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I’m Jacquie Speirs, Associate Principal Second Violin of the RSNO. I was born in Glasgow and my family moved to Huntly in Aberdeenshire when I was four. My early years were spent dancing: ballet, tap, musical comedy (as it was known back then) and competing in Highland Games most weekends. After hearing a fiddler ‘fiddle’ the haggis in at a Burns Supper when I was seven, I desperately wanted to have a go, so when the opportunity was offered for free fiddle lessons a few months later, I grabbed the chance!

Instead of dancing at Highland Games, I now spent my Saturdays getting on a school bus with my thermos flask of tomato soup and joining children from all over Aberdeenshire to play together in orchestras, percussion groups and string ensembles at Cults Academy Saturday Music Day. It was the highlight of my week; meeting up with friends who all loved doing what I loved and being part of this amazing big sound. This led to being in the Grampian Regional Schools Orchestra and in the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland (NYOS) when it was founded in 1979. The training that these youth orchestras and choirs give to our young musicians is vital in helping them to develop into the profession. This is where they not only learn the repertoire but also the many skills needed to be part of such a large, intricate team.

At twelve, now a pupil at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, my Friday nights were spent in the Usher Hall listening to the SNO (as it was known then); little did I know then that it would become my wider family for the best part of my career. My first ‘gig’ with the SNO was a really lucky break. The Orchestra needed a violinist at very short notice for their tour of the USA in 1982 and because the Leader, Edwin Paling, knew my playing from coaching me in NYOS, he invited me to join them.

In 1995 I became a full-time member of the Orchestra and although I’ve had many wonderful experiences playing with world-class soloists and conductors, touring to great cities, recording films, playing jazz, traditional and pop music, what excites me the most is the chance to work alongside children of all ages and abilities. The side-by-side sessions with young musicians, the roar of hundreds of children hearing an orchestra for the first time and the work we do supporting sick children and their families with CHAS is what makes my job a very special one.  

Jacquie Speirs
Associate Principal Second Violin