YYM Staff

PENNY STIRLING GRSM ARCM PGCE FRNCM, Director, violin

Penny Stirling is the Founding Director of Yorkshire Young Musicians.

She was born in Somerset and trained at the Royal College of Music in London. Although graduating as a pianist, her first job was as a Head of Strings and she then went on to run the string department at Wells Cathedral School from 1980 - 1990. After working as Head of the Instrumental Music Service for Wiltshire County Council, she married and moved to Manchester where she became Director of the Junior Strings Project at the Royal Northern College of Music. This innovative course, which won the Partnership Trusts' Thorn EMI award for innovations in music teacher training in 1995 and a Queen's Anniversary Prize for the RNCM in 1998, trains postgraduate students to teach, using children from the local community - thereby giving many youngsters an opportunity to learn a string instrument. Now run in conjunction with Manchester Metropolitan University, this is one of the few courses where teachers can train to teach instrumental music alongside their classroom studies and obtain a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (with subsequent Qualified Teacher Status).

In December 1999 Penny was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Northern College. In 2004, whilst still retaining a part-time position as Consultant to the Junior Strings Project, she moved to North Yorkshire and became Director of Yorkshire Young Musicians, a new DfES Music and Dance Scheme for highly talented children in the Yorkshire and Humber area.

Penny has taught violin, viola and piano at Wells Cathedral School, Chetham's, Junior RNCM and currently at St Peters School, York. She founded the chamber music course 'Young String Venture' at Lake District Summer Music and is Course Director for Pro Corda North and Director of Stirlings Summer Strings.

She often works with County Music Services on Professional Development days and is Course Leader for the Manchester centre of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music's Professional Development course leading to the award of CT ABRSM. In addition, she has worked as a mentor for the CT ABRSM course in Singapore and Hong Kong and as a presenter of Violin Seminars for the Board. Other recent work has taken her to South Carolina (USA), Norway and Bermuda to assist the teachers working for the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. She adjudicates for many music festivals both at home and abroad.

ANDREW STAMATAKIS-BROWN MusB (Hons), GRNCM, PPRNCM(ens), composition and musicianship

Andrew studied on the prestigious Joint Course, at the University of Manchester and at the RNCM. He received the Margaret Ann Knowles Major Scholarship and several academic prizes from the University, graduating with first class honours in 2003. At the RNCM he studied composition with Gary Carpenter and Ian Vine and won prizes for composition and jazz improvisation. He has written for film, dance and theatre, and has had performances of his pieces in Europe, Australia and the States.

Andrew plays piano in, and composes for 6pac Jazz Sextet, who received the Royal Northern College of Music Gold Medal from the college Principal in 2004.The sextet has recorded 2 albums, the first of which was funded through the Peter Whittingham Award for an Innovative Jazz Project. Their project involved running workshops at H.E. institutions across the North-West and a nationwide composition competition. They have appeared twice as guest artists for BBC Songs of Praise and perform across the UK. Andrew made his Ronnie Scott’s debut in 2005 with singer Alice Zawadzki, and continues to work with singers across the country, including through Music in Hospitals, which takes live music into healthcare settings across the country.

In addition to teaching at YYM, Andrew has worked in other branches of music education for a number of years. With 6pac he is a member of the Live Music Now! scheme, which takes music to people who would not normally have access to it, and they also run their own Jazz Summer School, in conjunction with Dartington Plus in Devon. He currently teaches piano and jazz piano at the King’s school in Chester, delivers workshops for Streetwise Opera and has taught keyboard and improvisation skills on the London Suzuki Group Summer International School at Bryanston since 2004.

Daniel Browell BMus (Hons) MMus PGDip LRAM, piano

Since studying in Birmingham, U.K. for his undergraduate degree, Daniel Browell went on to study in Paris, London and Chicago. Whilst completing his masters in London, studying at the Royal Academy of Music with Colin Stone, he received the E M George award, and was a prize winner of the British Music Society Piano Awards.

