EJMS - Key Persons
Alan Oliver is a professional classical guitarist based in and around London. Since graduating from the world famous Royal College of Music, Alan has built a successful teaching and performing career through dedication, reliability and the ability to satisfy any audience with the wide variety of music that he performs.
Amanda has been a Front Desk Assistant and admin support at EJMS since 2015.
As an Ealing resident of many years, she knows the Ealing parent community well and is a bubbly outgoing member of the EJMS team.
Originally from Australia, Amanda is a graduate in psychology and has been living in London for 16 years. She is an active member of her children's school's PTA and a strong believer in giving back to the community. During the week Amanda is also a part-time office manager for a local family-run business.
Andreas studied the cello, piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and graduated in 1985. Over the years, he has given numerous solo recitals and chamber music recitals, as well as sustaining an extensive freelance orchestral career. At present, he has a full teaching workload at five different schools, both in Ealing and in central London. Born and brought up in Ealing, Andreas is very passionate about EJMS, as he believes that learning a musical instrument is one of life's greatest gifts not to be wasted. "It has to be fun as well as educational". EJMS provides both of these things to students of all ages, in a warm and friendly environment.
I started teaching oboe and recorder at EJMS in September 2015. I am also an instrumental and curriculum teacher at William Perkin and Ada Lovelace Church of England schools. I studied at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. As well as teaching I have a busy performing career including performing onstage in the National Theatre's production of Amadeus from 2016-2018 and recording for the soundtrack of National Theatre's Angels in America. I have held two orchestral jobs abroad both in mainland Portugal and as principal oboist of the Madeira Classical Orchestra. Other freelance work includes London Contemporary Orchestra, English Touring Opera, Chroma Ensemble, Multi-story Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia and London Concertante. I am passionate about my teaching and love being part of the EJMS community. It is such a supportive, caring environment in which students are encouraged to develop a strong sense of dedication and commitment to music from a young age. This will help to build confidence and maturity in all areas of their lives even if they don't continue to learn an instrument as an adult.
Ariane is a young and dynamic cellist who demonstrates a versatile and passionate approach to both her playing and teaching. She has performed in venues such as St Martin in the Fields, St John Smiths Square, the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Cadogan Hall. And has performed as Co-Principal under Bernard Haitink and Gustavo Dudamel as well as John Wilson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Rafael Payare and Vladimir Jurowski. Orchestrally, she was Principal and Co-Principal during her time at the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music and was invited to perform in Southwell Music Festival alongside players from both the Aurora and Philharmonia orchestras. Ariane has been the recipient of several awards including the Director's Prize at Guildhall, the National Music and Dance Scheme, the Wolfson Foundation and the holder of the Jacqueline Ward Award at the RCM. Despite her young age, Ariane has a lot of teaching experience on both the cello and the piano, privately and in schools. She is particularly interested in outreach work, through which she has worked in collaboration with the English Touring Opera. From a teaching perspective, Ariane draws a big influence on her methodology from her cello professor of many years, Melissa Phelps.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Accounts Administrator
Asma Brice MA (Cantab) is a qualified accountant (ACA) having previously worked in audit and assurance at for a leading global firm. She is currently responsible for the payroll and accounts for the music school.
Asma is a local mum whose children have attended EJMS since 2012. Her son is a percussionist for the Ealing Youth Orchestra and her daughter is a keen bassoon player.
As a mum of two budding musicians she is a firm believer in the positive effects of learning and playing music from a young age and has seen her children grow in confidence, independence and resilience during their time at EJMS. Asma is present at EJMS every Saturday with her children so has very much been part of the EJMS family for many years.
I have been a parent at EJMS since April 2010, when my eldest child started Musicianship classes, just a month shy of his 6th birthday. Since then, Saturday mornings have been a highlight of our family's week. It has been a joy watching our children grow on their musical journey, one fan of Rock & Roll (guitar and drums), the other, more in the Baroque & Roll register (cello). Both of them have had the opportunity to develop their skills as musicians and most importantly, have played in ensembles and orchestras where they have covered thrilling repertoire and further honed their skills.
Besides the music which has been wonderful from my children's perspective, I have met great people at EJMS (including the terrific teachers!) and have very much enjoyed the social aspect of my Saturdays: the warm community, the chats in the café and even the singing in the Adult Chorale!
