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Sequoia is a Glasgow based violin and cello duo comprising Australian violinist Alice Rickards and Scottish cellist Sonia Cromarty. Since forming in 2010, we have performed duo recitals and collaborative interdisciplinary projects across Scotland and the UK, from Kings Place in London to community gardens, village halls, a common grave ceremony at Glasgow Necropolis and the closing night of the Dunster Festival. Our work explores the ways sound can connect people, place and environment, and thrives on creative partnerships that cross genres and disciplines.

 

We aim to create performances that are inclusive, engaging and thought-provoking, in both conventional and unexpected spaces. The simplicity and flexibility of violin and cello allows us to traverse a kaleidoscope of genres, from Scottish Baroque to experimental contemporary music. Our repertoire includes new commissions by composers working in classical, folk, jazz, electronics, opera and multimedia. Notable collaborations include Stumped, a miniature opera by Lewis Coenen-Rowe, Waxcap by jazz saxophonist Martin Kershaw and traditional tune commissions from Chris Stout and Mairearad Green. We have worked closely with composers including Judith Weir, Stuart MacRae and Eddie McGuire and performed in song-writing  projects with Gareth Williams and Emily Scott-Moncrieff. Our more experimental work includes Music for Involuntary Strings by Michaela Davies (Sonica Festival), using electrical muscle stimulation to trigger involuntary playing, raising questions of control and agency in live performance.

 

During our time as Chamber Music Scotland’s Ensemble in Residence we developed TRANSPLANTED, a programme of commissions inspired by Scotland’s native plants and the Baroque music of James Oswald. It featured new work by 8 different composers including Hanna Tuulikki, David Fennessy and David Ward. The creative output comprised an extensive tour of live performances across Scotland, a self released album, schools workshops, and a digital resource (Transplanted Carbon) supported by Creative Scotland, Grow Wild (Kew Gardens), and Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.

 

Described by The Strad as “a potent voice for the beauty of the natural world,” we often use music to promote environmental awareness. Our award-winning project WATER MUSIC source to sea traced the journey of a raindrop along Scotland’s waterways. With new works by Lisa Robertson, Stuart MacRae, Alex South, Timothy Cooper and Mairearad Green, the programme incorporated whale vocalisations, fixed media, and environmental field recordings. It also extended our practice into filmmaking, with narrative music videos and Make a Splash!, a collaborative online learning resource for young people. WATER MUSIC was developed in partnership with various environmental organisations, and won New Music Scotland’s 2023 New Music Programme of the Year award.

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Our most recent album Earth thy cold is keen (Delphian Records, 2023) showcases the chamber music of Stuart MacRae, with performances alongside MacRae and mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean. Previous recordings include ISOLA, featuring new music by Fergus Hall, Sonia Killmann, Rylan Gleave and poetry/narration by Alexander McCall Smith and Hamish Henderson. In 2024, we premiered To the Vanished Molendinar, a performance project for Glasgow University blending a new commission by Aileen Sweeney, plainchant, poetry and archival research into the history of Glasgow’s hidden river. Recent performances include a recital at Lammermuir Festival and a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast from Edinburgh Waverley train station, to celebrate 200 years of the Highland Chieftain.

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We are both deeply engaged in music education and outreach. Over the past decade we have led creative workshops in primary and secondary schools across Scotland using improvisation, graphic scores and composition to explore music in imaginative and accessible ways. Our digital learning materials are designed to explore intersections between music, art, nature and environmental science. We have just started as Ensemble in Residence at the Reid School of Music, Edinburgh University. In this role we will be working with students and staff on a range of music composition and performance projects over the rest of this academic year. 

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