Daniel has a varied performing career that encompasses solo recitals and chamber music. He most recently received acclaim in the national press for his London South Bank recital in the Purcell Room and made his debut in 2009 at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in a Concerto performance. Daniel made his BBC Proms debut in 2008, when he performed live for Radio 3 as part of a Composer Portrait. Last year he was appointed the Leverhulme Junior Fellow in Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he won both the Concerto prize and the Recital prize.

In addition to teaching at YYM, Daniel has coached piano duos and mentored undergraduates on the pedagogy course at the Royal Northern College of Music, and taught piano at King’s College London on behalf of the Royal Academy of Music.

JOHN DIVER BSc(Hons) CTABRSM LRSM ACIEA, keyboard and musicianship

John is a graduate of Surrey University where he studied piano with Peter Croser and since then has worked solely in music. He has been involved in music education for thirteen years and has considerable experience as both a classroom and instrumental teacher. He has taught keyboard groups for Technics Music Academy, run music technology workshops for the Associated Board and held the position of keyboard and musicianship tutor with East Riding College. His current work includes peripatetic piano teaching for Hull Music Service, piano tutor at Pocklington School and A level examining for Edexcel.

Throughout this time John has enjoyed a busy performing schedule as a freelance pianist and also maintains a private practice teaching classical and jazz piano plus music theory.

ROBERT MARKHAM DMA (Juilliard School), MMus, BMus, ARCM, piano

Following his undergraduate studies and a Masters Degree, Robert Markham completed his Doctorate in Musical Arts at the Juilliard School in New York. As a pianist he earned international recognition as a finalist in the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. He has also been first prize winner of the International Vincenzo Bellini Piano Competition in Italy and the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York, and was awarded the Piano Prize of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.

Robert has performed as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in Europe, Asia and North America. He has recently recorded a CD of Kenneth Leighton's chamber music for piano and strings with the Edinburgh String Quartet. As well as teaching at YYM, Robert currently serves on the staff of Birmingham Conservatoire and is Head of Piano at Birmingham Conservatoire Junior School.

SVETLANA PINEGINA Dip.Perf. (Perm, Russia), piano

Svetlana Pinegina has 20 years' experience of teaching piano and accompanying. She was born in Russia and from the age of 6 studied piano at home with her mother. She later attended a specialist music school, where she studied for 7 years, with the sole intention of becoming a piano tutor.

After finishing music school she began studying piano at the institute of Art and Culture and in 1982 she finished very successfully with a diploma in Piano and orchestral leadership, being amongst the top three candidates.

After completing higher education she worked in Russia for seven years as a piano teacher and accompanist. In 1990 she moved to Germany where she worked for eleven years in a music school as a piano tutor.

Svetlana moved to Leeds in 2001 to work at Leeds College of music as a piano teacher and accompanist.

RACHAEL GIBBON PhD (Manchester), BMus GRNCM, musicianship

Dr. Rachael Gibbon studied at The Royal Northern College of Music, graduating from the B.Mus. (Hons.) course there in 1998 with the highest first-class degree given that year. In 2005 she also obtained a Ph.D. in Musicology from Manchester University with a thesis on the early operas of Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944). As well as her work for YYM, she currently teaches for Junior RNCM. and Manchester University, and she is a music researcher specialising in the British Musical Renaissance. In addition, she is a clarinettist, pianist and recorder player who performs regularly as a soloist and as a chamber and orchestral musician.

DHARAMBIR SINGH MA, sitar

Dharambir Singh studied sitar with the late Ustad Vilayat Khan. He holds a Masters degree from the School Of Oriental and African studies at the University of London.

Dharambir Singh is now one of the most prominent North Indian Classical musicians based in UK. He has been active in Europe both as a performer and teacher and has performed at major festivals in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada and USA. He has also worked extensively with the Euro Asian Fusion group Shiva Nova.

Dharambir's reputation as an educator is unparalleled in England. He started teaching for the Leicester Music service in 1983. He worked at the Leeds College Of Music as a lecturer and as the artistic director of South Asian Arts-uk until 2005. He has initiated numerous innovative projects across the country and is well known for his International Summer Schools in Indian Music. He has many students of Sitar, western instruments and vocal all over the country and makes regular trips to other cities of UK and Europe to teach.

