“When I first decided to do improvisations on endangered species my first thought was: ‘That sounds fun’ and I made the decision very quickly. Only afterwards did I think about  the reality of doing 100 improvisations in 100 days! I hope to give people (and myself) a snapshot of a variety of threatened species as well as push myself to learn how to improvise, which as a bassoonist is a new skill!

As I think it’s important to keep things local, I want to include both international species and those native to the UK. So far I have included high-profile species such as red pandas and sea turtles, as well as lesser-known creatures, such as the High Brown Fritillary butterfly, which is Britain’s most threatened butterfly.

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I have decided to raise money through this project and will be raising funds for the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, which is a national charity established to ensure the conservation and protection of the red squirrel in the UK.“

If you would like to keep up with Sarah’s improvisations over the next few months, you can find her on Instagram at @keenbean96

If you would like to donate to Sarah’s fundraising efforts for the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, you can do so by donating here.

From 1 February 2021, Nevis is running #100DaysOfGreenNevis, where our musicians, staff and trustees will each take on a task for 100 days linked to Sustainability. We’d love for members of the public to join us, either by following the campaign online to get ideas of what they can do, or to show us their own actions for us to share. If you would like to know more, do get in touch at georgina@nevisensemble.org 

Nevis Ensemble’s #GreenNevis campaign in 2019 won the Environmental Sustainability award at the 2020 Scottish Awards for New Music, and was shortlisted for Best Campaign by Julie’s Bicycle.