Chameleon are a versatile woodwind ensemble with a mission to Create, Empower, and Share music with communities everywhere. Their performances feature an impressive array of up to 13 woodwind instruments split between only four members, with the quartet seamlessly transitioning between them to showcase the diversity of the woodwind family in a mixture of concerts, residencies and workshops.

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Cara Houghton, Sarah Austen, Jessica Tomlinson and Eleanor Mills deliver visually exciting, accessible performances that step outside of the conventions of classical music performance. Through imaginative programming across various genres and a creative exploration of their flexible instrumental combination, Chameleon brings out the full versatility of their instruments — always with the audience experience at the heart of it all.

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Chameleon are winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Henderson Award, 2023, and are Live Music Now artists specialising in SEND and primary school engagement. They were recipients of the RPS Enterprise Fund for “Virtually Live” in 2021, a concert series driven by a passion for connecting with their audience through conversation and interaction. Their performing and engagement projects work in tandem, with a firm belief that every piece of music can be known and appreciated by anyone.
 

Since their creation in at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2016, Chameleon have been awarded the June Emerson Launchpad Prize (2017), have won the Trevor Wye Woodwind Prize (2017) and the Brodsky Prize (2018), and were highly commended and won the audience vote for the Christopher Rowland Chamber Music Competition (2018) at the RNCM. 

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Chameleon are graduates from the RNCM, RCM, Trinity Laban, University of Leeds and University of Nottingham and have individual playing credits with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Orchestra, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, JAMES, Hope Mill Theatre and Thursford Christmas Spectacular. Through their engagement work, they have worked with London Sinfonietta, Wigmore Hall Chamber Tots, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Music for Life and The Rig, and are musicians in residence at SEND schools in the North West. 

Chameleon often get told that they “look like they’re having fun on stage” - and it is absolutely true!