous 5 star reviews. Aud the Deep Minded was created and developed with support from Creative Scotland’s National Lottery Open Fund, Made In Scotland, The Vaughan Williams Foundation, Sound Festival, and Foundation Scotland.
Find out more about the performers and the creative team below.
Clíona Cassidy
Clíona Cassidy is a soprano, composer and experimental vocalist from Dublin. She has worked for Scottish Opera for the past 14 years, as a chorister and a soloist: playing “Harry” in Albert Herring, Margo (Grisette) in The Merry Widow, Jano (cover) in Jenufa, First Bridesmaid in Le Nozze di Figaro, First and Second Boy (cover) in The Magic Flute, and has toured with the orchestra of Scottish Opera as soprano soloist in The Opera Factory. While at SO, she has performed in co-productions with Opera Holland Park, D’Oyly Carte Opera, the Edinburgh International Festival, and in productions broadcast on BBC4 and OperaVision.
She is a frequent guest lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, having delivered short courses in both free improvisation and choral singing.
As a composer, her practice is focused around operatic improvisation and she has co written and recorded an improvised opera Silk Threads with Raymond MacDonald which was featured on BBC Radio 3. She performed her song cycle Hiatus at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Tectonics festival with the New String Collective in 2025, and she is a long time member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra.
Visit Clíona’s website
Joanna Nicholson
The creator of Aud the Deep Minded, Joanna Nicholson was a junior student of clarinet and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and continued her studies as a prize winning scholarship student at the Royal College of Music, London.
She is known for bringing theatrical context to her work, and collaborating with artists of different disciplines. Her first professional work was with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with whom she was a bass clarinet soloist at the London Proms and on CD. She has continued to work with them as a freelance player, as well as with all the major orchestras and ensembles in Scotland, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and with diverse outfits such as Yiddish Song Project, The Matilda Brown Ensemble, Turning the Elements, Red Note Ensemble and The Night With…
As well as solo and chamber recitals in venues including The Purcell Room, Joanna has given concerto performances with the BBC SSO, The Orchestra of St John's, Smith Square, and The Scottish Ensemble.
She established Sonsie Music, a group dedicated to performing her musical stories for children, and her pieces have had hundreds of performances over a dozen years in schools, libraries and festivals. In 2025 her chamber opera Aud the Deep Minded was described by Skinners Music Review as "not just one of the best shows at the Fringe this year—it’s one of the most original and affecting pieces of music-theatre in recent memory. "
She has recorded a solo album which was shortlisted in the New Music Scotland Awards, with performances of her own composition Gyre as well as William Sweeney's epic Nine Days Piobeareachd.
She lives on the Moray coast, and is currently working on a horror film score for the production HomeSmartHome.
Visit Joanna’s website or visit her page here
Andy Saunders
Born in Dundee, Andy Saunders grew up in Staffordshire where he began horn lessons as an excuse to miss science lessons. He studied Music at York University before moving back north to Glasgow to complete his Masters degree at the RSAMD with Hugh Potts.
After graduating he spent a season as Solo Horn of Slovenian National Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, before returning to Glasgow. He now plays regularly with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Ensemble Modern, Le Concert Olympique, Daniel's Beard, and Rednote Ensemble. He recorded two discs on the Meridian label with Daniel’s Beard, as well as broadcasting chamber concerts on BBC Radio 3, and has an album with the Rookh Quartet due for release in 2026.
Andy was Artistic Director of The Cottier Chamber Project 2010 - 2016, Performance Consultant for the University of Glasgow’s Music degrees 2013 - 2025, was Co-Chair of New Music Scotland from 2018 – 2022, and is currently a board member for The Night With… . He ran the 2024 Nordic Music Days festival in Glasgow, which was shortlisted for the RPS Awards, and was awarded the Nordic Composers’ Council’s Honorary Prize for Contribution to New Music in 2024. He currently the Creative Director of Art Music Scotland as well as continuing to freelance as a performer.
Visit the websites for Art Music Scotland and the Rookh Quartet.
Alistair MacDonald
Alistair is a composer, performer and sound artist. He has been designing his own computer-based sound processing instruments/environments for more than 20 years, to create uniquely rich, spatialised music and sound. Often collaborative, his work encompasses composing, field recording, live electronics, interactivity and improvisation. He makes standalone electroacoustic works, music for instruments and voices, music and sound design for dance, film and installation.
He teaches composition and directs the Electroacoustic Studios at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he was made Professor in 2017, and he is a keen tango dancer.
Find out more about his work, listen to sounds and watch videos here.
Kirsty Anderson
Kirsty Anderson is a Glasgow-based interdisciplinary artist working across visual art, animation, and projection design. With a background in theatre, her practice explores the relationship between digital technologies and human experience, creating immersive and responsive visual environments.
Her work spans hand-drawn, stop-frame, 2D/3D digital, and real-time generative animation, with a focus on integrating visuals into live performance. For Aud the Deep Minded, Anderson developed the production’s visual language, creating projected environments that interact with sound and movement to shape the work’s evolving atmosphere.
Her wider practice centres on accessibility, audience engagement, and sustainable approaches to digital art.
Find out more about Kirsty’s work here and here
Thanks to Margaret MacIver (Gaelic adviser), Jeanette Mikkola (Norwegian adviser), Susan Worsfold (dramaturg), the Scottish Music Centre (use of rehearsal space) for their help in developing the piece.