When the opportunity came up, I applied for the role of Finance Administrator in a heartbeat and was delighted to become a cog in the EJMS machine in December 2017. I have a Business Degree and postgraduate qualifications in International Trade. The skills I use the most in my job are my Database and Excel skills (I do like a nice Pivot Table). But this is all child's play compared to my colleague Janine's timetabling jigsaw puzzle!
Brent Cundall joins EJMS in September 2021. Brent is a multi-instrumentalist, originally from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He has taught peripatetic music lessons on guitar, bass and drums for the last 4 years with the Twyford Academies Trust, as well as teaching Year 7 and Year 8 music classes at two Trust schools. He currently teaches at Ada Lovelace, Ealing Fields and William Perkins schools in the Trust.
Growing up in Nashville, Brent was surrounded by music. Starting out on trombone, his interests quickly expanded to drums and guitar as well. Brent studied Jazz percussion at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. While there he studied drums, bass and theory and arranging with jazz greats Jerry Coker and Donald Brown. After leaving school, Brent spent two years working as a bassist and percussionist at Dollywood theme park in East Tennessee, owned by Country music star Dolly Parton. His time there saw him performing with members of the Parton family and, through playing 5 shows a day, 6 days a week, eventually performing in front of over a million and a half people.
Since then, Brent has lived and worked in Atlanta, Knoxville and Nashville, where he lived for several years before moving to London in 2015. He worked as a recording and performing musician on bass and acoustic guitar in and around Nashville, including gigs with several Contemporary Christian Music artists such as Steve Green, Phil Keaggy, Wes King, Buddy Greene and Rick Florian of Whiteheart. He also toured for a stint with The Stolen Faces, a band celebrating the music of the Grateful Dead.
I am opera singer, Mezzo Soprano. I studied at Jacob's School of Music at Indiana University and received a Bachelor and Master's of Music for vocal performance. I have sung my whole life.
I started teaching at EJMS in January 2016. I teach singing because I get same thrill out of teaching my students as I do performing in a great opera performance. It's the passing on of all the good and happiness in music that was given to me. EJMS provides a positive, fun and creative atmosphere for musicians of all ages. I also teach in my own studio and at William Perkin High School.
I am passionate about my family, couture fashion, film, Netflix, Jazz, Pop Music, and Golden Retrievers. If I did not teach singing, I would love to be a cellist and electric guitarist.
I started learning music at the age of seven as a pupil at EJMS. After trying the violin for a year, I switched to the clarinet and appreciated all the opportunities for chamber and orchestral playing that EJMS offered. At the same time I was learning the piano privately and one of my teachers was Dawn Faure whom many current EJMS pupils will still remember as one of our accompanists who retired only recently.
On leaving school I went to Cambridge to read Mathematics but carried on giving concerts on the piano and playing a lot of chamber music, while my clarinet playing fell by the wayside for lack of time. After finishing my degree I decided to pursue music professionally. I have since done a lot of performing, both solo and accompanying, especially of singers. I'm also interested in composing, and in 2012 I wrote a piece for my friend the violinist Hugo Ticciati which we performed together in Stockholm and Amsterdam, the latter being broadcast on Dutch classical radio.
I started teaching the piano shortly after embarking on my musical career, and in 2006 I returned to EJMS as an Aural teacher and was pleased to ‘return to my roots' so to speak and have the chance to help along the next generation of musicians.
After graduating from the Hochshule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Charlotte studied at The Royal Academy of Music for her Masters degree, which she graduated from with distinction. She has won a variety of awards including The Countess of Munster Postgraduate Award, Help Musicians Postgraduate award and a Princess Diana Award for Outreach Work in the Community.
Since graduating, Charlotte has trialled as principal bassoon for a number of orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and is currently trialling for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Charlotte has continued alongside this with freelance work, including guest performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Britten Sinfonia, and the English Symphony Orchestra.
As well as continuing an existing career playing Bassoon in orchestras and ensembles, Charlotte has worked with both the National Children's Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra. She has also tutored double reeds on the Dartington Music Summer School and Festival. She has taught a variety of pupils through their grades, providing them with Bassoon reeds, which she sells both in the UK and abroad.
Besides teaching and performing, she is passionate about sports, including partaking in an annual bike ride for the children's charity ‘Become' and a keen artist.
