Composers/Arrangers

Alexandra Lehmann is a British (Doune, Perthshire) and French (Fontainebleau, Seine-et-Marne) viola player and teacher living in Eastbourne. Alexandra studied at the Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem; followed by post-graduate studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow. As a viola player, she performed with the RSNO, ESO and São Paulo Opera Orchestra and continues to freelance in East Sussex. Alexandra has a daughter, Clara, who is a scientist ,bassoonist and flautist; and a little black cat called Popi.

Andrew Middleton is a composer, arranger and music teacher based in the North East of England. Andrew plays flute, saxophone and piano, but whilst studying music at Newcastle University (2007 to 2012) Andrew specialised in contemporary composition and arranging music. Since then Andrew has had the opportunity to work with a range of soloists, ensembles and composers including: the saxophonist Amy Dickenson, British composer Colin Matthews, and the Kokoko Ensemble as part of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Composer’s Day, 2015. As well as composition, Andrew dedicates his time to Music Education, teaching music to children of a range of ages and abilities.

Antonio D’Amato is intoxicated by music. He graduated in Piano, Harpsichord, Music for Multimedia and Instrumental Music Teaching. In 1996 he qualified as sound engineer at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale di Saluzzo. He also studied composition for eight years, bassoon for three, and baroque organ. In 2010 he was Ondes Martenot student in Strasbourg and Paris. Most of his compositions are written for his musician friends. At university he was a student in Media and Communication Sciences. He is currently working on an Electronic Music course. He works mainly as piano teacher and sound engineer. His first electronic composition was selected for a performance at the ICMC 2012 the International Computer Music Conference.

Beverly Lewis studied music at Mount Allison University, majoring in piano.  She teaches piano at the University Settlement Music and Arts School, directs music at Bathurst United Church and is a freelance accompanist and chamber musician. Bev is also a published composer of vocal, woodwind, choral and piano music. Her compositions have been performed in Austria, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States and her music has been broadcast on CBC Radio. She has won several awards (Amadeus Choir Carol competition and Toronto Arts Council) and her pieces have been recorded by various musicians. Fundy Temperaments, a piece for cor anglais and piano has been recorded by Michele Fiala on her latest CD ‘Overheard’, released by MSR Classics; and her piece ‘A Soldier’s Prayer’, a choral work has been recorded by the Saskatoon Chamber Singers on their latest CD, “Remember – Solace and Consolation”. On May 20, 2017, Bev’s piece for piano
‘Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin’, was premiered by pianist, Dr Janet Hammock in Sackville N.B. as part of a benefit concert in support of Tantramar Hospice Palliative Care Organization. On June 1, 2017, her piece, Swan Diversions (for oboe and piano) was premiered at Hart House, University of Toronto.

Brian Inglis studied music at the University of Durham and composition at City University, London (with Simon Holt and Rhian Samuel). An MA was awarded in 1993 – along with the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers’ Prize – and a PhD in 1999. His output ranges from chamber and choral music to orchestral and operatic works, and combines experimental elements with eclectic historical, geographical and genre influences – from non-Western to popular music. Brian first came to attention as a composer when Responsory – a setting of words by Hildegard of Bingen – was performed at the 1992 Huddersfield Festival. His music and arrangements have been heard on BBC 2 and radios 1, 2 and 3, radio Cymru, radio Wales, Resonance FM (London) and Bayern 2 (Germany), as well as at the Greenbelt, Bestival, Truck, Deal, Guildford, and Sonorities festivals; and at venues including the Wigmore Hall, King’s Place, St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, Colston Hall and St George’s Bristol. Notable performers include Roderick Williams, Lore Lixenberg, Consortium 5, the PM Music Ensemble (Wales) and Rainbow International Ensemble (Bath). Major works include Visions of Sorrow and Joy (1998) – a commission from Bath Choral Society sponsored by Making Music’s pilot ‘Adopt a Composer’ scheme;   Jubilee Prayer, commissioned to celebrate the Millennium in Wales; and Highbury Fields, commissioned as a collaboration with lyricist Charles Hart (The Phantom of the Opera, Bend it like Beckham) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Islington Choral Society in 2013.

A lecturer at Middlesex University, as well as a composer Brian is an active researcher and writer on music. From 2003 – 2007, he was a member of the pop-rock band Hicks Milligan-Prophecy.

Cedric Peachey writing music in his teens and continued composing in such spare time as he could find during four decades working in commercial management and consultancy. Largely self-taught, the first public performances of his music began in 2002, since when he has had pieces performed in London, St Albans, Brighton, Portsmouth and Colchester. Works performed to date include music for wind band, woodwind ensembles, brass quintet, voice, piano, organ, choir, orchestra, percussion ensemble, electronics and various chamber groups. In 2012, Cedric led a team that presented four multi-media concerts across London as part of the Cultural Olympiad. A year later, his ‘Passacaglia’ for brass quintet was performed in London by Total Brass, the award-winning brass ensemble. In 2014, his ‘Prelude – Red Riding Hood’ for wind orchestra won the new composition award hosted by the annual Waterlooville Music Festival. In 2015, he collaborated with four other composers to present Songcircle, a concert of song settings and solo piano pieces in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. In 2017, he contributed two pieces for woodwind for ‘MOSAIC’, a concert performed by the award-winning London Myriad Ensemble.  During the period 2016-17, he served as Chair of London Composers Forum, having previously held other positions on the Committee.

Born in 1951, Charles Hine’s distinguished and varied 50 year musical career includes roles as performer (clarinettist and percussionist), composer, conductor and musical educator.

After studying at the Royal Academy of Music, London (1969-1973), in the 1970s and 80s Charles divided his time between performance and composition, and produced a varied output of vocal and chamber music, music for the theatre, and more experimental music. An early interest in the avant-garde led to exploration of instrumental performance with live electronics.

Achieving distinction as a solo and orchestral clarinettist, Charles has held principal positions with some of Britain’s leading orchestras including the BBC Orchestras in Bristol and Northern Ireland. Charles is a founder member of the Vega Wind Quintet, the first wind quintet to be invited to appear at the BBC Proms.

Later, Charles developed a career as a conductor of symphonic wind orchestras, concert bands and other groups including the British Clarinet Ensemble. He has taught in a wide range of establishments including posts in Rome and the Royal College of Music Junior Department, London.

Christian F Natta was born on the 14th Of April of 1971, in Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He starts studying music since primary school. At the age of 15, started his first job as trumpet player in a band, while studying at the Conservatory of Buenos Aires. Once he had finished School, he became a professional trumpeter and arranger, also travelling to United Kingdom, attending the University of London. He also made several trips to Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, USA, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Spain, South America…and tried to take lessons in music and network with other musicians. He was invited then to USA, to assist The New York Philharmonic, and he founded there, a very inspiring and rich experience, and was astonished especially with the wind and brass sections.  He continued studying in Argentina with Conductor and Composer Marcelo Ferreyra. He did many works as composer, conductor, and arranger with many local bands in the fields of rock, pop, R&B, musical comedy and classical and contemporary music. Since 1998, starts being published all over the world, and released some CD’s from his own original compositions. From a while up to nowadays, he’s focused on music for wind & brass.

Cormac Dorrian is a composer, arranger, songwriter and producer and has been working in the music industry for over 25 years. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Goldsmiths’ College as a composer and conductor.

