Alison Wormell (they/them) is a British-Australian bassoonist, currently based in the south of England. They work in the UK, Finland and the Antipodes. Most recently, Alison returned to the position of Acting Principal Bassoon with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra for their 2023 Autumn season and part of their 2024 Spring season.
Alison has performed as a bassoonist and contrabassoonist worldwide, including with the most northern and southern professional orchestras. They have played with the Arctic Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, and the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras. Alison has held extended contracts with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra and Opera Australia Orchestra.
As a soloist Alison has performed Bach with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and Mozart with the SCM Symphony Orchestra. They were a semi-finalist in the 2021 ROSL International Music Competition, and have commissioned works such as ‘Unto Gray Towards Green’ by Mari Funabashi.
Alison is the producer at Play Outdoors Productions. POP is a film production house and community for underrepresented voices in music and the outdoors. It is funded by the Royal College of Music London’s Accelerate grant scheme. Their mission is to amplify marginalised voices, explore new forms of storytelling, champion new compositions by emerging composers, and increase the accessibility of art music. Their first film Conduits for Joy is about making reeds and bicycle frames and was released in February 2023.
Alison completed an Artists Diploma of Performance at the Royal College of Music London in 2022, studying with Joost Bosdijk, Sarah Burnett, and Andrea de Flammineis. They graduated from RCM with a Masters in Performance with Distinction in 2021, and in 2018 was the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Bassoon Fellow.
Updated January 2024
