siblings. Her home language is
German, and she grew up in a family very involved with education
and academia.
Music however also played an important role in the family, and
all the children had to at least learn to play the piano and sing
in the school choir to give them a musical
grounding. Her father played the Trumpet, her uncle
and grandfather both played the French Horn, so it was almost
inevitable that Elisabeth would take up some sort of brass
instrument.
At the age of 11, while in a
particularly boring maths class at school, an announcement was
made that anyone wanting to learn the French Horn should go to
the Headmaster’s office immediately. Needless to
say,
Elisabeth
went! She took to it like the proverbial "duck to
water" and was soon playing in the Natal Youth
Windband. Elisabeth then foolishly decided to stop playing
the horn...this lasted for a year, but the bug had bitten!
After taking the instrument up again she then moved on to play
principal horn in the Natal Youth Orchestra for many years.
At the age of 16, she auditioned and was selected for the
National Youth Orchestra (quite an achievement as this was her
first "proper" audition!) She then went on to
study for a B.Mus degree, majoring in orchestral
performance, but towards the end of her third year realised that
she preferred to stay alive and eat regularly, so decided on a
change of career. Music was to become a rewarding and
fulfilling hobby – the daily bread needed to be earned by
more mundane means.
She went on to study tourism, and is currently a lecturer in
tourism management at the Durban Institute of Technology and
is a co-author of three tourism school textbooks. She
spent some time playing with the Natal Carbineers Regimental
Band, which was great fun socially, but rather boring musically
as anyone who has played horn in a military band will tell
you. The trumpets always seem to get the best tunes, while
the horns just lurk around playing off-beats. She has also
freelanced with the KZN Philharmonic
Orchestra.
One of the highlights she will
always remember was playing with the Namibian National Symphony
Orchestra. The occasion was the handing over of Namibia
from South African rule to a democratic Namibian
government. It was quite something to be present at the
birth of a new country! The atmosphere was indescribable
and being the first orchestra ever to play the Namibian National
Anthem was a very moving experience. Elisabeth subsequently
went on to do a number of concerts with this orchestra.
Other than her work with Cool Brass, Elisabeth is currently
principal horn of the Durban City Orchestra, which is South
Africa's oldest orchestra. She recently married William
Quigley, and they live in a large thatched house in the small
town of Howick in the countryside. Their hobby is restoring
old cars, and they currently have a 1951 Jaguar Mark VII, a 1958
Daimler One-O-Four, a 1969 Daimler Sovereign, a 1951 Austin A30
and a Replica Lotus 7. They also have two cats and an evil
parrot.
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