In the early 90’s, he was a session musician and producer, the mid 90’s a music associate for film composers including Barrington Pheloung, Richard Rodney Bennett and Maurice Jarre, in the late 90’s wrote music for TV, Radio and Film and since the early 2000’s has written music for library companies, chamber groups and soloists. In 2009, he worked for The Music and Media Partnership developing material for the World Cup and 2012 Olympics.

Cormac taught at Varndean College in Brighton from 2000 until 2012 and is now living in Salisbury and teaching Music and Performing Arts at Andover College.

Born in Hyde, Cheshire in 1959 David began his path to a career in music learning the recorder at school, and later the flute.

Whilst studying for his A levels he began lessons on a ‘derelict’ school bassoon and quickly advanced to the dizzy height of Grade VIII ABRSM having been awarded a scholarship from Tameside MBC to study with Charles Cracknel.

In 1978 David moved to the Music department of Huddersfield Polytechnic, studying with Richard King (Charles Cracknel’s successor as principal bassoon with the Halle Orchestra) and specialising in performance and composition. He performed in the Huddersfield Contempory Music Festival and played concerti with various orchestras. In his final year he was awarded the J C Forbes performance prize as well as gaining his B.A. (hons) mus.

After a further two years post graduate study at the RNCM (supported by a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Trust Fund) and under the tutelage of Edward Warren (principal bassoon with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) David gained a PG dip.(RNCM) in orchestral studies and joined the Miladi ensemble, with whom he performed a wide variety of music for wind and piano and gave a Wigmore Hall recital.

In the following years David worked as a session musician with Granada Television and the BBC (radio and television), as well as freelancing with all the Northern based symphony and chamber orchestras; playing principal bassoon with the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras. He also undertook longer term contracts in the Manchester theatres.

David was appointed as principal bassoon with The Northern Chamber Orchestra in 1985 and two years later (and running concurrently) as principal bassoon of The Orchestra of the Golden Age (playing on ‘original’ instruments).

In 1991 David became sub principal bassoon with The Orchestra of Opera North based in Leeds, a post he holds to this day; enjoying a wide variety of orchestral, chamber and opera performance in the roll of both first and second bassoon.

David has taught bassoon at Leeds College of Music, Hull University, and Breton Hall College. He now teaches privately, at Huddersfield and Leeds Universities, and also for Yorkshire Young Musicians.

In recent years David has renewed his interest in composition and has had works performed in university recitals, the International Double Reed Society convention and has also had works commissioned. He has also produced a recording of some of his chamber works.

David was born in Alverstoke, Hampshire studied at Goldsmith’s College in London, and has been a Music Teacher in schools for 30+ years, and a Director of Music in 4.
His main musical passion is working with young people, in choirs, orchestras and through individual instrumental and vocal teaching. He is an examiner with the London College of Music (University of West London), and in retirement spends his time examining, accompanying, composing and arranging, and playing the organ. He is currently conducting research into class music teaching, with particular reference to Kodaly and Orff pedadgogy, and aims to create a work to support todays’ class music teacher

David Osbon is a composer, conductor and academic whose music has been performed, broadcast and recorded around the world. Most of this international recognition comes from the years he spent as a researcher and professor in cities as diverse as Philadelphia, The Hague and Istanbul. His compositions have received many awards including the Arts Council of Great Britain DIO Award, the RVW Trust electro-acoustic music award, Hilda K. Nietsche Prize and the David A. Halstead Prize. Still Waiting for the Revolution…for piano trio was a prize winner in the Clements Memorial Prize for chamber music and was premiered in the Room Music series at St. John’s Smith Square, London.

He has conducted ensembles and orchestras ranging from the Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Jordanian Army Band through to the Bremmerton Symphony Orchestra and he has toured across Europe the USA and the Middle East with a variety of ensembles. An acclaimed expert in multi-media performance he is a pioneer in multi-platform and transmedia environments for contemporary performance. David is Professor of the Creative Arts at the University of West London.

Since returning to the UK in 2000 David has, in addition to his musical work, held lecturing roles at the University of London, South Bank University and Rose Bruford College, whilst holding down a full-time role as Head of Arts and Culture at Greenwich Council where he was instrumental in, amongst other things, devising the cultural chapter of the 2012 Olympic Bid. Commissions from the Bergamo Ensemble, Docklands Sinfonietta, Blackheath String Orchestra and the Dartford Symphony Orchestra have yielded major works, plus a number of chamber music commissions have been premiered, to critical acclaim in venues ranging from St. John’s Smith Square and the Wigmore Hall through to the Purcell Room and the Royal Albert Hall.   www.davidosbon.com

Born in 1989, Davide Riva is an accomplished Italian composer. His journey in music began with a graduation in composition at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Como, where he had the privilege of being mentored by Maestro Carlo Ballarini and Maestro Antonio Eros Negri.

Following his degree, Riva continued to refine his musical talents under the guidance of the renowned composer Luis Bacalov at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. He further honed his skills by enrolling in the advanced musical composition program at the “Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna,” studying under the tutelage of Maestro Azio Corghi and Maestro Mauro Bonifacio.
Beyond classical composition, he expanded his expertise in songwriting techniques through his studies at CET, an academy established by the esteemed lyricist Mogol.
Riva’s dedication and artistic prowess have earned him recognition in various competitions, including the National Choral Composition Competition “L’Italia s’è desta,” the National Choral Composition Competition “Accademia Corale Veneta,” and the International Choral Composition Competition “Virgo Vox.”

His diverse portfolio showcases compositions for choirs, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and dance productions. Since 2015, Riva has been imparting his knowledge and passion for music theory and harmony as a dedicated educator at the Municipal School of Music “Antonio Guarnieri” in Casatenovo, located in Northern Italy.

Born near Croydon in 1926, Dennis Wickens, like many musicians, developed an early enthusiasm for music as a chorister in his local parish church choir. Having to spend much of his younger life as a civil servant, he took piano and theory lessons privately. Continuing to sing, he took the opportunity to become a member of the choir of the Festival of Britain church, then that of the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, and to deputise at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Further part-time studies led to a degree scholarship at Trinity College of Music, London, where his tutors were William Lovelock, Arnold Cooke and Richard Arnell. He conducted several choirs, including that of the then Ministry of Education, and subsequently became director of music at the Worcester Royal Grammar School, combining this post with that of lay clerk in the choir of Worcester Cathedral and lecturing for the extra-mural department of Birmingham University.

During those years several of his works received a number of performances, two at the Three Choirs Festival and one at the Cheltenham Festival, the latter his song cycle, The Everlasting Voices, performed by Ian and Jennifer Partridge who subsequently broadcast it. His first cycle, Five Songs for Tenor and Orchestra, written for Gerald English, was performed by him several times with Orchestra da Camera, who then commissioned and performed a Double Concerto for Violin and Harmonica, and Sinfonia. A long period spent as music adviser to two local education authorities left little time for composition, but in 1987 a sabbatical term enabled him to study with the late John McCabe, culminating in Symphony for Brass Band, the scoring for which includes two additional trumpet choirs, piano, and percussion. This was first performed at the RNCM under Timothy Reynish.

His output has grown to include more orchestral, chamber, choral, keyboard and vocal music. His sixth song cycle, The Heart Oppressed, to poems by Thomas Wyatt, has been recorded by Jeremy Huw Williams and Nigel Foster for the English Poetry and Song Society, and his seventh, This Life, to poems by W. H. Davies, by Johnny Herford and Nigel Foster on the Divine Art label. His latest cycle, Mountains of the Mind, sets five texts by various writers for high voice and orchestra. A number of organ and choral pieces are published by Fagus Music.

