Poppy Beddoe, a professional clarinet performer, teacher, lecturer and solo artist is one of the fortuante few who have managed to turn their passion into a career through serious dedication. She first found her musical inspiration when she was 8 years old, after some encouragement to start learning to play from her parents. As she writes over our interview email exchange, "I think they wanted me to stop talking so much!"

As a product of that intial burst of inspiration, Poppy dedicated her career path to playing and performing music. She graduated with a music degree from King's College London in 2014, but seeking to broaden her expertise she pursued a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music two years afterwards.

In 2021, Poppy released Soliloquy, her debut solo album (which you can find here), featuring solo performances of composers ranging classic to contemporary, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Luciano Berio and interpreations on themes of George Gershwin. She is also going to record a concerto written for her by Matthew Taylor, accompanied by the BBC national orchestra of Wales.

In our email exhange, Poppy reveals that her work mainly focues on being a freelance clarinettist, mainly specialising in chamber music. This generally involves performance, recordings, travelling around the world to perform, for instance her recent show in Texas, as well as teaching and inspiring the next generation of clarinettists in schools across the country. At the moment, she says, she is mainly focusing on solo performance, currently running and organising two chamber music festivals in Berkshire and the South of France.

Her recent hiatus from teaching for her trip to Texas involved visiting the University of Houston, where she stayed as an artist in residence. At the university, she gives lectures on her Bach transcriptions to keen music students, and also gives solo recitals on campus as well as in venues around the city. She also performs pieces commisioned to her by the University.

However, her career is far from over, and her ambitions for the future remain, and currently she wants to have more concerto opportunities and more opportunities to travel internationally. She worries that the beginning of the year can sometimes feel very empty, so her current goals is to embark on as many concerts and projects as possible.

At the end of our virtual discussion, I had the opportunity to ask Poppy for any advice for any potential young musicians or clarinet players in launching a successful career. "Perseverance is key", she writes, "lots of practice and always remember that each musician has something unique to give."