Dharambir Singh was the artistic director of SAMYO, the first national south Asian music youth orchestra and artistic adviser for Tarang, UK 's first South Asian senior ensemble. He is currently working as the academic manager for Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London, and is the recipient of NESTA fellowship.

VIJAY RAJPUT MA, MPhil, PhD, Hindustani classical singing

Dr Vijay Rajput was born in New Delhi, India and started learning Hindustani vocal music at the age of eight. He acquired his intial training and guidance from Pt.M.G. Deshpande, Pt. Vinaychandra Mudgai and Madhup Mudgai. Subsequently, he had a rare opportunity to learn for many years under the tutelage of world renowned Padmavibhushan Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. He has acquired his MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Hindustani classical music from the University of Delhi.

As a maestro of the 'khayal' style of rendition and an artist of international repute, his performances have mesmerized audiences in India and abroad. He has performed in many national sangeet sammelans, festivals and mahotsavs.

Dr Rajput is currently based in Newcastle upon Tyne and is the Artistic Director at Gurukui, an academy that imparts Indian Classical music in the region. He is as keen a teacher as a performer and, as well as teaching at YYM, he is a visiting lecturer in vocal music at the Leeds College of Music. He has also been a chief examiner of Indian classical music at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London.

HARJINDER PAL SINGH BSc. santoor and tabla

Harjinder Pal Singh is a Namdhari Sikh who was born in Jabalpur, India in 1953. He is a senior disciple of the Santoor Maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. His interest in music since his childhood prompted his father to send him to learn Tabla, from Bhai Labh Singh Ji of the Punjab Gharana at the age of 14.

While learning Tabla, Harjinder Pal continued his studies and obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Science. Later on he became the disciple of Ustad Nihal Singh Ji in order to learn the Pakhawaj style of tabla.

Seeing his talent, His Holiness Shri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji, the Spiritual Head of the Namdhari Sect, took Harjinder Pal to Bombay and made him the disciple of the Santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma to learn to play the Santoor, the hundred stringed instrument from the valleys of Kashmir. Under the guidance of his Guru, Harjinder Pal started practising the santoor and after years of practice he gave his first public performance in the prestigious Pt. Vishnu Digambhar Paluskar Jayanti Samaroh in New Delhi in 1986. While learning the Santoor he was awarded the Ustad Allauddin Khan Music Academy Bhopal Scholarship and participated in the 'Arambh 16' Festival held in Bhopal.

He has also participated in numerous other festivals including :

• Sangeet Nritya Samaroh held in Delhi, which was co-sponsored by Sangeet Natak Academy and ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations).
• Sarva Dharam Maitri Sangeet Samaroh held in Bombay in 1993, organized by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Shri Mahaswami Satabdi Mahotsava Samiti.
• Several jugalbandi concerts held in Bombay and Pune, with Flute and Guitar.
• Youth Festival held in St. Xavier College Bombay.
• Sankat Mochan Music Festival Varanasi in 1993.

Harjiner Pal has toured extensively for SPICMACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth) and given concerts, lectures and demonstration programmes in schools and colleges in various states in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Bombay. He has participated in the prestigious Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan held in Jalandhar. He is a graded artist of the All India Radio. He has toured abroad and performed in various cities in the United Kingdom and Kenya.

Harjinder Pal has taught music at the Sri Satguru Pratap Singh Ji Music A cademy as well as teaching santoor and tabla privately. He has also taught extensively in England as SAA-uk's Resident Artist. This has included private tuition, masterclasses, group teaching for the Leeds College of Music and teaching in Leicester.

RACHEL DENT BMus(Hons) Grad RNCM, harp

Rachel Dent began studying the harp with Dorothy Gilbertson of Harrogate before accepting a place at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1997, where she studied with Eira Lynn Jones. She received the Dearden Award for Achievement and the United Kingdom Harp Association Award in 1999 and graduated with an honours degree in 2001.

As a soloist, Rachel has performed widely across the north ofEngland, including venues such as St Ann 's Church, Manchester, Flixton House, Hull University, and Emmanuel Church, Didsbury. Rachel has also provided music for a scene in Granada Television's production of A & E and for BBC Songs of Praise. Her freelance orchestral career has included working with the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and Sinfonia ViVa.