Domenico Falanga is an Italian composer born in NoceraInferiore, Italy in 1978.  He graduated from the Conservatoryof Salerno and Avellino (Italy) in Trombone, band instrumentation, Composition and Jazz.

He studied composition with the mastersGaetano Panariello, Enrico Renna, AnneMarie Turcotte and Vincenzo Palermo. He performs as a trombonist, pianist, as well as being an arranger and conductor.
He has played with well-known Italian jazz musicians and artists of national pop music, participating in numerous Italisan  jazz festivals.  In 2005 he participated in the essay competition “A fable in music” launched by the Teatro SanCarlo in Naples.

Since 2009 he has been teaching music in secondary school, from 2015 he is a piano teacher at the primary school ofScafati (SA), Italy. He works as a teacher and director of the band of Scafati (SA), Italy, the country in which he lives.  He has had several performances of his chamber workscommissioned from leading Italian musicians.
He has participated as a trombonist in the recordings ofItalian jazz musicians including Bruno Tommaso and MariaPia De Vito, and has written soundtrack for a film by a director in London.

Elizabeth Aitken was born in 1949 and began writing tunes and mini-pieces on the piano from the age of five.  Her parents encouraged her efforts at home, school and Teachers’ Training College.  She learnt to sing and play a number of instruments and now belongs to an orchestra and small choir.  From first hearing she liked the sound of the oboe and cor anglais and was influenced by oboist Roger Lord and his late composer wife Madeleine Dring, who were family friends.

Ernest Tomlinson 1924 – 2015.   Composer, arranger and conductor Ernest Tomlinson was born in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, and encouraged in music from an early age. His school education took place at the Manchester Cathedral Choir School after winning a scholarship. Aged 16 Tomlinson won another scholarship from Manchester University to study composition as well as organ, piano and clarinet at the Royal Manchester College of Music, graduating in 1947 and also acquiring his FRCO. Whilst working as an organist in Mayfair and as a music copyist and arranger for a London music publishing firm, his own compositions began to attract interest. The first broadcast of his music was in 1949 and soon his increasing success enabled him to support himself and his family solely as a composer. His music became much in demand by the BBC and he received numerous commissions for works. Many of his compositions were used as background music or as signature tunes, and he wrote library music that is still used by TV and radio producers the world over. In the mid 1950s he also broadcast regularly with his own ensemble, the Ernest Tomlinson Orchestra and Singers, and was in demand as a conductor, recording many studio orchestra recordings of other composers’ works, often his own arrangements.

Tomlinson’s work has received much recognition. His jazz symphony ‘Sinfonia 62’ won first prize at a prestigious competition in Italy, he received a Composers’ Guild Award in 1966 and he won an Ivor Novello award in 1969 for ‘Outstanding Light Orchestral Arranger/ Composer’, winning another in 1974 for ‘Best Light Orchestral Work’.

Tomlinson received an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen on October 19th 2012, for services to music.

Much of Tomlinson’s work is light-orchestral, most famously the miniature Little Serenade, the immensely popular Suite of English Folk-Dances and Fantasia on “Auld Lang Syne”, all played frequently on Classic FM. Other notable works include two jazz symphonies, three concertos, two ballets, a one-act opera, marches for brass and wind bands, and many songs for both soloists and choirs.

For full details of any performing material of Ernest Tomlinson’s orchestral works please contact Hilary Ashton, Electrophonic Music Company, Lancaster Farm, Chipping Lane, Longridge, Preston, PR3 2NB   [email protected]    www.ernesttomlinson.co.uk

Dr Frances Jones is a freelance woodwind and French horn player based the Thames Valley, UK, particularly sought after as a performer, teacher, lecturer, adjudicator, arranger and writer.

She took a music degree at the University of Reading and studied oboe with Sydney Sutcliffe at the Royal College of Music. Since 2005 she has become the UK’s leading exponent of the Swiss alpine horn, which has resulted in engagements to perform and lecture regularly not only throughout the Alps and across Western Europe, but also in South Africa, Taiwan, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia. Research projects about the instrument have included the recent completion of a ground-breaking PhD about the influence of the alphorn on the classical composer, which has led to a fascinating book ‘The alphorn through the eyes of the classical composer’ due for publication by Vernon Press in 2020. Frances’s talent as an insightful arranger of music for various combinations of instruments displays not only a detailed knowledge of the sounds, colours, capabilities and subtleties of the instruments chosen, but also a deep passion for a range of musical genres and a desire to enable players of various abilities to enjoy a broad variety of beautiful music.

Fredrik Holm has an MA in music from the University (College) of Lund in the south of Sweden with further studies in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin. Fredrik has worked professionally in Sweden, Denmark and the UK as a musician, conductor and teacher since 1994. He worked for many years with The Malmö Opera House, Helsingborgs Symphony Orchestra, Den Anden Opera (in Copenhagen), The Swedish Improvising Theatre, The Danish Chamber Orchestra, The Swedish Bassoon Quartet.

Fredrik moved to England in 2005. He started working as a self employed musician/facilitator to be able to help people through his music, finding the many ways that it could suit those who are interested in sound through a holistic approach. He has held self development workshops through the International School of Awareness, composed CDs, produced and toured theatre shows for children, led choirs and orchestras, composed music for films and theatre and been teaching music one to one and in group.

For more information see Fredrik’s website www.2b-intune.com

Geoff Warren is a prominent exponent of Jazz, contemporary music and ethnic crossover. A graduate from London University, he studied flute with Derek Honner at the Royal Academy of Music.

He started his career as a jazz flautist/saxophonist, performing alongside a plethora of famous musicians. His work includes many compositions, recordings, concert tours and teaching and writing about jazz. He presents masterclasses and workshops throughout Europe, and is a Yamaha Artist.

Born in England to Irish parents, Graham Nelson has lived and worked in N. Ireland for most of his life. He holds BMus and MA degrees from Queen’s University, Belfast; during his undergraduate days he studied composition with Professor Raymond Warren, and his main instrument was the cello. A year enrolled on a music education course at the University of Reading (including a conducting masterclass with Nadia Boulanger) resulted in the award of a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. This led to his first appointment as a music teacher with Leicestershire Education Authority. Over the next three years, he gained invaluable experience in relation to teaching music at secondary and post-16 levels, performing on cello and engaging with school audiences as a member of staff string quartet, arranging music for small ensembles (mainly string and brass), and organising and conduction an area youth orchestra in north Leicestershire. He then returned to N. Ireland following his appointment as Lecturer in Music at the then Ulster Polytechnic (later to become the University of Ulster). In addition to his academic duties, his commitment to practical music-making resulted in the establishment firstly, of the University Orchestra and later of the Concert Band. His early retirement in 2006 has enabled him to focus on arranging and composing music specifically for young players of limited technical and musical experience; a number of these works have been published in the UK with more in the pipeline.

Born in Morley, Yorkshire, and after studies at the Huddersfield School of Music,(now University) and the Royal Manchester College of Music, (now RNCM), Howard worked as a professional clarinettist for almost fifty years, working with Manchester Mozart Orchestra, Gilbert and Sullivan For All, D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and BBC Northern in Manchester; D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, English Music Theatre, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra while in London; and since its inception in 1978, Opera North for twenty-two years, and later, the Halle orchestra. During all this time, Howard gave many solo and chamber music recitals, broadcasts and recordings, as he managed and performed in his own various ensembles. (Krishna Wind Quintet, Cosmos Wind Quintet, Spohr Trio, The Music Serenade, Palm Court Concert Orchestra, Aeolian Quintet)

He was a clarinet tutor at the University of Huddersfield for nine years and twenty-two years teaching and coaching woodwind for North Yorkshire Music Service as well as conducting the Settle Orchestra for fifteen years and then formed his own Promenade Concert Orchestra in Morecambe in 2007, where it has given some 57 concerts to an audience number of over 15,000, as it specialises in light orchestral music.