Prior to my appointment as a flute teacher in April 2021, I had previously worked at EJMS for several years as a dep teacher, ‘Come & Play' assistant, and steward for ABRSM exams and end of term concerts, as well as helping the amazing admin staff and ensemble teachers on Saturday mornings. I was also a student at EJMS for over eight years, taking three of my five Grade 8 exams here, and loved every minute of it!
Growing up in Ealing, I was a member of Ealing Youth Orchestra for six years, and held the piccolo chair in the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain for five years. During my gap year, I worked in the music department at Latymer Upper School, helping out with ensembles and administration. I also taught recorder classes in the Prep School and directed the Prep Wind Band.
I read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, where I held an Instrumental Award and was a Choral Volunteer at King's College. I then studied for my MMus in Flute at Trinity Laban, graduating with Distinction, and have since taught flute and recorder both privately and at a Prep School.
Job Titles:
- Head of Strings at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School
- Violin Teacher
Costas is a long-standing and experienced teacher at EJMS, teaching violin and directing the Intermediate String Orchestra. After graduating, Costas sustained an early career as a freelance orchestral and session violinist. He gradually became interested in teaching and has devoted the rest of his working life to music education, teaching in many schools and nurturing the love of music to the hundreds of his pupils of all ages over the years. Costas is a firm believer in exposing young children to good music from the classical repertoire. To this end he has spent many decades arranging and adapting works for string orchestras and ensembles, making them suitable and accessible to young players.
Costas is currently Head of Strings at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a post he has held since 1989. He also directs the Choir of the Greek Cathedral St Sophia's in Bayswater, a historic choir which was founded in 1848 and which has served the Greek Community in London since that time.
Costas is a great advocate of equal opportunities for all those wishing to learn to play a musical instrument and has actively opposed cuts to music education made by successive governments and local councils. His greatest pleasure is watching his pupils develop their musical skills and acquiring the passion for music making.
Cressida Miles was the parent of three EJMS students when Ealing Council suddenly decided late in 1992 to close down the music school at the end of March 1993. In response, Cressida became one of the very first ‘Friends of EJMS' is an association set up by the parents to campaign for the continuation of the school, and subsequently to turn EJMS into an independent charitable trust.
She later worked as the Administrator of the new EJMS for ten years, during which time she learned a great deal not only about music and running a music school, but also about spreadsheets, accounting, employment and management, none of which were part of her previous experience as an English graduate, parent, PTA member and childminder!
Cressida brings to the Trustee Board valuable practicable experience of how a music school actually operates on a day to day basis.
She is delighted to see EJMS now thriving as an independent school, offering a wonderful variety of musical experiences to the students, amongst whom are two of her grandchildren.
French pianist Cécilia Coullet is a passionate chamber musician who collaborates with many talented musicians of her generation to perform in the UK and overseas. She is notably a member of Duo Silene, Trio Psyche and Trio Accroche-Coeur.
Alongside her performance activity, she enjoys sharing her musical experience at Ealing Junior Music School where she plays for the Elementary Strings Orchestra and Ealing Children's Choir. Cécilia also gives coaching to the students preparing for their exams. She is also a dedicated piano teacher at Devonshire House School where she has 20 piano students.
Born in the South of France, she studied at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva, where she did her Bachelor and Masters in piano solo performance. Later on, she joined the Royal Academy of Music to pursue her Masters in Piano accompaniment, which she obtained with distinction in 2015.
Debs is an Australian violinist, leader, soloist, teacher and string contractor based in London. She currently leads the London Music Theatre Orchestra of which she is also the string contractor. Debs also frequently holds string workshops for the artist development program of the LMTO.
Denis Barry was born in 1971. His two children aged 9 and 13 attend EJMS, playing the cello, violin and drums. They also both love singing. Denis sings in the adult chorale (always looking for new men to join us!) and studies the double bass with Lesley Vincent.
He starting playing the violin in 1978, and since then has rather haphazardly taken up the piano, guitar and mandolin with varying degrees of ability.
He was in a band at school that performed but a single gig. He was a Junior Exhibitioner at Trinity College of Music as a teenager, and spent most of his childhood and youth in orchestras or ensembles of one form or another, many organised by John Harries at the Merton Music Centre. He went to Birmingham and Warwick Universities and spent more time doing musical theatre than law. He has been a criminal barrister since 1996, prosecuting and defending in equal measure in the full range of criminal trials.