As a member of Chiron Duo (flute and harp), Rachel has performed for Manchester Town Hall, the East Riding of Yorkshire Winter Recital Series, St Ann's Church Music Society, and provided music for Granada television's My Favourite Hymns programme. Rachel released her debut album Awake, O Harp in 2004.

Rachel is dedicated to teaching the pedal harp and clarsach, and has over 25 students of all ages and abilities, many achieving outstanding results in both local/national music festivals and Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music examinations. She has also had students accepted at Chetham's School of Music, the Purcell School and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music.

As well as teaching at Yorkshire Young Musicians, Rachel is the harp tutor for Leeds University, Ampleforth College, and St Peter's School in York.

PAULA DUNFORD LTCL, FTCL, voice

Paula Dunford has accrued 30 years’ teaching experience (girls and boys aged 6-18) since leaving Trinity College of Music where she sang many solos for the choir performances in Oratorios and Masses. She also sang with The Clerkes of Oxenford under David Wulstan whilst living in London. Her great love is Church Music and she sings in Selby Abbey Choir.

She moved to the North twenty years ago. In addition to teaching at YYM she teaches full-time between three schools, as well as privately at home. She has entered on average 40 pupils a year for the Associated Board exams, at all levels, and has only ever had one failure. Several of her pupils have had success in shows in the West End and others have sung in Opera North productions. One of her YYM students is in the final of BBC Radio 2 Chorister of the Year 2009. Many have gained places in the National Youth Choir of Great Britain as well as having success at their local festivals.

Paula has started up her own festival ‘Harrogate Festival of Song for Young Voices’ which has its debut in February 2010.

GEOFFREY THOMPSON BA(Hons), Cert Ed, ARCM, ABSM, voice and ensemble

My earliest professional experience was the seven years or so I spent in the Royal Opera Company at Covent Garden. There, singing in the chorus and playing an assortment of roles, I was able to observe and talk to the greatest operatic talents at the time; 1976 - 1983.

These observations and conversations reinforced what my teacher, Otakar Kraus, had already instilled; a belief in Italian ‘Bel Canto’ singing.

Otakar, who had himself studied in Italy, showed me how to produce a supported, forward-placed sound which has formed the basis for my own singing and teaching. It is a classical technique which works as well in music-theatre and light music as it does in opera.

What every singer needs is a technique which gives them confidence in their ability to control the tone they are producing, thus allowing the music to speak through it.

The acquisition of such a technique is the key to allowing artistic expression. Lessons, therefore, take the form of exercises to develop this control. They are a mixture of those I was taught myself; those developed over the years and those specifically designed for each individual need.

These techniques are then applied to whatever music the student wishes to study.

Past and present students include, singers with solid or burgeoning professional careers; actors and dancers who have singing as one of their professional needs; recreational singers enjoying amateur music making and aspirant singers aiming for courses at acting or music schools. I hope the lessons are friendly and relaxed besides being productive.

KAREN GOURLAY BA, MMus, flute and ensemble

Karen Gourlay's se musical career has spanned over 20 years. She began her studies as a guitarist, studying jazz and popular music at Leeds College of Music. Inspired by Trevor Wye's Flute International Summer School at Ramsgate, she studied flute privately with Rachel Holt. Later, at the University of Leeds, she was awarded a First Class BA Honours degree in music and studied composition with Sam Hayden, Martin Watkins, and, most influentially, Philip Wilby, gaining a distinction for her MMus.

An active teacher, composer and performer, Karen has just completed a two year commission funded by Youth Music, writing an ensemble scheme for the so called 'endangered species' group of instruments.

As well as teaching at YYM Karen currently works as a woodwind teacher for Education Leeds ArtForms, plays flute and piccolo with Sinfonia of Leeds and is principal flute with the West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra.

