Work History

(Scroll down to read my full CV)

I trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the University of Birmingham, and now work freelance as a composer, musical director, pianist and vocal coach.

As Composer/MD I have worked on productions with Chichester Festival Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Greenwich Theatre, New End Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Finchley Youth Theatre, Opera Brava, Finchley Children’s Music Group, The Principal Theatre Company and the Young Shakespeare Company.

In 2008, I was commissioned by Opera Brava to write a children’s opera, Prince Caspian, which since early 2009 has been touring schools around the UK, and in November 2010 had a very successful run at Leatherhead Theatre. Also in 2008 my first children’s musical, The Hunt for William Shakespeare, was premiered by a South London primary school, and this musical has recently been produced by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre as part of the 2010 season.

The last couple of years have also seen successful stagings of The Nightingale and the Rose, a chamber opera adaptation of the Oscar Wilde short story, and a musical adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, with directors Tom Mansfield and Joanna Turner. Finchley Children’s Music Group’s recording of my set of children’s songs Songs of Imaginings was another highlight of 2010, and you’ll be able to hear it soon on the Media page, and purchase the sheet music too!

Other recent projects include being Musical Director and playing shamanic drum for Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s 2010 open-air summer show The Firework- Maker’s Daughter, an adaptation of the Philip Pullman novel, and Composer/MD for The Young Shakespeare Company’s 2010 production of Romeo and Juliet. In July 2010 my settings of songs from A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad for String Quartet and Tenor were performed at Balquhidder Summer Music in Perthshire.

In recent years I have become involved in composing workshops, devising and creating music with children and young people. This includes being Composer with Jackdaws Music Education Trust on a project based around Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale; Composer and MD for Operahouse Music Projects, creating an original opera with 90 South London primary school children, and Composer/MD for ‘Hip Hop Rapsical,’ a devised rap opera with young people from North London.

Orchestral work as pianist includes Gorecki’s Symphony no. 3 with the Ulster Orchestra at Waterfront Hall and the Musicians’ Answering Service 30th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Opera House. I also played the bells (on keyboard!) for the BBC Concert Orchestra’s live web/radio broadcast of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture at the Imperial War Museum.

Composing and Musical Directing

• The Withered Arm, new chamber opera adaptation of Thomas Hardy short story, work-in-development, Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, Aug 2011 - Composer/MD
• The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, upcoming, autumn 2011 – MD/keyboard
• Prince Caspian, Opera Brava commission, 2008-11 schools and theatres tour – Composer/MD/Piano
• Alice in Wonderland, Chichester Festival Theatre Youth Theatre, 2010/11 – MD/keyboard
• Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Young Shakespeare Company, 2001-10(next production The Tempest autumn 2011) – Resident Composer/MD
• Don Pasquale, Candlelight Opera, Aug 2010 and 2011 – MD/piano
• The Firework Maker’s Daughter, Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, summer 2010 – MD/shamanic drum
• The Hunt for William Shakespeare, children’s musical with children’s writer Roy Apps, Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, May 2010 – Composer/MD
Songs of Imaginings, Finchley Children’s Music Group live premiere and recording, Oct 2009 – Composer/Accompanist
• James and the Giant Peach, A Christmas Carol, The Snow Queen, Chichester Festival Theatre Youth Theatre, 2007, 2008, 2009 – MD/assistant composer
• Musical Moments, Sweet Charity, Agent Showcase, Hertfordshire Theatre School, Jan-Feb 2008 and 2009 – Composer/MD
• The Nightingale and the Rose, Grimeborn Festival of new opera and musical theatre writing, Arcola Theatre, London, August 2008 – Composer/MD
• The Hunt for William Shakespeare, St Mary’s Primary School, Eltham, July 2008 (premiere) - Composer
• Animal Farm, a new musical adaptation with writer/director Tom Mansfield and University of Cumbria, Mar-May 2008 – Composer/MD
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, The Principal Theatre Company, June-Aug 2001-2008 – Composer/Arranger/MD
• Looking For Gants, music for short film, June 2007, dir. Paul Gladwin – Composer
• A Little Night Music, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, Apr-May 2007 – MD
• Show Stopping, Pizza Express cabaret, 2006 and 2007 – Composer/Arranger/MD
• Tomorrow Morning, New End Theatre, Aug 2006 – MD
• Once On This Island, Croydon Youth Theatre, July 2005; Full Circle, Artsdepot, May 2005 – MD
• Send in the Clowns, Sondheim cabaret, Rosemary Branch Theatre, Mar-Apr 2005 – Composer/MD
• Greenwich Theatre 10 Minute Musical, Feb 2005 – Composer
• Pride and Prejudice, Good Company UK tour, Aug-Oct 2004 – Composer/Arranger/MD
• The World Turned Upside Down, E15 Acting School, Jan-Feb 2004 – Composer/Arranger/MD
• Trip’s Cinch, Southwark Playhouse, Sept 2002 – Composer/Sound Design
• Two Songs From A Shropshire Lad, String Quartet and Tenor, Ludlow Festival, June 2001 – Composer