He is constantly amazed by the amount of voluntary work put in by the staff, parents and volunteers at EJMS, making Saturdays one of the high spots of the week. Everyone who can join EJMS. It offers a great opportunity for children and young people not only to learn a particular instrument but take advantage of the sense of community that playing music together engenders. It is also fantastic fun. The teachers are musicians of the highest calibre: we are lucky to have them.
My name is Donald Robinson and I am a cellist and teacher in London. I am very excited to be joining the EJMS teaching faculty from January 2020 alongside such a fantastic group of instrumental tutors! I have been a visiting teacher on a few occasions and was instantly impressed with the atmosphere and music making attitude. I am a graduate of the Royal College of Music here in London where I studied with Professor Melissa Phelps and spent three years in Germany at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen beforehand. Before that I attended the Music School of Douglas Academy in Glasgow where I grew up. I have always been a keen teacher and I split my time between freelancing as a cellist, private cello teaching and teaching piano and taking choirs at La Petite Ecole Bilingue in Ladbrooke Grove and Kentish Town as their school music teacher. Keeping a good variety in my work is very important to me and that is something I try to encourage in my teaching.
Feargus Brennan (BMus - Royal Academy of Music) joined the EJMS staff in September 2015. He teaches drum kit and percussion at EJMS and runs the advanced percussion ensemble. He also helps out with the beginner and intermediate percussion ensembles when necessary. He enjoys working with young people as he wants to share his love of music with them.
As with all the EJMS teachers, Feargus has successfully adapted his teaching to the demands of online lessons using Zoom.
Felix McGonigal is a graduate of The Queen's College, Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music where she studied conducting with Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis.
She currently also holds the post of Director of Music Specialism for the Twyford CofE Academies Trust (Twyford CofE High School, William Perkin CofE High School, Ealing Fields High School and Ada Lovelace CofE High School). She is involved with many educational and community music organisations, including W11 Opera for Young People, Spode Music Week and the Choir of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More, Chelsea.
Felix organises and conducts many Ensembles at EJMS. These include: Elementary Wind Band / Big Band / Ealing Childrens' Choir.
Fenella teaches Musicianship classes at EJMS and loves it! Fenella is an actress and musician and has performed on stage across the UK and on TV and radio. She enjoys dividing her time between the theatre and Music teaching and she teaches Music at North Ealing Primary School as well as EJMS.
Flora is a horn player currently completing her final year of postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She recently gained a first class undergraduate degree from the Royal College of Music. Flora joined the EJMS teaching staff in January 2021.
She has played as a freelance orchestral musician with a number of professional orchestras including the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the Royal Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. She is currently on trial for fourth horn with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of Opera North.
Flora loves teaching and is very dedicated and fully committed to her students. She aims to encourage a focus on expression and enjoyment as much as possible while also covering essential technical aspects of horn playing and general music making. Flora grew up in Ealing and was a member of the Ealing Youth Orchestra from 2011-2015. She also actually attended EJMS as a young horn and violin player so has first hand experience of how brilliant and inspiring the school is for young musicians.
Job Titles:
- Expert in Music Analysis
- Violin Teacher
Francisco is an Expert in Music Analysis and Interpretation by the University of Oviedo and holds a Master's degree from Trinity Laban, under the direction of the prestigious violinist Mayumi Fujikawa. For two years he studied with Yossi Zivoni. He is a sessional music teacher for the Ealing Music Service and is looking forward to joining EJMS in September 2019. Francisco has previously taught at EJMS as a dep teacher. He also helped EJMS at the ‘Come & Play Day' in Pitshanger Park in June 2019, so is no stranger to the musical ethos and standards that EJMS requires.
Francisco is a great enthusiast and promoter of the contemporary repertoire and has been working with several composers in the creation and premiere of new works for his instrument. He premiered the violin concerto dedicated to him by the Catalan composer David Bozzo at St James Piccadilly and recorded two CDs, one with Bozzo's solo violin music and another one with his pieces for string quartet with the London City Quartet, that Francisco leads.
Francisco has been leading several orchestras, such as the London Classical Soloists and the London City Orchestra. In Spain he is the concertmaster of the orchestra Symphonia Orbitalis and performed the double violin concert of Malcolm Arnold with them.
