Helen hails from Taunton in Somerset and began learning the clarinet aged 7. She has been folk dancing since childhood, gaining an interest in playing folk music at college. She went on to co-found the University of Southampton Folk Society in 2010.
With a degree in languages, Helen lived in Brittany for a year, where she undertook an ethnographic research project exploring Breton folk music and dance, as part of her studies. After graduating, Helen worked as a woodwind teacher for Hampshire, Southampton and in Southampton schools. Alongside Threepenny Bit, Helen regularly plays with other groups, including Monkey See Monkey Do and a duo project with fiddle player, Lewis Wood.
Katie is a multi instrumentalist specialising in clarinet and other traditional woodwinds (but enjoys a dabble on a string or two).
She loves to get into the nitty gritty of the musical genres she explores and to learn about other people and cultures through the music they make.
Katie is an active musician on the Birmingham scene playing in Bonfire Radicals and with Max in the Destroyers!
Dominic is a performer, improviser, and composer based in Birmingham, where they enjoy the opportunity to draw inspiration from a range of influences from across multiple classical and folk traditions.
Dominic trained as a bassoonist at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and while there also studied the full range of the woodwind family. They currently specialise in whistles, clarinet, and bassoon, while continuing to expand their interest in world folk instruments from a variety of differing traditions, and enjoying performances on the full range of the woodwind family.
Performing highlights include festival and ceilidh appearances across the UK with bands Juniper and Filkin's Ensemble, working with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, and creating music for several contemporary dance and movement productions, including working with live improvised scores.
Award-winning, Welsh bass clarinettist, Katmuss, performed in prestigious venues from local pubs to the Royal Albert Hall and The Kennedy Centre in the US, all by the age of 15. They then went on to study at Leeds Conservatoire, Bangor University and the Royal Northern College of Music under Sarah Watts.
In the true definition of "the nick of time", they performed as the soloist in Jonathan Russell's Concerto for Bass Clarinet & Orchestra with Leicestershire Sinfonia in February of 2020.
They are active in the Manchester music scene, and are at home in musical theatre, orchestras, big bands, wind bands, small-fry theatre and folk ensembles.
As a soloist, they are also the Manchester representative of the Kettner Concerts Society.
On May 31st, 2025, their debut performance "a concert of differences" will be the first of a series of DEI-first performances at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.