Timothy Orpen
Principal Clarinet
Timothy Orpen is a founder member of Aurora Orchestra and is also the principal clarinettist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He was formally the principal of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and now divides his time between Scotland and London. Whilst at Covent Garden he performed many of the major solos of the operatic and ballet repertoire with some of the worlds finest conductors and singers. He has performed concertos with Aurora Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Timothy has also been featured as a soloist on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. As a chamber musician Timothy has performed worldwide alongside pianists including Pascal Rogé, Lars Vogt, Susan Tomes and Sir Antonio Pappano. Timothy studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, Germany. In between Aurora projects Timothy has climbed 6000-metre mountains in the Andes and Himalayas.
Aurora Memory
Where do I start? I clearly remember the first ever Aurora concert. Amazing to think that in 10 years the orchestra has come from nothing to playing Beethoven 6 from memory at the Proms, live on TV. The Klezmahler project was also memorable for me on a personal level as I had to totally immerse myself in an unfamiliar genre in order to make it work as a true collaboration, Aurora-style. Orchestra members may also tell you the story of the infamous ‘Ocarina’ concert, but that’s for another day!