SPITALFIELDS FESTIVAL - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Freelance Project Manager
Alex joined Spitalfields Music in October 2021, initially as a freelance Project Manager before becoming Programme Manager in June 2022. Most recently, Alex worked in the Music Department of a secondary school and also in a primary school. Before that she worked in the Learning & Management Departments at Wigmore Hall before becoming the first-ever Project Manager at Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Education Service.
As well as her Spitalfields work, Alex also teaches piano in a primary school. She has two children and spends most of any spare time ferrying them around the South-East London area.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Acting Chair of the Board of Trustees
Dr Steven Berryman is an arts and cultural educator contributing widely to music education. He is the current President of the Chartered College of Teaching (2022 - 2024) and holds a variety of non-executive director roles, including school governance. Steven has contributed widely to educational press, expert roundtables, examining and as an arts education practitioner, including work as a composer; recent work includes projects with the Royal Opera House, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NMC Recordings and Ofqual. Steven was a member of the DFE/DCMS expert panel to refresh the National Plan for Music Education.
Elif Karlidag is a composer, conductor and pianist. She embarked upon her musical education from an early age while growing up in Bucharest, Romania, and went on to study under Istemihan Taviloglu at Izmir DEU State Conservatoire, where she completed her Master's degree in composition with distinction.
Elif pursued advanced studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Here, she refined her compositional prowess under the guidance of the esteemed Julian Phillips and mastered the art of conducting with insights from Tim Redmond.
She has worked productively with numerous notable musicians, including prolific composers such as Michael Nyman and Jocelyn Pook. Karlidag is a versatile musician who performs with an alternative classical ensemble (ELSE-East London Sound Ensemble) as well as with several classical music groups. She has previously collaborated with various performers and artists, such as Marguerite Humeau and the Scratch Orchestra. She has performed at several major artistic venues, such as Royal Festival Hall, Kings Place, London, the Barbican Centre, St John Smith Square, Morley College, Southwark Cathedral, and Actor's Church in Covent Garden. Elif is a Guildhall Scholar and, she is supported by Talent Unlimited. Elif is the current holder of the prestigious The John Clementi Collard Fellowship of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Hannah is the co-founder of music supervision and composer management company We Are Golden based in Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch. Classically trained with a BMUS + MA in music her experience as a score producer and music supervisor runs across award winning films, TV and ads. Prior to setting up We Are Golden she worked at EMI / Sony / ATV Music Publishing for 13 years leaving as Global Creative Manager for their production music business. She is passionate about creative entrepreneurship, fostering emerging talent and challenging the norm in classical music.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Kimberley joined Spitalfields Music in 2019, initially as Finance & Operations Manager before taking on various other responsibilities. She studied music at university and has enjoyed a varied career in the arts sector, including several years as a management accountant at the Barbican. She became an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in 2020. Alongside her work at Spitalfields Music, Kim works part-time for Scottish Ensemble in Glasgow and serves as Treasurer on the Board of Trustees of The Irene Taylor Trust.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Job Titles:
- Freelance Development Manager
Lydia joined Spitalfields Music in 2018, then left to move to her home county of Cornwall in 2019. But she couldn't stay away and now works for Spits part time and remotely from Cornwall! After studying music at University, Lydia has worked in Heritage and Arts organisations. As a freelance fundraiser, she also works for a Museum in Cornwall and spends a lot of time at her family farm, where she is an administrator and can be seen cuddling animals.
Job Titles:
- Freelance Festival Producer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Melanie is an experienced events and project manager with a passion for music, learning and live events. After a varied career in the BBC she is currently the learning manager for the BBC Concert Orchestra, Young Composer and Proms. Experienced in creating ideas, leading, planning, production and delivery of concerts and events across the UK and in partnership with a range of organisations.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Consultant for Counterculture
Naomi Lewis is a consultant for Counterculture and has worked at a number of leading cultural organisations, with extensive experience in strategic management, leadership, taking organisations through periods of change and producing large-scale and digital projects and performances.
Before working as a consultant, Naomi spent eight years at the Royal Opera House where, as a senior manager, she led large artistic and administrative teams to deliver the annual programme and delivered two successful international tours.
Job Titles:
- Freelance Festival Producer
Sarah Gee has been Chief Executive since 2019, and was previously a trustee between 2008 and 2014. She co-founded Indigo-Ltd, an arts management consultancy, in 2007, running it for 14 years following a similar period in marketing & fundraising for orchestras in London and Birmingham. She still works as a consultant on a discrete number of projects alongside her part-time Spitz role.
Tilly joined Spitalfields Music as an intern in 2022 while studying for her masters in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy and returned to us in 2023 to work as our marketing officer. She has a background in music as a classical singer and studied Music for her BA in Bristol.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Tim is an experienced creative producer and artistic planner, with a background in international touring and partnership and project management. Having worked at the Royal Opera House, Tim spent 9 years delivering major projects, partnerships, tours and residencies at the London Symphony Orchestra, working closely with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO's guest conductors and artists. Tim trained as a musician and creative workshop leader (including undertaking Spitalfields Music's animateur training programme) and producer and draws on this breadth of experience to inform all his work. Tim is a trustee of the Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust alongside his current role as Executive Director, Performance & Planning at the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees