Fiona McLean-Buechel

Biography

Fiona is a founder member of National Youth Orchestra Scotland and an alumnus of St Mary's Music School, Edinburgh. On leaving St Mary's she trained at the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow and the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has a passion for music in all forms; combining a busy career as a performer with writing creative and collaborative national and international performance projects.

Whilst a specialist tutor of violin at the Junior Guildhall School of Music she became a proactive member of the school’s external examination and development team. She also lectured and was a professor at Colchester Institute, Goldsmith’s College, visiting tutor for National Children’s Orchestra and Head of Strings for London Borough of Bexley.

In 2005 Fiona co founded and was course director for a collaborative venture with the Dartington International Summer School, the Dartington Plus Summer Youth Strings Programme. She subsequently founded and is Creative Director of SouthWest Camerata and the registered charity JUTPMUSIC whose work was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society for Education and a cover story for ESTA. Her ensembles are frequent performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and make regular concert appearances across the UK.

She has been a visiting professor of violin at Dartington College and Cardiff University, lectured for the European String teachers Association, Cardiff University, South West Sound and U3A. Her string quartet are recording artists featuring regularly in shows for BBC TV.

Fiona has gained accreditation from the Youth Mindfulness Kids Training Programme and has developed a series of workshops and seminars for Musical Mindfulness, delivering seminars on Mindfulness for Performers and Educators on behalf of the British and International Federation of Festivals at Music EXPO 2016, also at Cardiff University, Trinity Laban Junior Conservatoire, Musicians Union and IAPS