Fiona Campbell Cross was born on 20 May 1966 to David Cross, a farmer, who
was himself born in Bournemouth in 1935. Fiona was born in Templecombe in
Dorset and has a brother, Andrew, who is three years her senior and is an
organic vegetable farmer.
Fiona’s schooling was undertaken at Childe Okeford Primary School (1972 - 79), Sturminster Newton High School (1978 - 79) and Bryanston School (1979 - 84) as a music scholar. She was exceptionally gifted achieving her grade eight in clarinet in 1978 at the age of twelve and grade eight piano the following year. Curiously, her very first instrument was the cornet which she took up at the age of eight. She went up to the Royal College of Music in 1984 and studied clarinet first with Thea King (1984 - 87) and then with Colin Bradbury (1987 - 88). During 1978 - 82 she had had lessons with Ray Carpenter who was with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Her piano studies were furthered at RCM as well.
Her first professional work was with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the
impressive Roger Norrington. Her debut
as
a solo performer was in 1986 playing Weber’s Concerto No 2 with
the London Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey at the Barbican Hall.
In 1988 she won the LPO Pioneer award for the best young performer and the
‘reward’ was to play the Mozart Concerto at the Royal Festival
Hall. She has worked with conductors of the stature of Leonard Slatkin, Tamas
Vasary, Mark Elder, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding and Ricardo Chailly.
She speaks of Mark Elder’s respectfulness and wonderful musicianship
and adds that he is an ex-Bryanstonian; Chailly is ‘exciting, wonderful
and a perfectionist’; Harding is ‘incredibly intelligent and his
beats are wonderfully clear’ and she speaks glowingly of Haitink’s
amazing inspiration. She has toured with the Vanburg String Quartet and the
broadcast of their performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor
was a revelation. Fiona’s tone and intonation was impeccable and her
articulation admirable. The warmth that she brought to this piece was quite
incredible.
To date she has only made one commercial recording ... that of Robert Simpson’s Quintet for clarinet, bass clarinet and string trio (Hyperion CDA 66626) coupled with the String Quartets Nos 14 and 15. In this, she plays the bass clarinet and, again, her clarity and musicianship are second to none.
She
has given recitals with the pianist Kathryn Page in the Wigmore Hall and
twice in the Purcell Room and, at music festivals, has performed with both
the Coull and Alberni String Quartets.
At least six composers have written especially for her including Diana Burrell with Bright Herald of the Morning and Gary Carpenter with his Sonata.
Fiona is a very social person and has no ambition to stand supreme and alone. She enthuses about Haitink’s performances of Mozart’s operas and how she learns from others. Growing up, she admired the playing of the clarinetist Gervase de Peyer and always wanted to play like him. She values the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham with her ‘inspirational sense of line and lyricism’ which Fiona achieves. The soprano Jane Eaglen has encouraged Fiona owing to her ‘sense of ease which shows no tension or strain’.
Neither is Fiona a musical snob. She told me that she had to practise
Donatoni’s Clair for solo clarinet over six months. It is a work
that takes the performer’s technique to the total extreme and is both
demanding and exhausting. She prefers live performances with an audience
as it provides ‘atmosphere’ whereas a studio recording can be bare
and clinical. As to reviews she takes them with a ‘pinch of salt’
adding that there are reviewers who cannot even read music and, therefore,
should not be allowed to review music or performances. The opinions, comments
and suggestions from musicians is important to
her.
She is rightly irritated by some music clubs and music lovers, the majority of which still shy away from ‘modern’ music. There should be no divide between the ancient and the modern. She admires the music of Judith Weir which is ‘interesting and compelling’; Richard Causton’s work is ‘clever, intelligent and very witty’; Peter Maxwell Davies’s early works are ‘innovative and very challenging’; "Messiaen’s music means so much to me to play it is very powerful and moving, meaningful music," she told me.
What is clear is that Fiona is a warm, compassionate human being and a splendid communicator on the clarinet. She is destined for the top!
And, thankfully, there is more to come.