JOHN MELLOR GRNCM, PPRNCM (dist), clarinet

John Mellor graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 1990, achieving a distinction in his Performance diploma. Since then he has worked the length and breadth of the country with symphony orchestras from Bournemouth to Liverpool, Ulster, Manchester and Leeds. Other treats included Mahler’s ‘Ressurection’ Symphony with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. He is the clarinet tutor for Yorkshire Young Musicians and has succeeded in placing students in the NYO. Future plans include recording the clarinet works of David Baker.

HELEN TONGE Mus B(Hons), MA, PG Dip(RNCM), violin and viola

Helen grew up in Kent where she started playing the violin and viola with Sheila Veryard, and won the 1998 West Kent Young Musicians’ competition. She was awarded an academic scholarship at the University of Manchester, where she studied violin with Ronald Birks of the Lindsay Quartet and led the University’s Symphony, Sinfonietta and String orchestras and the New Music Ensemble.

Helen subsequently completed a Postgraduate diploma at the RNCM with Benedict Holland and then a Masters in String Quartet Performance at Sheffield University, under the tutelage of Peter Cropper.

She has performed extensively as second violinist in the Rivoli String Quartet, with whom she has played since 1999, as well as freelancing with other ensembles and orchestras including Manchester Camerata and the Manchester Concert Orchestra.

She teaches the violin and viola privately to a range of pupils aged 6- 50, and enjoys coaching chamber music groups. She has also been involved in education workshops as a member of the Rivoli Quartet.

SALLY JOHNSON BMus(Hons) PPRNCM, voice

Sally’s musical training started at seven years old with the Violin and later Piano. Her true passion was discovered in her teens with singing lessons where she found she had inherited her folk musician parent’s powerful vocal chords!

She was classically trained at the Royal Northern College of Music where she performed leads in many of their large scale productions and won many scholarships and awards. She went on to perform with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Scottish Opera, record with the BBC and sing on BBC Radio 3 and the BBC Proms. She has already had her Hallé and Bridgewater Hall Debut Recital in Manchester and has premiered many new contemporary works.

Sally released a Gilbert and Sullivan album with Sony BMG last year as part of ‘The Gala Ensemble’. She has also performed with Manchester Jazz Band ‘The Big Band Theory’ and sang on ‘BBC Folk Musician of the Year’ Tom McConville’s album last year. She has most recently performed with Grange Park Opera and will be premiering ‘Il Gran Rifiuto’ with the Aluna Ensemble in Wales in November 2009.

As well as working as a vocal tutor with Yorkshire Young Musicians, she has been teaching at the RNCM Junior School and as a vocal coach in Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios with several new recording artists.

CLAIRE HOLDICH BMus(Hons) DipABRSM, musicianship

Claire graduated from the University of Hull with a first class degree in Music in 2004, where she was also awarded the Departmental Prize for outstanding musical achievement. In 2005, Claire gained the diploma of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in singing.

As a performer, Claire has sung as a concert soloist with a number of local groups, including Hull Bach Choir, Hull Male Voice Choir and the Arterian Singers. Her operatic roles include Aline (The Sorcerer), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Iris (Semele), Electra (Idomeneo) with Leeds Youth Opera and, most recently, Polly Peachum (The Beggars Opera) with York Opera.

Claire is also currently teaching singing at Hull Collegiate School and Scarborough College, and hopes to continue her vocal studies to post graduate level in the near future.

CAROLINE CLEMMOW ARCM LRAM ARAM, piano

Caroline was awarded a piano scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where she won many prizes for both solo and ensemble playing. As a chamber musician she collaborated with many instrumentalists and singers, and became a founder member of the Hartley Piano Trio, which gained international recognition by its concert and festival appearances, broadcasts and numerous recordings, including the complete trios of Spohr on the Naxos label.

While also performing concertos and giving recitals as a soloist Caroline derives particular pleasure from the field of chamber music; she has worked with such diverse groups as Serenata, Kaleidoscope and the Koenig Ensemble, and has covered an extremely wide repertoire, ranging from the classics and romantics to complex twentieth-century works. In addition to this wide range, collaboration with Evelyn Glennie has resulted in the performance of percussion-and-piano repertoire. Her many activities have led to numerous London concerts, regular broadcasts and invitations to major festivals.

