JESSICA BEESTON


Hitting the high notes


Violist Jessica Beeston is sharing her skills with the next generation WORDS MORAG BOOTLAND


J


essica Beeston comes from a family of musicians – her father, Michael, plays the viola, and her mother, Elizabeth, is


a violinist. But, far from being encouraged to follow the family career path, Jessica is pretty sure that her parents wanted all four of their children to go into medicine or law. In fact, she was the only one who chose a career in music. She played in youth orchestras, which is


where she got the chamber music bug, starting off with the piano and then progressing to the violin, which she found challenging. ‘It’s a very diffi cult instrument to play well,’ she says, ‘and it took me quite some time to master it. Listening to my mum play made me realise just how a violin should sound.’ Once she got the hang of it, she began to


enjoy the social side of playing chamber music. Despite knowing from the age of 14 that she


wanted to make music her career, Jessica didn’t start to play the viola until she was 22. At present, she is a member of the Edinburgh


Quartet, who tour around Scotland’s univer- sities, bringing music to the students. The


foursome have also played a number of concerts sponsored by Creative Scotland, which were designed to appeal to an audience who may not ordinarily go to hear chamber music. These included a series of one-hour concerts at 5.30pm, designed for people to enjoy after a hard day at the offi ce, and even late-night affairs at Summerhall in Edinburgh. This summer, Jessica returned to the annual


Mendelssohn on Mull festival. She attended the musical gathering many times as a student and took great pleasure in learning in such a beautiful environment. This year she was on the island as a mentor to pass on some of her knowledge to young musicians. She feels lucky that she has had the privilege


of travelling the world and working with some great musicians along the way. Some of her highlights include working with Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and playing a concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.


Find out more at www.edinburghquartet.com


WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 89


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