Ian Wilson is a music graduate of Durham University, where he received composition lessons from John Casken, and is currently a secondary head teacher.
He is a prizewinning composer, having won the Commonwealth Music Competition in 2019 for his piece, ‘A Commonwealth Childhood’, which was performed in the 2020 Commonwealth celebrations and is being published by Kingfisher Music and given a commercial recording. He is a member of the Colchester New Music Group and has had regular performances of his works across the Eastern region. The ensembles for which he has written include the British Clarinet Ensemble, the National Flute Choir and the Dunblane Chamber Orchestra, who performed his ‘Three Songs from A Shropshire Lad’ in May 2012 with tenor Gordon Wilson. A song for communion is published on the CCLI website.

He has conducted the Huntingdonshire Philharmonic Society and the St Cecilia Choir in Chelmsford. At St Bonaventure’s School he ran a boys’ choir which won the BBC Choir of the Year regional round in Cambridge, sang at the National Festival of Youth Music regularly, appeared several times on television and won the Jack Petchey Gold Award.

Jack Fitzgerald began learning the french horn at the age of eight, thanks to a government funded scheme that offered free music lessons to state school students in South East London. He went on to study at Pimlico School’s Centre for Young Musicians, and from there to perform with a wide variety of ensembles, including the National Youth Wind Orchestra where he was particularly inspired by the music of James Curnow, Arnold Cooke and Malcolm Arnold. This classical base was then broadened thanks to A level lessons with the jazz musician and educator Will Michael.

For the last eight years Jack has been the Assistant Director of Music at Benenden School and has drawn on all these experiences to create a series of pieces for french horn aimed at developing the aspiring horn player from their earliest steps, to a life long engagement with, and love of the instrument.

James D’Angelo has had a very varied musical career as a composer, pianist (classical and jazz), organist, sound therapist, lecturer and writer. American born, he holds BMus and MMus degrees from the Manhattan School of Music (New York) and a PhD degree from New York University. From 1970 to 1986 he was a music lecturer within the City University of New York. Emigrating to England, he taught music at Goldsmiths College London. A published composer, D’Angelo has written nearly sixty songs, various chamber pieces, much choral music, organ works and several semi-improvised piano suites. His Three Portraits of Krishna for flute and piano were recorded for Virgin Classics alongside works by Barber, Rorem and Bernstein. His song Elegy and bass quartet Ode to St. Kilda were international prize winning compositions and his Blow Out, Ye Bugles was chosen for the Washington (DC) commemoration of the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 disaster. An album of his sacred choral and organ music sung by the Washington National Cathedral Choir, entitled The Holy City, was released by Gothic Records (USA) in 2014. He received a commission from the 2013 Three Choirs Festival for his Festival Fanfare. He has recently been elected a member of the Severnside Composers Alliance which has premiered several of his pieces. In 2010 he formed the Trio D’Angelo which has performed at contemporary music festivals. Since 1994 he has developed vocal sound therapy courses, resulting in the publication of two books: The Healing Power of the Human Voice and Seed Sounds for Tuning the Chakras. His website is http://www.jamesdangelomusic.com/

James Maddocks (b. 1990) studied composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where his principal composition tutors were Guy Woolfenden, Richard Causton, Edwin Roxburgh and Philip Martin. Whilst studying he specialised in writing for wind and brass, culminating in performances of his compositions Pagan Dances (cond. Guy Woolfenden, Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Orchestra) and Ozymandias (cond. Alexander Webb, Frontiers Wind Orchestra). During his final year he compiled a guide to wind orchestra orchestration for his major project.

Since graduating James has received a number of commissions including for the Frontiers Wind Orchestra and choir (This Ancient Earth), the Central England String Ensemble (Moon Dances), RNCM Student Wind Orchestra project (Largo Misterioso) and Beaufort Wind Ensemble (Dreams of Illyria).

As a performer, James has played with a wide variety of orchestras, opera companies and wind orchestras on bassoon and percussion. He currently lives in Greater Manchester with his wife Clare and daughter Sarah.

Jane studied the flute at the RNCM with Kate Hill and Trevor Wye, graduating in 1985. She liked the North West so much that she stayed on, moving to Preston, with her husband and two children, in Guild Year, 1992.

She currently teaches at Keele and Manchester Metropolitan Universities and Clitheroe Royal Grammar School.  Jane has given lunchtime concerts around the North West, and is a regular member of Preston Flute Group.

Jo Griffiths has moved into Composition after a career in teaching spanning 24 years. She has been M.D. for many musical productions and is currently the keyboard player in a function band playing regularly for private events.

Jo returned to education as a mature student in 2008 completing an MA in composition at Salford University in 2013 with Dr. Alan Williams.

Her work so far has been primarily in the community, writing a suite based on Jack and the Beanstalk for school children performed in 2010. In 2011 she collaborated with The Abney Orchestra to produce a piece for their concert programme called Silhouette, and worked with contemporary dancers on a descriptive piece called The Locked Door.

More recently The National Flute Orchestra have performed Jongleur, a piece written specifically for flute orchestra, and now include it regularly in their concert programme.

In 2014, Jo looks forward to working with The London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra and The London Wind Consort, both under the direction of Alan Taylor, to create music for their concert programme. She also continues to form collaborations to produce new music for schools. A junior solo piano book is also in production.

Many of Jo’s pieces are aimed at young students and adults returning to instruments or learning late in life who wish to enjoy performing  but have not or may not reach virtuoso standard.

John Dutton was born in Denbighshire, and became interested in writing music when he was about sixteen. He had passed examinations for piano playing when he was much younger, but taught himself composition, writing light music for piano, such as rags, marches etc. in his spare time.

Many years later, in 1989, John decided to teach himself brass band arranging, although he does not play a brass instrument. He has since written several marches, and arranged others by R.B. Hall, Abe Holzmann, Alex. F. Lithgow and Frank H. Losey.

John has written various pieces including duets and quartets, and arranged other music for brass band.

John Hulaton got his start in music in Pearl City, Hawaii when he was 11 years old and his music teacher “mistakenly” gave him a trumpet. After four years of incessant noisemaking, he started playing gigs in bands and shows in Hawaii. Somewhere along the way, he picked up the guitar, ukulele, and drums, and also did a bit of singing. John studied composition and music theory privately with Joseph Carvalho, formerly of the Royal Hawaiian Band, and Lou Paino, a former Hollywood studio musician. John currently lives in Osaka, Japan where he quietly writes music for commercials, games, promotional videos, and the odd artist in genres from classical to techno to enka.