An important part of her work is the celebrated piano duo with Anthony Goldstone, described by Gramophone as ‘a dazzling husband and wife team’. They are critically acclaimed for their pioneering broadcasts and CD recordings which now number thirty-four, including a ground-breaking seven-CD cycle of the complete original piano duets of Schubert. Their B.B.C. broadcasts have often included first hearings of unjustly neglected works, and they have built up an international following.

As a teacher, Caroline is experienced in advanced tuition, with former pupils pursuing music studies in prestigious London institutions and at Oxford University. Adjudication (including B.B.C. Young Musician, International Young Concert Artists etc.), coaching (various summer schools) and examining (for the Associated Board) also form part of her varied career.

BENJAMIN POWELL BMus(hons) MMus PPRNCM MPhil, piano

Equally at home in chamber music, song, and solo recitals, Benjamin Powell has performed across the UK and Europe in venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Bridgewater Hall. Forthcoming engagements include the Purcell Room, Blackheath Halls, and St. James’s Piccadilly.

His recent solo recital for the Park Lane Group’s New Year Series in the Purcell Room was highly acclaimed:

‘Benjamin Powell demonstrated an immense range of tone and sound in his programme: granitic and stern for Stockhausen, brilliantly light-fingered in Elliott Carter, fiery and moody for Anthony Gilbert, volcanically sensuous in Skryabin.’ (Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph)

Benjamin was born and raised in West Sussex and has lived in Manchester since 1999. He studied with Carole Presland at the Royal Northern College of Music and later (thanks to scholarships from the MBF, DAAD, and Lynn Foundation) with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Alexander Melnikov at the Hochschule für Musik Cologne and RNCM respectively.

His trio, with Oliver Heath and Christopher Murray, are currently Young Artists in Residence at Salford University. Since 2007 Benjamin has been a staff pianist at the RNCM.

Benjamin teaches piano at the Junior RNCM and for Yorkshire Young Musicians.

HELENA BIDDER GGSM(hons) LGSM LRAM PGCE, oboe

Helena started her musical journey at just 4 years old with the recorder. Not from a musical family, she still showed enormous desire to pursue this path. At 11 she began her oboe studies, winning the Sheffield musician of the year at 12 and 14. At 16 she went to study at Chethams school of music in Manchester. After gaining places at all the major London music colleges, she went to study for her degree at Guildhall school of music and drama with Nicholas Daniel. She then completed her oboe training at the Royal Academy of Music with George Caird where she obtained a scholarship and the Nicholas Blake prize for chamber music and the certificate of advanced solo studies. She then embarked on a teacher training course at Cambridge University.

In between bringing up a young family, Helena enjoys a varied career of performing and teaching. She plays freelance with groups such as Opera  North and National Symphony Orchestra and is involved with playing in two chamber groups, Force Five Wind Quintet and the Chanterlands Ensemble. Helena also enjoys composing and arranging music and music technology. As well as teaching for Yorkshire Young Musicians she teaches for the East Riding Music Service.

MARISA DAVIS GRNCM PGCE, piano

Marisa Davis (also known as Marisa Caltieri) was born in Italy and educated in England. Since graduating from Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied piano with Colin Horsley, her career has encompassed both teaching and performing. She has worked as freelance accompanist for Opera North, YTV, The Aire Duo, Leeds College of Music and for a variety of artists and musicians in Europe. As Music Director she has organised and directed many Operatic and Musical Theatre stage shows throughout which she has nurtured and developed the skills of vocalists, actors and instrumentalists, engaging them in a most excellent standard of performance.

Her passion is the piano, of which she has extensive experience teaching, and, in addition to working with Yorkshire Young Musicians she currently teaches at Leeds College of Music where she enjoys preparing students for the technical, physiological and emotional demands of a musical career. Whether working with young children, students, graduates or professionals, Marisa’s approach is sensitive, inspiring and dynamic and she continues to be in demand as teacher and accompanist.

PEGGY NOLAN BMus, 'cello

Peggy Nolan is currently a Masters student at the Royal Northern College of Music studying with Raphael Wallfisch. She completed her BMus degree in July 2010 graduating with first class honours, and was the 2010 receipient of the Shirley Catarall prize for cello. Previous teachers have included Peter Dixon and William Butt.

