Belfast born, though living in Glasgow, Gemma has been violinist in the Orchestra of Scottish Opera since 2007, having trained at Trinity College Dublin and at Royal Academy of Music, London. She has played with most of the professional orchestras in UK and Ireland, and has worked with Ronan Keating, Cliff Richard and Chris de Burgh; and on albums with Daniel O'Donnell and Shania Twain; with stints on the West End in London, and tours with Chicago the musical, and Riverdance. Gemma is also a founding member of the Scottish Tango Ensemble which specialises in music by Piazzolla.

Her brother Donal is Belfast based, though he travels extensively in his career as pianist, conductor, examiner and adjudicator. From 1999 until 2021 he was conductor of Cappella Caeciliana, one of Ireland's most exciting chamber choirs. He worked extensively with Northern Ireland Opera as repetiteur, accompanist and workshop facilitator and teaches classes in performance in Queen's University Belfast. Donal was for six years head of music in St Malachy's College, Belfast, Northern Ireland's first specialist music school, whose students he led in concert tours to Washington DC, Philadelphia, England and Rome. A qualified British and International Federation of Festivals adjudicator, Donal has adjudicated festivals throughout Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and the UK. For his work with The Belfast Opera project in 2016 he was awarded the Classic FM/Musicians Union Inspiration Award and the whole project was nominated for the best Classical Music Education Initiative Award. In 2020, Donal was awarded the MBE for services to music, education and cross-community relations.