Composer & pianist Juan María Solare (Buenos Aires, 1966), an Argentine living in Germany, is one of those musicians that open scarcely travelled paths. The singularity of his music stems from the confluence between post-Piazzollian tango and classical contemporary music. His peculiar style represents a synthesis of North and South, classical and popular, wit and melancholy, performance and composition. “Art music and light music are not irreconcilable extremes, but poles in a force field”, says Solare about his “musical bilingualism”.Composition degrees at the IUNA (Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte), Buenos Aires and at the Hochschule für Musik Köln (with Johannes Fritsch, Clarence Barlow, Hans Ulrich Humpert, Mauricio Kagel). Studies in Stuttgart with Helmut Lachenmann. Regular assistant to the composition courses of Karlheinz Stockhausen in Kürten, Germany. “A full-blooded musician.” (Hans-Joachim Brandt, Wümme Zeitung, Lilienthal) “He is integer, tolerant, very friendly: a very rare spirit.” (Karlheinz Stockhausen).His music has been included in several short films (experimental, documentary, suspense). Composition prizes in Argentina, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Croatia and Spain. Fifteen CDs by different performers include at least one piece by Juan María Solare. Soloists and ensembles from Japan to New York, from Australia to Greece, have played his music.He has given piano recitals in Buenos Aires and dozens of Argentinean cities, plus Berlin, Istanbul, Finland, Denmark, Amsterdam, Madrid, Graz, Geneva, Seville, London… The audiences at his concerts are fascinated by his warmth and quality. As a pianist with over 400 concerts on his account, he has participated at the World Tango Summit on three occasions.Solare conducts the Orquesta no Típica at the university of Bremen (Germany). At the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen he teaches Composition and Arrangements. He also conducts the Jacobs Chamber Orchestra at the Jacobs University Bremen and the symphony orchestra of the Bremer Orchestergemeinschaft. He is the editor of four tango albums for the publishing house Ricordi Munich. www.JuanMariaSolare.com

Kedarnath Awati (born 1957, Pune, India) started learning the piano from the age of eight.  From the age of sixteen he fancied that he would become a professional mathematician…he received his masters degree in Pure Maths from the University of Pune in 1979 and worked as a Maths teacher at India’s National Defence Academy for four years thereafter.  While abandoning his work towards a doctorate in Maths and drifting back to music via music for documentary and children’s films he found time to complete his AmusTCL in 1991.  He joined the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune in 1991 as a Professor of Music, a post he continues to hold today.

From 1991 to 1997 he worked almost exclusively as a film composer for students who had a bent towards the experimental in matters of music and sound design.  In between, he wrote a symphonic Allegro that had to wait almost twenty years to get a good recording.  It can be located and heard on YouTube for those who are interested.  He was also able to take time off between 2003 and 2007 to pursue and complete a doctorate in Music Theory and Composition under Dr. David Felder at the State University of New York at Buffalo.  Today he divides his work time between his duties at the Film Institute and giving private instruction (via mobile and Skype!) to Indian students  on the various intricacies of the European harmonic style of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  After all this, if and when he has time he composes music!

He lives in Pune with his wife Simrita and son Siddharth, and spends his spare time reading (Ian Rankin, Haruki Murakami and Jo Nesbo are his current favorites), hiking and playing Scrabble.

Kevin began his musical life as most musicians do by playing the recorder. This led onto the trumpet and then the trombone .At the age of 15 he joined the Army as a trombone player quickly rising through the playing ranks of the Junior Army Service and then onto Kneller Hall in London. Here he studied trombone under Mr William Teskey (Principal trombone Covent Garden) and Mr Dennis Bayton (Taverners Big Band). He also studied theory and composition under Mr. R.G Swift. It was here that he acquired a thirst for the knowledge of other wind and brass instruments and was frequently seen mixing with all sorts of musicians both in and out of bars! In 1973 he joined The Queens Royal Irish Hussars band and was their Solo Trombone player for nine years. It was here that he started to arrange and compose. Whilst in the band he had my first piece played on the national German Radio, it was an arrangement of the Theme from The Godfather.

At this time he was also lucky enough to further my trombone skills, through lessons from the Principal of the BSO, Mr. Dennis Wise.

He left the Army in 1981 and could frequently be found depp-ing in various theatre pits throughout the south coast. The list of ensemble membership runs between big bands, jazz bands, brass ensembles, orchestras, German bands and recorder consorts!

At the present time he is teaching at Thorngrove School in Berkshire and for the Berkshire Maestros in Newbury where he works with Clifton Wind Band . He is also the musical director of The Allegro Wind Band and Andover Light Orchestra . He regularly writes and arranges for all these ensembles.

Kyle Hovatter’s (b.1986) works span orchestral, choral, chamber, and electronic genres Often working closely with local San Francisco ensembles, his music has also been championed by players in Italy, Germany, France, Hungary, Romania, Australia, and throughout the United States. Recent collaborators include Sarah Cahill, sfSound, Jeff Anderle, Susan Nelson, Miguel Bonachea Diaz, Nonsemble, Amy Foote, Jarring Sounds, the International Low Brass Trio, the Silver Keys Trio, and Nicole Paiement. He is an active musician in San Francisco, a member of the International Orange Chorale, and a student of Dan Becker’s. Mr. Hovatter has a private piano studio and works as the organist and Director of Music at Zion Lutheran Church in San Francisco.

Laura Shipsey is a composer based in Hertfordshire, UK. Her music is characterised by a playful approach to the balance of continuity and discontinuity which sees contrasting figures spun together into multidimensional musical worlds. Recent works include orchestral pieces Samara for Aldworth Philharmonic) and Hatch (for Cambridge, Heidelberg, Montpellier Youth Orchestra), her clarinet trio Beacons, several semi-improvised graphic scores for flexible ensemble developed with her ensemble the Hooting Cow Collective, and Beam for two wood blocks. Laura is currently working on a new piece for Brass Band as part of Making Music’s Adopt a Composer scheme for the City of Bristol Brass Band, and completing her first work for sinfonietta which was due to be premiered by the Britten Pears Sinfonietta and Jessica Cottis at Aldeburgh festival. Having first studied composition with Sam Hayden and Eric Egan at Durham University, in 2020 Laura will begin a PhD under the supervision of Arlene Sierra supported by a full studentship at Cardiff University.

Leonello Capodaglio was born October 6, 1945 and resides in Lendinara, in the Venetian region of Italy. He studied in Venice with Gino Gorini (piano), Gian Francesco Malipiero and Ugo Amendola (composition), Franco Ferrara (conductor) Egida Giordani Sartori (harpsichord).

Having developed his activities as a pianist, composer, harpsichord soloist and conductor, he was Director of the National Conservatory of Music of Adria and director of various chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras. He has composed numerous times winners of national and international competition of composition, and is currently president or commissioner in numerous competitions, including the prestigious “V. Bucchi” in Rome.

He has the author of 356 opus numbers composed in tonal style, 249 of which were published by 42 editions in Italy, France, Belgique, Germany, Suisse, United kingdom, Usa and Canada. In addition, he has had more than 300 performances of his music in Italy and in the world, with performances and television broadcasting, and varied discography.

The most well known compositions are the lyric operas “Fornarina”, “Calliroe”, “Fanny”, three Oratorios, a Marian Cantata, Six Suites for orchestra and “La Beltà” (The Beauty), a series of six concerts for soloist and orchestra. Non-marginal musicologist, his activities with the wise man and conferences and with the discovery of fonocromatica technique used by Antonio Vivaldi. He has published ten volumes of poetry and prose. His biography is found in many dictionaries in Italian, German, and English languages.