Peggy has performed as soloist with the Manchester Beethoven Orchestra, Dublin Orchestral Players and Dublin Youth Orchestra in venues across the UK and her native Ireland. A keen chamber musician, she has also participated in various courses including the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove and European Chamber Music Academy, working with eminent tutors such as Dr. Hugh Maguire, Mstislav Rostropovich and Peter Cropper. As a member of the RNCM’s Eblana String Trio Peggy has performed extensively across Britain and Ireland and has won a number of competitions, most recently the RNCM Chamber Music Award where trio along with oboist David Curington won the title of RNCM Ensemble of the Year 2010. She has a particular interest in period performance and is a member of the Borromini string quartet, playing on historical instruments.

Peggy has been principal cello in many orchestras including Sinfonia Cymru, National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and the Hibernian Orchestra as well as many of the RNCM Orchestras. She has undertaken extra work with several professional orchestras and has completed professional experience schemes with the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra.

As well as teaching at Yorkshire Young Musicians, Peggy has assisted in educational workshops led by members of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and with the ‘In Harmony’ outreach project as part of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Professional Experience Scheme. She has also enjoyed tutoring on the Dublin Youth Orchestra’s annual Chamber music days.

CLAIRE OSBORNE BMus PGDip, violin

Claire Osborne started playing the violin at the Conservatoire of Luxembourg City when she was 8 years old. After finishing Secondary School she read Musicology at the Universities of Strasbourg/France and Oxford, obtaining a French Maîtrise de Musicologie in July 2004. She was drawn back to the violin when she met Jan Repko and joined his class at the RNCM in September 2005, where she completed her BMus and Postgraduate Diploma in 2007 resp. 2008.

Claire is a former member of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra as well as the Jeunesses Musicales World Youth Orchestra. This has given her the chance to work with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. She has attended masterclasses with members of Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Intercontemporain as well as György Pauk, Benjamin Zander, Maurice Hasson, Ivry Gitlis and Tasmin Little.

Before joining Opera North full time in January 2010, Claire led a busy freelance life with the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Opera North, as well as back home in Luxembourg with Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Solistes Européens Luxembourg. In May 2007, she performed Brahms Violin Concerto with the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra ‘Les Musiciens’. She also regularly appeared in recitals organised by the Schengen Music Academy in Luxembourg, Moscow, Brest, Brussels and Bratislava.

Claire is absolutely delighted to join the YYM team this year and is looking forward to many fantastic musical exchanges!

EVE HARRISON MMus, composition

Eve Harrison studied at the University of Manchester and Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) with John Casken and Anthony Gilbert respectively, gaining a MusB (Hons) and MMus in Composition with Merit. Eve’s music has won various awards and scholarships and has been performed by ensembles such as the BBC Singers, Contemporary Music for Amateurs (COMA), University of York Opera Society, Chimera Ensemble, Edinburgh Schools Concert Band and the RNCM Symphony Orchestra.

Recent work with local actors and musicians in Tanzania and Malawi stimulated significant exploration of text and theatre within her music and she was awarded the 4x4 Composer Residency at Lake District Summer Music in 2010. Her new work for Chorus and Flexible Ensemble, Inchcolm Timepiece, won first prize at the Heriot Watt Composers’ Competition. She is currently working on a commission for Manchester based ensemble Chiasmus and preparing for the staging of Hera’s List, her first chamber opera in November.

Eve inspires and engages young people with composition and creative music-making workshops and tuition as Lead Composer for Opera North, Manchester Camerata and RNCM Outreach. She is a guest composition tutor for the Junior School at the RNCM and was Curator and Animateur for Love Music Festival 2010. Eve also plays trumpet in a gypsy band and various orchestras and teaches trumpet and composition privately.

