BIOGRAPHY

Hattie McCall Davies is a cellist and bagpiper who enjoys a multi-faceted career bridging the worlds of ‘folk’ and classical; playing, writing, broadcasting, and developing her ethnomusicology credentials along the way.  

 

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where she was a recipient of the Peter Halling and Sir John Barbirolli memorial prizes, Hattie is a former pupil of the Purcell School, and also holds a Masters with Distinction in Traditional Music of the British Isles from Sheffield University.

 

As a freelance cellist and piper Hattie has performed extensively around the UK and abroad and worked as a session musician for major recording artists. In the folk world she has performed alongside the likes of John Boden, Eliza Carthy, and Jackie Oates at Hartlepool Folk Festival and most recently appears on the latest album release from Cambridge and Walker. As a solo piper Hattie is much in demand for private events on both the Great Highland Pipes and the Scottish small pipes;  where possible she parades with the Rose and Thistle Pipe Band and the Pinstripe Highlanders.  

 

Diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome in her early twenties, Hattie has continued to constantly adapt and evolve as playing the cello fulltime became an impossibility. As a member of Paraorchestra since 2018 she is passionate about ‘inclusivity in action’ and changing mindsets and accessibility issues within the arts. 

 

Consequently, alongside playing and performing, Hattie has built up a successful freelance career as a TV Assistant Producer and has worked on major national live events, flagship shows, and music specials for all the major broadcasters including BBC, ITV, CBeebies, and Sky Arts. With a background in award-winning arts outreach work in disadvantaged communities both in the UK and abroad, and as a recipient of the Diana Award for this work in her late teens, broadcasting feeds into Hattie’s passion for disseminating music and culture in accessible and most importantly enjoyable ways.