Composer, pianist and conductor, Lodi Luka was  born in Shkoder (Albania) in 1980 in a musicians family. He performed for various institutions, associations and concert seasons (Opera House of Tirana, Shkoder’s Migjeni Theatre, House of Music and Theatre Rendano of Cosenza, Theatre of the University of Calabria, University of Fine Arts in Graz (Austria), Puccini Hall of the Conservatory of Milan, Week of Albanian Culture at Villa Litta Lainate, Sebino Summer Festival, Festival of Montalto Uffugo Leoncavallo, Rendese Festival September, the Italian Embassy in Albania etc.).

As a composer prefers a communicative language that is influenced by the traditional music and contemporary music, without forgetting its Balkan roots.

He is the author of two chamber operas: Io e l’altro (Me and the other), loosely based on a short story by Borges and Il Sogno (The Dream) of a libretto by Enrico De Luca.

He collaborates as conductor with the chamber orchestra “I musici di Parma” with the Italian Harps Orchestra and the contemporary music ensemble “L’ Altro Ensemble” which he founded.

He started studying the piano at the music school in his hometown  when he was six,  and received his Diploma in 1998 from the College of Music “Prenke Jakove” in Shkoder. Since then he has been living in Italy, receiving a Piano Diploma from the Milan Conservatory, a Diploma in Composition, a master degree in Music Education and a master degree in Piano Teaching from the Conservatory in Cosenza. Among the many teachers who have guided his musical studies: the pianist Aldo Ciccolini, composers Vincenzo Palermo, Elisabetta Brusa and Luis Bakalov and conductors Pietro Mianiti e Ovidiu Balan.

Lynne Williams studied music at Durham University, and is now a freelance woodwind player, repairer and publisher in the North West of England. She is a member of the National Flute Orchestra, Preston Flute Group, Casual Sax Quartet and regularly perfoms with local orchestras and ensembles on a wide variety of different wind instruments.

She is a keen composer and has been writing music for her own pupils for a number of years.  Writing for all wind instruments, her works include study books, solo pieces and small ensembles, many of which are excellent teaching materials.

Marc is a member of SCI and ASCAP. His works have been performed in many piano recitals, and music theory-composition forums in Miami, Spain and Italy. His compositions include works for instrumental, vocal, and electronic music. List of works: Suite for clarinet & bassoon An Afternoon In The Park (vibes, bass & perc.) Midday Voices (Jazz vocal ensemble) Café (piano) Nocturne (piano) Prelude & Toccata (piano) Impromptu (piano) Recuerdos de España (piano) Fantasia (flute & piano) The Beauty Of Nature (mezzo-soprano & piano) We Were Young (a cappella chorus) Prisoner Of The Sea (Symphonic poem) Sancta Maria Magdalena (for solo soprano, chorus and orchestra) Images of a dream (Symphonic poem) Spring Harvest (flute & string orchestra) Electronic Music: Forbidden City, Rainy Afternoon, Sounds & Images, Voices Of Nature.

British born composer Mark Whitefield spent most of his formative years in the Midlands area of the UK before relocating to the West Country to undertake a period of study at Dartington College of Arts, where he obtained a BA [Hons] in music composition.

 He is a composer of eclectic and wide ranging interests with a compositional process that has been described as classical/art music, but within a tonal context, that can at times encompass elements from jazz and world music.

His activities as a composer have included compositions for the concert hall, film and devised theatre projects where he has composed for an orchestra, chamber ensembles and pieces for solo instruments. He has also developed, in recent years, an interest electro-acoustic music which has resulted in several compositions in this medium.

He is also a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

I am a pianist, bass player and cellist living in Berkshire, England. Retired from a non-musical career, I always used to say I worked there in my spare time, much of the rest being music. I compose mainly works for duos, string quartets and small ensembles for people I know to play, including the odd choral work, eleven string quartets and two flute sonatas. Also a few larger works: concertos for flute and for harp and one symphony.

Matteo Firmi was born in Trieste (Italy), on 21th of February 1984. He started taking trumpet lessons at the Filarmonica di Santa Barbara in Muggia at the age of 6. The following years he continued his trumpet study at the Tartini conservatory in Trieste with the teachers Cal, Bellucco, Cudiz, Ferrari and Morosini. Furthermore he studied direction for wind orchestra at ISEB (European High School for Band Study) with the teachers Jan Cober for conducting, Felix Hauswirth for repertoire and Carlo Pirola for band instrumentation. He also did courses in choral and choir direction with maestro Adriano Martinolli D’Arcy at the Conservatory of Trieste as well as he took composition classes with Franco Cesarini at ISEB, and in the composition laboratory ‘Alla Leopolda’ in Florence. Later on in life Matteo attended master classes at the Conservatory of Udine with Jan van der Roost and Johan de Meij.

At the moment Matteo is the conductor of Banda dei Donatori del Sangue di Villesse ( Band of Blood Donors), the choir Duomo di Muggia and he works as a critic for musicals for the webzine www.amicidelmusical.it.

From early in his childhood Michael Walshe was very much aware of music.   His mother who before her marriage had been a professional   singer continued with her singing during his formative years so he was exposed from an early age to a variety of musical styles and influences ranging from Schubert, Schuman and Brahms to Faure  Debussy and  De Falla ; and from Bach ,Handel and Purcell  to  Vaughan Williams and  Roger Quilter.  In his early teens he was a Chorister at Westminster Cathedral when the Master of the Cathedral Music was George Malcolm. Thwarted of his ambition to read English at Cambridge due to poor A  Levels he decided to  become a  Solicitor . During the training period in Articles for that profession he started to compose (mainly songs – heavily influenced by Quilter and Peter Warlock.) After qualifying and during  the ensuing years as a busy Solicitor in  private practice he had little time for composing though  he did produce some small pieces and completed a Trio for Flute, Oboe and Clarinet and a Quartet for these instruments plus Bassoon both of which were subsequently  published and still  remain in print.

He took up the Clarinet after leaving school and this has enabled him to join the woodwind section in various orchestras and to participate in  ensembles  where it is useful that he has both a Bass Clarinet  and a Basset Horn .

As he is less involved now with active playing due to somewhat defective vision he is now able to devote more time to composing; incidentally he is entirely self taught.

Apart from music he has had a life time love of cricket and in recent years has taken up croquet which has involved him in creating and maintaining his own modest croquet lawn.

I started on the piano at an early stage (my father was a jazz pianist with his own band) and then moved to the trumpet where i played in local jazz bands and amateur orchestras. I became principal trumpet of the Kent Youth Orchestra. As a teacher of forty years i wrote a number of musicals (with colleagues), songs for choirs, carols, and pieces for motley groups of instrumentalists. I taught in five counties ending in Devon where I retired early. Now fully retired and living in Italy I have the leisure to do much more composing.

Born in Lecce in 1982, he started the study of piano and composition at a very early age. He furthered his studies with a degree at “Tito Schipa” Conservatorium, Lecce (Italy), with first-class honours in “Music: interpretation and composition” studying with Francesco Libetta. Then he studied at the Debreceni Egetemy Konservatòriuma (Hungary) with Jeno Jando, F. J. Thioiller, R. Cappello,S. Perticaroli, V. Balzani, V. Dvorkin, M. Abbado e L. Morales. He has won many international piano competitions, and collaborates with such famous opera singers as Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armiliato, and chamber music ensembles and instrumentalists, such as Vincent Lepape and Stefan Schulz.