Francisco holds a PhD in History and a BA in Humanities. He has taught Spanish Contemporary History in the Jaume I University in Spain and he was a visiting PhD research fellow at Queen Mary University of London.
Gill grew up in a household of music-makers - not necessarily classical! Music has always been a very important part of her life, but it was as an adult that she formally learnt an instrument: first the piano and then the clarinet.
She takes great pleasure in joining the EJMS Philharmonic Orchestra and the Clarinet Choir on a Saturday morning. She also very much enjoys the fun and camaraderie - as well as the singing! - in the Adult Chorale.
Gill has worked for many years as a Speech and Language Therapist. She sees music as another way of communicating with each other.
Gill's three children attended EJMS and she was very impressed by the school's inclusive and encouraging ethos and its relaxed but organised atmosphere. Gill was asked to become a Trustee in 1999. Much has changed, almost beyond recognition, since then. The school has grown in size and, of necessity, in complexity - there is so much more bureaucracy, legislation and governance (a word which most people hadn't heard of 20 years ago!) Gill continues to be impressed, however, by the continued spirit of EJMS: it continues to be based on a love - not just of music - but of sharing music and the riches which that sharing brings.
Job Titles:
- Trombone / Trumpet / Tuba Teacher
Guy joins EJMS in September 2021. Guy is currently going into his final year of his undergraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music. He started playing the trombone at 10 years old, taught by his father John Berry with additional learning through the Saturday morning centre of Bristol Schools Music Service.
Upon leaving school Guy joined the Corps of Army Music in the British Army and was a professional musician in the Band of the Corps of the Royal Engineers for 3 years. During his time in the Army, he played all over the world as well as taking part in educational workshops in schools and universities in Canada, Germany and all over the UK.
Guy has a passion for teaching and believes strongly that learning an instrument is a fantastic way for young people to gain a love for the arts, in addition to being highly beneficial for social and educational development. Guy believes that everyone will have their own way of learning and will work hard to make sure that each student receives the individual approach to their musical education that they deserve.
Born in the musical heartland of Havana, Cuba, Hammadi studied classical music and piano for 15 years. He graduated from the world renowned Superior Institute of Art with first-class degree in percussion. Over the years Hammadi has had the privilege to work and collaborate with many outstanding artists, including Chucho Valdes, Omara Portuondo, Robert Mitchell, Carlos Acosta, Irakere, Gustavo Dudamel, Mike Figgis, London Philharmonic and Symphonic Orchestras, to name a few. He has been presented with the UNEAC (Cuban Union of Writers and Artists) prize at the "VII Festival Internacional Percuba."
Job Titles:
- Clarinet / Saxophone Teacher
After graduating from Goldsmith's University Helen studied at Trinity College of Music for a Master's degree which she passed with distinction. In 2001 Helen was awarded the Wilfred Hambleton prize for clarinet playing and went on to study in Germany and also Italy with Hans Deinzer. As a member of the clarinet quartet Clariphonics she won a Park Lane Group Young Artists Award, which included a performance at the Purcell Room.
Helen is co-principal clarinet with St Paul's Sinfonia and has worked with orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, Darmstadt Staatstheater Opera Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English Sinfonia and Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Recording sessions include Miguel D'Oliveira's score for The Prosecutors, BBC 4 and Suzy Klein's ‘Our Classical Century', BBC 4.
Most recent solo engagements include a thrilling performance of Finzi's Clarinet Concerto with the Wallace Ensemble for Mill Hill Music Club in April 2019. Helen teaches Clarinet at the London Oratory School and Hill House International School. As a bass clarinettist and saxophonist Helen is a regular visitor to Cornwall every summer for the St Endellion Festival.
Ian started playing the Cornet at 11 years old. He played in his local Brass band, moved onto the trumpet at the age of 15 and played with Merseyside Youth Orchestra.
Ian then studied at the Royal Academy of Music and later in New York with the legendary Vincent Penzarella at the New York Philharmonic. Ian is principal Trumpet with the London Brass Consort and also plays with London Gabrieli Brass and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
He has played many West End Shows, including Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Matilda and Porgy and Bess. Ian lives and teaches in Buckinghamshire and has taught trumpet at EJMS since 2012.
