Irish flautist Fiona Kelly, based in London, is a highly sought after orchestral and chamber musician. The youngest of a family of classical musicians, she began her studies at the Cork School of Music with her mother Evelyn Grant and Sabine Ducrot. She went on to study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, with Anna Noakes. While in London she won numerous awards including 1st Prize in the British Flute Society International Competition, the Royal Overseas League Sussex Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Julius Isserlis Scholarship. Fiona was awarded a scholarship on the Master’s degree course at The Juilliard School, New York. While there, she won first prize in The Juilliard School Flute Competition and made her Lincoln Center debut performing Bernstein’s ‘Halil’ with The Juilliard Orchestra, and performed as a guest flautist with the New York Philharmonic.
Following her Master’s, Fiona spent four wonderful years as principal flute of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra from 2012 – 2016. Since relocating to London, she enjoys a busy freelance career and is regularly invited to perform as guest principal with the leading London orchestras such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Fiona enjoys regularly returning to Ireland as guest principal of the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
She is in demand as a soloist and chamber musician and has performed concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Jönköpings Sinfonietta, Irish Chamber Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland at the Köln Philharmonie, Liszt Academy Grand Hall Budapest, Heidelberg Festival and Rheingau Festival. Fiona made her BBC Proms debut in 2018 as a soloist, where she performed in the “Brandenburg Project” – performing concertos no. 2 and 5, and the UK premieres of companion concertos by Uri Caine and Steven Mackey, with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Fiona was recently appointed professor of flute at a Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.