I started playing the flute when I was 12 years old. Very soon after I also started to play the clarinet and the saxophone. For many years I was a woodwind teacher specialising in flute and saxophone. I was a founder member of the Northern Saxophone Quartet, and at a different time, a piccolo player in The Cyprus State Orchestra. I have played Flute with Sir James Galway, and Saxophone with Eugene Rousseau. During the last fifteen years, I have been The Director of Music in six International Schools. I am now looking forward to my retirement and having more time to write music and to start playing Flutes and Saxophones again.

Otto Martin Christensen has more than twenty years teaching and research experience from different academic institutions in Norway, where he has been working within the field of philosophy at Bergen University, Stavanger University and Telemark University College.

He has many years performing experience.  He studied piano, flute and guitar and began composing when he was fifteen years old.  His works have been extensively performed throughout Norway and beyond.

Paul Hart studied Piano, Violin and Composition at the Royal College of Music.  Having developed an early interest in jazz, he worked with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, touring the world with them.  He has written many works, including a guitar concerto for John Williams, a percussion concerto for Evelyn Glennie, and a host of music identity packages for radio stations including Classic FM, Jazz FM and the BBC World Service.

Stella Dickinson has enjoyed a diverse career in music as Principal Oboist with the Rambert Dance Company, having played over many years with the BBC Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  Stella has taught the oboe throughout her career, as well as being a published author, editor, academic and researcher.  She can be heard playing the oboe identity Jingles on Classic FM radio.  Her solo CD ‘Love’s Lore’ sixteen British Folksongs for Oboe, Harp and Strings, was a creative collaboration with Paul Hart which has been highly acclaimed.

Pauline Gordon was a pupil at Ackworth Friends’ School where her father was Director of Music. She played piano and cello and went on to study music at Liverpool. She taught in Comprehensive schools and gained an Med at Hope University where she studied the impact of music technology on music education. Che collaborated on the Jazz in Education initiative and her school was highly commended in the Daily Telegraph’s Young Jazz project. After some years as a Deputy Head she left teaching to work for Ofsted and began to learn the saxophone. She now plays in a number of Bug Bands, the Sovereign Saxophone Octet, the Northwest Saxophone Choir, Quattrosax quartet and the Maghull Wind Orchestra. She has written music for a wide variety of ensembles.

Peter Merry studied music at Dartington and Surrey University and for several years had posts as a school music teacher, including Head of Brass at Tonbridge School. He then became a freelance horn player in London where he played mainly in the chamber orchestras and chamber groups such as the Endymion Ensemble. For many years he played with English Touring Opera and made over 50 recordings with the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields and the City of London Sinfonia. He has since taught the horn at Junior Trinity and at Exeter University and coached chamber music with the British Horn Society, and on courses such as  Dartington International Summer School, Cubertou in France, Segovia in Spain and the English Camerata International Chamber Music Summer School where many of his arrangements for wind players have been performed.

Philip Joy is a retired Baptist Minister and M.E. sufferer who lives in Essex, UK. Trained as a cellist and largely self-taught in composition, Philip did not discover his personal voice until the early years of the new millennium, which resulted in a substantial score for Wind Orchestra called Variations on a Crowd written for Timothy Reynish, and a Trio for Harp Violin and Cello called Discourse. These works established an aesthetic of beauty, the use of harmonic structures built on a triad higher up the overtone series and a direct approach to rhythm. In this way Philip is proud to draw inspiration from the riches of the Western mainstream whilst bringing to it the freshness of New Consonant Music. He has had a number of professional performances including chamber works by the Turner Ensemble, the Barkham Harp Quartet, Sara Stowe, Charles Hine, and Serenata Winds as well as performing his own cello music in local concert venues; orchestral performances by established amateur groups include Ex Libris Aureis for the Lavenham Sinfonia and the more recent substantial Donata for Essex Chamber Orchestra, scored for Triple Woodwind. He is a valued member of the Central Composers’ Alliance, and through more recent creative partnerships with Colchester New Music has written scores for the British Clarinet Ensemble, the National Flute orchestra, and with the encouragement of Forton Music is currently engaged in a work for the Lug Double Reed Band. A string rather than a wind specialist, Philip nonetheless delights in the texture and colour offered by Wind and Brass music and is particularly fascinated by the possibilities offered by ensembles of single wind families. In addition he has a large back-catalogue of compositions written for various ensembles no longer in existence due to the 2008 financial crash: several choral miniatures for the RSCM, a Cello Concertino Retro Variations, a String Quartet Melisma and a duet for Violin and Viola Mozart Balls. He has written a 45-minute Sacred Music Drama based on a the Medieval English Mystic Cloude of Unknowinge, (to a Libretto in the Middle English prepared by the composer) and is currently at work on his first symphony.

Richard Lambert was born in Bath, UK.  His musical studies were at universities in Bristol, London and Surrey.  His teaching career spanned 34 years in four schools (32 of which were as Director of Music), but he now combines a career as composer, examiner and organist.  He is a Senior Examiner, Trainer and Moderator for the London College of Music, travelling, since 1989, to many centres in Europe, North and South America, Africa and the Far East.  He continues to enjoy this work, drawing on his long experience of music-making and working with young people.  Richard has written a highly successful GCSE music guide, published by Longman (Pearson Education).  Whilst his earlier compositions were influenced by twentieth-century mainstream styles, with traces of jazz and popular music, his more recent music uses a freely atonal idiom or a serial technique, combined with tightly-knit structures.

Ricky Chaggar is an award winning professional composer. He was born in London in 1982 and began playing music by ear at 3 years old on the piano. He soon started playing his own compositions and improvisations at school concerts and at 17, won a composing contest set by the Royal Albert Hall and Redbridge Music Service in London.

Having studied law at university and with a brief period working in business, he decided to return to his classical music training with serious study in music theory and composition, which include studies at the Royal College of Music and the Trinity College London syllabus.

As a committed composer and musician, his work has begun to draw acclaim and attention as an emerging talent within contemporary music. Other composing awards to date include winning entries in the Druskomanija International Contemporary Music Festival and the Sul Ross State University Wind Ensemble competitions. With a natural inclination towards melody and foundation derived from the tonal idiom, his music is accessible and has been heard on national television and radio both in the UK and worldwide (BBC, Channel 4, RAI Uno). With an interest in music education, he was invited by the Royal College of Music to conduct a workshop regarding composing techniques within classrooms.

Robert Rainford studied music at Durham University before embarking on a career as a freelance musician, publisher and music teacher in the North West of England. Playing and teaching wind instruments, as well as piano and double bass, has given him an invaluable insight into the technical issues of the different wind instruments.

A member of the National Flute Orchestra, Preston Flute Group and Casual Sax Quartet, Robert is an active musician, and his arrangements have been played world wide by a variety of different ensembles.  Rapidly gaining a reputation for his low flute playing, the picture shows Rob with his Subcontrabass flute.

Roger Cawkwell studied composition and a range of instruments at the RAM, going on to play with groups as diverse as The London Sinfonietta, The Foundations and the Dankworth Band. He taught composition and musicianship at various London colleges for over 40 years and drops in to play bass with Opal Flutes whenever he can.