Janine joined the EJMS family in April 2009 after spending over twenty years as an events organiser on the Jazz music circuit. She decided to combine her love of live music and organisational skills to take on the role of General Administrator.
Janine is responsible for the day to day running of the school, this includes timetabling students lessons, ensembles, choirs, ABRSM examinations/accompaniment/aural timetables, helps co-ordinate the Concerts, Recitals, Come & Play Days and whatever else EJMS is involved with.
Her youngest son who joined an EJMS Musicianship class at age 4 is now a 15 year old grade 8 drummer who can also play tuned percussion, so Janine has witnessed first hand the benefits this has afforded not just him but the many hundreds of children who have passed through the EJMS doors.
After graduating from the LCM, John successfully completed the teacher training one-year course, but ultimately decided on a change of career. Until his recent retirement, he worked for over forty years as a tax inspector in the Inland Revenue.
Throughout his life, John has run church choirs in both London and his native North East. He currently sings tenor in two local church choirs and with the RSCM Residentiary Choir in Cathedrals across England.
John's three children attended EJMS and his eldest grandson has recently commenced Musicianship lessons. John was asked to initially fund-raise, then in 2001 to be an EJMS Trustee, subsequently becoming Chair of Trustees in 2005. John directs the EJMS Adult Chorale, but most of his time is spent on EJMS finance and administration, putting to good use the financial and legal skills learned over those years as a tax inspector. There have been numerous challenges to EJMS's existence over the years-both financially and with the surfeit of new and changing government legislation. Despite his retirement, John has continued with EJMS as he believes it is a really worthwhile organisation that offers so much to the children of Ealing.
John Hudson has sung in church choirs from the age of 5. He learned the piano from age 7 and occasionally played the organ for church services. He went on to study music at the London College of Music in Great Marlborough Street, London, majoring on piano under Dr W R Pasfield and organ under Gordon Phillips, organist of All Hallows by the Tower.
John has run church choirs in both London and his native North East. He currently sings tenor in two local church choirs and with the RSCM Residentiary Choir in Cathedrals across England. He has recently taken on the role of guest conductor of the Brentham Ladies Choir. John has directed the Adult Chorale since 2009, increasing membership from some eight adults to over 35. He has given choir members the opportunity to sing at prestigious locations such as the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. The choir have also appeared on BBC Radio 3.
John is also the Chair of Trustees.
English violinist, John Hutchinson is a third-generation musician and is supported by Alex Amos to study in London under Dr Remus Azoitei from the Royal Academy of Music. He is an alumnus of the Royal Northern College of Music where he studied with Professor Benedict Holland.
As an orchestral violinist, John has performed in such venues as the Bridgewater Hall, The Sage, Symphony Hall, Duke's Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall working with artists such as Sir Mark Elder, Vasily Petrenko, Elim Chan, Henk Guittart and Vassily Sinaisky. As well as being recently being broadcast on BBC Radio 3, John has also been invited to perform as a solo and orchestral violinist at festivals such as the Manchester International Festival, Liverpool International Music Festival, EUROPAfest (Romania) and Festival Orchestre Giovanili (Italy).
John has been privileged to play in masterclasses with many prestigious musicians such as Yuri Zhislin, Levon Chilingirian, Prof. Mauricio Fuks and Natalia Lomeiko. John has given workshops andmasterclasses across the UK and in 2018 was invited to coach the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain. He has had a private class for over 7 years and draws his teaching influence from his past & current tutors and his Father. John joins the EJMS staff in January 2020.
Jozef Joined EJMS in September 2021 as Maternity Leave cover. Josef continues:
I grew up in Slovakia and moved to London in 2000 to attend the Royal Academy of Music taking a Post Grad. and a Masters in piano and studying with Patsy Toh and Graeme Humphrey. I have also studied violin and composition - but violin was NOT my instrument!
I am sought after as a soloist, an accompanist, an educator and a choir director. I work with a wide range of musicians and span both Classical and Jazz idioms; hence you can see me conducting Vivaldi's Gloria one day and playing jazz at The Vortex the very next day - it's hectic so keep a look out!
I live in Ealing and perform locally at St. Mary's Perivale, at the Ealing Half Marathon or Ealing jazz festival. I also organise concerts and workshops locally as I love being an educator. I currently teach students at both Notting Hill and Ealing High School and St. Benedict's School, and privately around my area of Pitshanger Lane.
