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.
As well as solo and chamber recitals in venues including The Purcell Room, Joanna has given concerto performances with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra of St John's, Smith Square, and The Scottish Ensemble.
She established Sonsie Music in around 2000, a company dedicated to performing her musical stories for children, and her pieces had hundreds of performances across Scotland in schools, libraries and festivals.
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.