Education and Community Work

• Write your own musical in a week! Summer Uni at Finchley Youth Theatre, Aug 2008 and July 2011 – Composer/Songwriter/MD
• The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, Opera Brava education project, 2010-11 – MD/Piano
• Sing With Us! Rhythmically Speaking World War 2 concert with primary schools, Mar 2011 – Keyboard
• The Withered Arm Opera adaptation education workshop, Oct 2010 – Composer
• National Association of Youth Theatres training day, ensemble singing, Mar 2010 – MD/Workshop leader
• Hip Hop Rapsical, devised rap opera, Finchley Youth Theatre 2009/10 – Composer/Songwriter/MD
• Operahouse Music Projects Pensions for All! devised opera in primary schools, Jan-Apr 2009 – Composer/Animateur/MD
• Jackdaws Music Education Trust, Stravinsky’s ‘A Soldier’s Tale’ project with Sound Collective, Frome Community College A-level music group, Oct 2007 – Resident Composer
• LSO Discovery in-school projects and youth choir – Pianist

Other Theatre and Opera work

• Opera Gala evening, Candlelight Opera Company – Piano/Repetiteur
• Claudina Edwards, jazz singer, Canal Café cabaret evenings and private functions – Piano/MD
• Naomi Hyamson, mezzo chanteuse, regular concerts with AJR and JACS (Association of Jewish Refugees and Jewish Arts and Cultural Societies) and private functions – Piano/MD/Composer
• Evenings At Coombe, Coombe Manor, Sept 2008 – Piano 2
• Jane Eyre, Big Little Theatre School, Apr 2007 – Keyboard 2
• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Leicester Haymarket; Chichester Festival Theatre, 2004, 2005 – Keyboard 2
• Brighton Rock, Almeida Theatre, Oct-Nov 2004 – Keyboard 2 dep
• West End Gold, Gaiety and Villa Marina Theatres, Isle of Man, 2003, 2004, 2006 – Keyboard 2
• The Barber of Seville, Mid-Wales Opera, Aug 1999 – Repetiteur/Harpsichord

Orchestral work

• Voices That Should Be Heard
, new choral commission, Mar 2011 – Keyboard
• MAS 30th Anniversary Concert, Royal Opera House, Oct 2006 – Piano
• Gorecki Symphony no. 3, Ulster Orchestra, Belfast Festival, Nov 2006 – Piano

Teaching

• E15 Acting School, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London School of Musical Theatre, Mountview, Hertfordshire Theatre School and private work – Singing Tutor/Vocal Coach/MD/Workshop leader

Other work

• Chichester Festival Youth Theatre – MD, Composer and Workshop leader
• Full Circle – MD and Composer for London children’s theatre company
• Finchley Children’s Music Group – Accompanist, Conductor and Composer for London children’s choir
• Finchley Youth Theatre – MD and Composer/Songwriter
• ‘Trio Viva’ – Pianist, Composer and Arranger in flute, oboe, piano trio. Recitals and private functions

Education

• Masters in Composing for Theatre MMus, London College of Music, 1999-2000
• Postgraduate in Repetiteur Training, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 1998-99
• Bachelor of Music BMus (Hons.), University of Birmingham, 1995-1998

Other Musical Qualifications and Prizes

• British Flute Society Composition Prize, 2001
• Henry Purcell Prize for Composition, London College of Music, 2000
• Grade 8 voice (ABRSM 1997) and Grade 8 piano (ABRSM 1991) both with distinction

Current Publications (first two listed available from Hunt Edition, Spartan Press)

• Bizet’s L’Arlésienne and Carmen Suites – arranged for flute duet and piano
• Last Song of a Nightingale – for flute and piano, and piano solo (latter self-published)
• The Hunt for William Shakespeare – children’s musical (self-published)
• Songs of Imaginings – set of children’s songs (soon to be self-published)