I have given concerts in Austria, Sweden, France, Japan, Tunisia and Norwich, and have performed piano concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schumann and Bach. My upcoming concerts and projects include Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin - a feast for your ears AND eyes!
Non-musical interests include playing chess, watching TED talks, and tiding up after my 5year old son. I am very excited to be joining EJMS team this year!
I teach drum kit and percussion at EJMS and run the beginner and intermediate percussion ensembles. I am a 23 year old drummer. I am very passionate about music and specifically jazz. I know what a phenomenal impact music can have on young people and I am keen to share that with as many people as possible!
I can be seen playing at many venues across London, such as the main show at Ronnie Scott's, Pizza Express jazz club Soho or the Royal Festival Hall to name a few. I am currently in the final year of my MA in jazz performance and composition at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music on a scholarship.
My family first engaged with EJMS in 2002 when my husband and I brought our daughter, then aged seven, to play her violin with the junior orchestra. She and we, were so taken with the spirit and quality of EJMS that it was immediately apparent how we were going to spend Saturday mornings from then on in. Music became our daughters first love and she took up piano and recorder, sang in the EJMS choirs, passed theory and practical exams, and we watched with pride when she played first violin at her final EJMS concerts. My husband ran the café and became The Friend's Treasurer and I helped in administration. Over the years EJMS has been a hugely rewarding and enjoyable part of our lives. I became the exam invigilator in 2006. I know I have the nicest job at EJMS. My key role is to instil a sense of calm as the students go into the exam room. This is never difficult as everybody else has done all the hard work, the supportive parents, the virtuoso music teachers, the accomplished accompanists and Janine the wizardly administrator who works out the devilishly difficult timetable and of course most importantly the students themselves, who I know will all have honed their pieces to perfection in readiness for the examiner. In my other life I am a Chartered Town Planner MRTPI, with expertise in Listed Buildings and Conservation and have overseen major projects in many iconic buildings including the V&A, The Chelsea Hospital and the Richmond Theatre. I am also a student again, at Oxford University studying for a degree in History of Art. I remain enthused by the dedication of staff and students at EJMS and feel privileged to play a very small part in their achievements.
Hi, I'm Katie, and I started teaching music theory at EJMS in 2018. I recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with a Master's in Trumpet Performance, having previously studied music at Cambridge, and am now trying to make my way in the world having fun performing and teaching all types of music.
I have played with a few professional orchestras so far, including the BBC Concert Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, and I am currently a fellow at the RAM with my brass dectet and working in their Education Department. I love the atmosphere in the theory classes at EJMS because everyone is extremely friendly as well as hard-working, and it is great to see the tremendous progress achieved by pupils at the school
Job Titles:
- Honorary Assistant Secretary
I'm a local mum of 3 children, two of which have attended EJMS for 9 years. I don't read or play music, but was so grateful to have found EJMS. We have had so much from EJMS so I wanted to help out and give something back. The Café at EJMS is very important for students, teachers and parents. As well as being the Friends main source of income, the Café provides a comfortable place for parents to relax and is a lively spot where students refuel and socialise. It also offers free tea and coffee to our busy teachers to help keep them going throughout the morning. And money raised by the Friends is used to finance the purchase by EJMS of those instruments that are very expensive to buy When the Chair of Trustees asked for a volunteer to organise the rota of parents to help at the Café, I immediately offered to help. I have good IT skills, and I knew I could organise the volunteer system in a way that would ensure EJMS always had volunteer helpers throughout the entire morning. This has worked very well and I am really pleased to be contributing to an organisation that offers so much to the children of Ealing.
Krista joined EJMS as a violin teacher in January 2020. Krista studied violin at the Royal Academy of Music where she passed with honours and obtained her LRAM. Since leaving the Academy she has worked with most of the country's leading orchestras (The Philharmonia, RPO and BBC Concert).
Krista also has a very busy TV and recording career, working on albums such as Divine Comedy, Clare McGuire, Michael Ball and Kanye West. She has had the pleasure of performing with Natalie Cole, Burt Bacharach, Dione Warwick, Petula Clarke, Joss Stone, Diana Ross and was also leader of the Shirley Bassey orchestra. She has also played on the Miss Marple series and the film "Keeping Mum" featuring Rowan Atkinson.
