Clare studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music with Lionel Bentley and Winifred Roberts, where she was awarded the Gertrude Norman prize. Her great great great grandfather was a Musical Director in Zwickau and her grandfather was hi-fi pioneer G. A. Briggs of Wharfedale Wireless Works, so an interest in music certainly runs in the family!
She has lived in Italy playing opera with Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Emilia Romagna, where conductors included Zubin Mehta. Clare was Principal Second for Scarborough Spa Orchestra, where they did regular BBC radio broadcasts, and she has also performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Ballet and English String and Symphony Orchestras.
She has also played with The Brigantes Orchestra, Orchestra of Stowe Opera, Orchestra Da Camera and Limelight Orchestra, English Pro Musica, and she also teaches at several private schools. Clare enjoys chamber music ensembles and is a regular session player for TV and film library music. Her string quartet, Arioso, played for the Queen in 2012 to celebrate her Jubilee Celebrations and they have been performing in venues throughout the Midlands and beyond for over 20 years. She plays on a Giovanni Battista Gabrielli, made in Florence C1760.