Soloist profile: Izzy Cheesman

Izy completed both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Performance at the Royal College of Music in London, winning a scholarship place in 2015 and graduating in 2021 with Distinction.  Izy studied oboe under the tuition of John Anderson, Fabien Thouand, Juliana Koch, and Olivier Stankiewicz, and cor anglais with Christine Pendrill and Jane Marshall.  

At the RCM, Izy was frequently appointed principal oboe in the Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, playing under the batons of conductors such as John Wilson, Martyn Brabbins, Rafael Payare, Martin André, and Ben Gernon.  Through the RCM, Izy won places on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Shoulder-to Shoulder scheme in 2017, and BBC Symphony Orchestra Pathway Scheme in 2019.  She has also been selected to represent the RCM in various Chamber Orchestra projects, from performing at Windsor Castle to the Klosters Music Festival, Switzerland, and alongside players from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for a collaborative project at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre

Izy is a member of Southbank Sinfonia 22/23, who are now permanently based at St John’s Smith Square, regularly performing a range of classical and new music with world-renowned conductors, composers, and chamber musicians, one particular highlight so far being Mozart’s Gran Partita under the direction of oboist Nicholas Daniel.  Izy is also currently on trial for the position of Principal Oboe for the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, most recently playing the two week Birmingham patch of their Swan Lake UK tour.  Izy is a regular player for many classical orchestras across London, including the London Firebird Orchestra, the Academy of St Mary-le-Bow Chamber Orchestra, and Brixton Chamber Orchestra.  A lover of the stage as well as the concert hall, Izy has played in Green Opera’s Bluebeard’s Castle in 2022, Hampstead Garden Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro in 2021, and held the oboe/cor chair for the Guernsey shows of the Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera in Concert tours for 2018-19.  She has also previously played for the Orion Orchestra at MusicFest Aberystwyth, and the Siegfried Camerata in A Tribute to Queen.  

As a soloist, Izy has performed recitals at various churches across London, most recently at St John’s Catford in October 2022, at the V&A Museum in Kensington, and in 2021 during the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, gave an online recital for Nuova Concerts.  Izy has also been asked to play world premieres of new commissions for oboe; for the Farm Street Singers’ 2020 album Bread from Heaven, and for European Romanticisms in Association’s Romantic Europe: The Virtual Exhibition.  Izy is also a great fan of film music, and recorded her first session in 2021, playing cor anglais on the soundtrack for the short film, The Bower (2022).