LUCY NOLAN MMus, viola & chamber music

Lucy recently graduated from the Hallé Royal Northern College of Music International Artist Diploma in Orchestral String Leadership. She has also completed a Masters Degree with Distinction and a Bachelor Degree with First Class Honours, both at the Royal Northern College of Music. Lucy’s teachers at the RNCM have included David Aspin, Louise Lansdown and Roger Bigley. During her time at the RNCM, Lucy was awarded the Rachel Godlee and Thomas Barrett prize for viola and the Christopher Rowland, Leonard Hirsch, Musicales and John Barbirolli/Lawrence Turner prizes for chamber music.

A keen chamber musician, Lucy has performed throughout her native Ireland and the UK. She has had masterclasses and lessons with many distinguished musicians including Mstislav Rostropovich, Dr Hugh Maguire, Dora Schwartzberg, the late Dr Christopher Rowland. She is currently a member of the Eblana String Trio, the RNCM’s Ensemble of the Year 2010/11.

Also an experienced orchestral musician, Lucy has performed with many professional orchestras including the Hallé, BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata.

Teaching makes up an important part of Lucyés freelance work. As well as her teaching position at YYM she teaches for Procorda and Wigan Music Service.

CARLA FERNÁNDEZ BOIX, piano

Carla was born in 1988 in Catalonia (Spain). She started piano lesson with Cristina Marimon and later on she studied with Sebastian Colombo in Barcelona. In 2007 Carla moved to Utrecht (The Netherlands) to study a Piano Undergraduate degree with Alan Weiss. She finished her Undergraduate in three years. Nowadays Carla is under tuition of Helen Krizos at the Royal Northern College of Music following a Masters degree in Solo Performance.

Carla has received masterclasses from: Ana Guijarro, Elsa Púppulo, Karin Merle, Leonid Sintsev, Vladislav Bronevetzky, Pietro de Maria, Alexis Golovine, Nelson Goerner, Ilona Timchenko, Albert Attenelle, Evgeny Moguilevsky, Daniel Abrams, Andrzej Jasinski, Valentina Berman, Philippe Cassard, Steven Osborne …

At an early age Carla started her artistic carreer: in 2005 she performed the concerto Hob.XVIII by Haydn with Dali String Quartet. In 2007 she performed successfully the first concerto for piano and orchestra by Beethoven with Fidelio String Quartet. In 2008, Carla performed the same concerto with the Ostia Chamber Orchestra, as a winner of a piano competition. Since 2008 she offers solo recitals at the music cycle ‘Cultuur tijdens het Middaguur’ in Breda (The Netherlands). Carla has performed as chamber musician and orchestral pianist as well.

Carla loves teaching. In 2006 she started teaching music and musicianship at ‘Rossello Primary School’, in Catalonia. Already by then she was giving private piano lessons, something that she has never stopped doing, having taught in Catalan, Spanish, Dutch, and English, and in all levels.

DEAN STOCKDALE, piano

Dean began studying the piano at the age of seven. He studied classical piano throughout his school years in the Northeast and then began performing locally for weddings and functions. After hearing Oscar Peterson for the first time in his teens Dean developed a passion for jazz and began studying jazz piano and improvisation. He now specialises in jazz and is a busy freelance pianist both as a solo performer and with various groups from swing bands to smaller trios and duos. He has recently completed a 6 month residency as jazz pianist for the Savoy Hotel, London.

As a tutor Dean teaches a wide range of students in classical piano, jazz piano and improvisation and theory. In addition to teaching for Yorkshire Young Musicians he is also tutor for the Cleveland School of Music.

ROBERT BURTENSHAW, trombone

Originally from Scarborough, Robert was taught the Trombone by Joe Blewitt and then at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester by Peter Leary. He attended the Royal College of Music as an Exhibitioner where Arthur Wilson taught him. Robert won the Arthur Sommerville Brass Prize and gained the ARCM diploma with honours. He has freelanced with the ECO, in west end shows, Oxford pro musica and played the Rimsky Korsakov Concerto with the Oxford University Wind Band. In 1978 he became a founder member of the orchestra of Opera North in becoming the sub principal trombone.

As well as teaching for YYM he teaches at Chetham’s, Giggleswick School and various universities.

In his spare time he enjoys many outdoor activities such as hill walking, mountain biking and paragliding which living in Yorkshire affords.