Russell Denwood was born in Wallsend Northumberland in 1950. He learned his basics in a cathedral choir and at the local music college, where he studied Violin, Piano, Bassoon and composition. His main training was at Trinity College if Music, London, studying Piano, Composition and Bassoon. He was a freelance bassoonist for a few years in London, then, on getting married decided that that was a precarious way to make a living, therefore went into instrumental teaching. Having taught in various areas in the country for 20 years (Newcastle, Tynemouth, Aberdeen, Dumfries and Kirkcudbright), he then joined June Emerson Wind Music for a number of years, on the sales, publishing, editing side of the business. Now retired (if a musician is ever retired!) he lives in the beautiful South West of Scotland, working as a composer and arranger. His arrangements and compositions are published by (amongst others) Boosey & Hawkes, Emerson Edition, Phoenix Music, Kendor, Hilltop, Reynard Music etc. Away from music, he has a particular interest in Japanese art

Ruth Ballantyne is a flautist and teacher based in Cornwall who graduated with a degree in music from Exeter University in 1997. Since then she has worked as a freelance flute player and an enthusiastic specialist teacher with students of all ages and abilities including undergraduate, postgraduate and professional musicians.

During her career Ruth has been proactive in creating, directing and encouraging a wide variety of musical projects including the formation, in 2003 of the registered charity, 4Flutes to inspire and encourage flute players through workshops and events. More recently (2011) Ruth started RWindband, a new symphonic wind band, based on a strong ethos of teamwork, progression and inspiration.

Ruth’s been actively involved with the Musicians Union for over 15 years and more recently in the formation of the Musicians’ Union teachers section in 2009. Currently chair of the Musicians’ Unions Teachers Section and HUB rep mentor both these roles enable Ruth to promote and encourage development and professionalism in instrumental teaching. Ruth has done numerous presentations on teaching around the country including teaching workshops at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the British Flute Society Convention.

After enjoying a career as chartered engineer and chartered IT professional Simon Tait returned to music performance and composition in 2013, studying classical piano and attaining an ABRSM Diploma in piano performance in 2015 and subsequent studying orchestration at Morley College in London.

He is particularly drawn to the evocative in music and the use of improvisation as part of the composition process. His music is atmospheric and he often produces organic intimate pieces which are lyrical and expressive.

He writes for orchestra, piano and for piano with other instruments. He is a member of the Committee of the London Composer’s Forum and has carried out a number of projects with the London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra (LCCO) include a film score and concert pieces. He performs solo and with other musicians. He sings tenor with Bath Abbey’s Abbey Singers and occasionally with other choirs.

Stuart Spiers was educated at Camp Hill Grammar School, Birmingham and Nottingham College of Education. He has played professionally in London and Shropshire and taught for over 50 years. During this time, he has also given improvisation workshops and lecture demos.

He has been writing and arranging in a jazz context for various combinations for over 30 years. He has lived with his wife in Shrewsbury, Shropshire since 1974 and has been musically active in Shropshire all that time

Tim is an award winning and widely published Yorkshire based composer whose through his accessible and appealing music has built up a range of performances both here at home and also overseas.
His music ranges from small pieces for beginner woodwind ensembles through to large scale Choral and Orchestral works, ( the orchestra piece Elegy for an English summer recorded by the CZech Philharmonic has seen him shortlisted in the Classic FM hall of fame for three years running). His has been guest composer in residence in both Canada an the USA and his pieces have found their way onto exam lists and festival set pieces.
Tim is also a busy choral conductor and at present directs the hugely successful Leeds Male Voice choir, The International Touring choir Masterworks Chorale and also the Heritage singers, he is Principal of the Yorkhire college of Music in Leeds, has a love of Saabs and Preserved English Electric Diesel locos!

Tony Bridgewater studied piano with Malcolm Wilson at the Birmingham Schoolof Music and gained a B.A. in music at St John’s College, Cambridge, studying composition with Peter Tranchell and Piano with Renee Reznek. He has composed a wide range of music including pieces for Orchestra, Concert band and Choir, and sonatas for piano, violin, trumpet and cello. He gave the first performance of his Second Piano Concerto with the Central England Ensemble conducted by Anthony Bradbury in February 2010, and conducted the first performance of his Double Concerto for Flute and Clarinet with the Central England Ensemble and soloists Tony and Linda May at Carrs Lane Church, Birmingham, in February 2013. In November 2015, the pianist Margaret Fingerhut is to give the first performance of his Concert Piece for piano and orchestra in Birmingham, and he is currently working on several commissions including a new orchestral work for 2017. He enjoys playing the piano in chamber music, as soloist and accompanist, and has played for the ‘BBC Young Musician of the Year’ competition and ‘Dudley Young Musician of the Year’. He gives regular recitals with local musicians, especially Anna Downes, and appears regularly in the ‘Local and Live’ concert series in Stourbridge. He conducted the Stourbridge Choral and Orchestral Society for 6 years, and was made President of the Society in 2008. In 2014 he was invited to be the director of the National Flute Orchestra, and has conducted them in a wide range of music including the Sonata by Andrew Downes and other C20/21 works including his own Sonata for Flutes. In 2014 he was elected a trustee of the Birmingham Conservatoire Association, and he serves on the newly formed Conservatoire Development Council, supporting the development of the new Conservatoire now being built at Millenium Point. Tony Bridgewater was Senior Curriculum Coordinator for Creative Arts at Ridgewood High School from 1985-2003, and Director of Music at Old Swinford Hospital School from 2003 -2015. During this time his students toured in Europe and America, and performed in venues such as Barcelona Cathedral, Montserrat Abbey, Salzburg Cathedral and St Mark’s Cathedral, Venice. He has now left teaching to be a freelance musician. His other interests include classic cars, art, gardening, films, photography and family life with his wife Veronica and their two children.

Tony is lucky to have had clarinet lessons from two inspirational musicians. His early studies in Bournemouth were with Alan Melly, several of whose pupils have achieved great success in the profession. He later studied under the eminent clarinettist Sidney Fell at the Royal College of Music, where he gained a Performer’s Diploma with Honours.

After spending three years as Principal Clarinet in the Royal Ballet Touring Company, Tony occupied a similar position in the orchestra of English National Opera from 1976-2012. He has also appeared as guest principal with most of the major opera companies and symphony and chamber orchestras in London and around the country.

Tony was a founder member of the ensemble Capricorn, whose extensive engagements included concerts and broadcasts throughout Britain and abroad, two university residencies, and several recordings on the Hyperion label. He has also played with other chamber groups such as the Nash Ensemble and the London Sinfonietta.

As a soloist and recitalist, Tony has performed for BBC Radio 3 and at many venues including Wigmore Hall and St John’s Smith Square. He is a visiting examiner, adjudicator and coach at all the London colleges of music, and is a member of the artistic committee of the Park Lane Group, which provides performing opportunities for talented young musicians.

Vincenzo Sorrentino was born in Nola, Italy in 1973. He studied at the Conservatory D. Cimarosa of Avellino. Initially trained as a pianist, he latterly concentrated on composition and his works have won numerous competitions, reaching large audiences and gaining much acclaim.

His flute ensemble works have proved especially popular, with worldwide performances at concerts and major flute events, and the flute world was shocked to hear of his untimely death at the end of 2013.

Yuri Povolotsky was born in Odessa (Ukraine) in February 1962. In 1986 he graduated from Gnesin Russian Music Academy in Moscow – faculty of composition. His teachers were Professor Heinrich Litinsky and Professor Alexey Muravlev.  Moving to Israel in 1991, Yuri is a member of the Israel Composers’ League.

He has composed symphonic and chamber music, working in various styles and genres, performed in concerts, performances, radio and TV broadcasts  in Israel and many countries all over the world.  During last few years he has created some pieces connected with Jewish themes and folklore, and is Art & Musical Director of Jazz-Klezmer-Band “Apropos.art”

Many of his works have been heard at international festivals of contemporary music in USA, New Ze