about tina...

Tina Hitchens is a flautist based in Cardiff, South Wales.

Tina's musical life began aged seven when she took violin lessons in school. Flute lessons then followed aged 12, and within four years Tina had passed the Grade 8 examination with Distinction.

After school, Tina studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, where she gained the B Mus (hons) and M Mus qualifications in flute performance. Whilst studying, Tina received a number of awards including an EMI Sound Foundation scholarship and The Daniel Emlyn Davies Award for outstanding flute-playing. During her postgraduate studies she also held the position of Graduate Assistant to the Head of Woodwind.

Tina held the principal flute position with all of the college's main ensembles, including the Symphony Orchestra, Big Band, Wind Orchestra and Millennium Ensemble (contemporary music). Performances with these groups took her to a variety of venues, including Westminster Abbey and Fairfield Hall.

Tina now freelances in the South Wales and South West areas, playing with a variety of groups and giving solo concerts. One group she performs with is the Tate Duo (classical guitar and flute), with whom she appeared at the Eighth International Guitar Festival at Bolivar Hall, as well as playing regularly at South Wales venues including the Wales Millennium Centre and Brecon Cathedral.

Much of Tina's energies are now focused on contemporary music, and she is co-founder of Cardiff New Music Collective, a group dedicated to commissioning and performing new compositions. This relatively new group, formed in 2003, is already a prominent voice in contemporary music in Wales. Tina has performed with the group at a variety of venues, including Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Glynn Vivan Gallery, G39, and the Wales Millennium Centre. Tina has also performed in a work called 'Shelf Life' with the Welsh National Opera's MAX Department, the National Theatre of Wales and Volcano Theatre Company. Tina then participated in 'Atmospheres', a Welsh National Opera MAX production focussing on time-structured improvisation.

Tina plays on recordings for television and film, and has recorded for Brollyman Productions. She also participates in 'dots.', a group of musicians who compose and perform music for short films, and will be touring Wales in the autumn of 2011.

Tina's musical activities have lead to her giving concerts in a variety of countries in Europe, as well as South Africa and America. She has a keen interest in pop music, and plays with band Things Make Electric, as well as having a successful electronica solo project, 'Isla Jayne'. Tina also plays with 'Spencer McGarry Season', a 13-piece chamber-pop group. She has appeared on BBC Radio 1, 6 and 3.