Krista currently leads quartets and chamber ensembles and perform solo violin pieces including the Vivaldi four seasons and Lark Ascending. She also takes part in solo recitals and quartet recitals.
Krista is very much looking forward to working with EJMS and the talented young musicians that she has already had the pleasure of meeting. Her experience, especially in working with ensembles and coaching quartets, will be a wonderful adventure for all her EJMS students.
Job Titles:
- Clarinet / Saxophone Teacher
Laura has been involved with EJMS since 1999 as both a parent and then from 2005 as a teacher. Two of her daughters attended EJMS starting at about the age 7 and between them they studied the Violin, Cello and Flute.
Laura teaches the clarinet and saxophone and has led the Saxophone Ensemble and currently directs the Clarinet Choir. She finds EJMS very rewarding and gets great pleasure seeing her pupils progress, develop their musical skills and participate in the many ensembles and bands that EJMS has to offer.
She is a Music Education graduate of Kingston University studying under Daphne Down. Whilst an undergraduate she gained her Clarinet Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (LGSM) and latterly completed a PGCE at the Roehampton Institute.
Laura also assists with the administration of EJMS one day a week during term time and her husband, Ross, is Secretary of the Friends of EJMS and also a Trustee. Over the years EJMS has become quite a family affair.
Job Titles:
- Director of Music
- Double Bass Teacher
Lesley studied Double Bass at Trinity College of Music, London and the Musikhochschüle Lübeck, Germany. She has had a varied playing career working with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on their ‘Future Firsts' scheme and with the Oldenburgishes Staatstheater Orchestra in Germany primarily playing a variety of operatic repertoire where a highlight was doing the five hour marathon of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
She served in the Royal Air Force for 12 years as Double Bassist of the Salon Orchestra of the RAF Central Band. This gave her a plethora of musical experiences and through it had the opportunity to meet and talk with Her Majesty the Queen.
Lesley has also played in a chamber group on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and Alaska, and in folk, rock and pit bands. As well as EJMS she currently teaches Double Bass (also Piano and Theory) for Brent Music Services and at Brunel University.
Lesley has been a Director of Music in an Anglican church as well as conducting and accompanying choirs and musically directing shows for youth and adults.
Job Titles:
- Clarinet / Saxophone Teacher
Lucinda Dunne is a recent graduate of the Royal College of Music, where she studied both saxophone and clarinet under professors Kyle Horch and Janet Hilton. She previously studied at Chetham's School of Music with Andrew Wilson. In 2012, Lucinda reached the woodwind category final of BBC Young Musician of the Year.
She has gained orchestral experience playing with groups such as the National Youth Orchestra, Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Vitae, performing at notable venues including The Sage Gateshead, St John's Smith Square and Royal Festival Hall. Lucinda debuted as a soloist with the RCM Film Orchestra and later performed Benson's ‘Aeolian Song' with the RCM Wind Ensemble. She most recently performed Weber's Clarinet Concerto (No 1) as a soloist with the Portobello Orchestra.
Lucinda also enjoys instrumental tripling (playing saxophones, clarinets and flute) and being part of pit orchestras for musical theatre. Some shows she has recently performed in include The Wizard of Oz, A Little Night Music, Top Hat, Thoroughly Modern Millie, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls.
Lucinda is a keen chamber musician and enjoys performing as the soprano saxophonist in the Kumori Saxophone Quartet, amongst other ensembles. Kumori Saxophone Quartet is comprised of graduates and students of the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. The Quartet performs a wide range of music, from staples of the saxophones repertoire and transcriptions of classical works, to contemporary works. Its members hail from the UK, Sweden, and Canada, and have performed extensively in the UK and internationally. The Quartet's name, Kumori, is from the Japanese word for "cloudiness", an homage to Debussy's Nuages (Clouds), a favourite work of the Quartet.
Job Titles:
- Accompaniment / Senior Aural Teacher
Lydia is 25 years old and has played the piano since the age of nine. In 2009, she achieved 145 marks for her Grade 8 piano exam which earned her the Associated Board Award for the highest mark in the whole of Britain and Ireland.
From 2010 Lydia attended Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and in July 2011 was awarded First Prize at The Chetham's Piano Competition in association with Yamaha.
In October 2011 she also competed in an international piano competition in Rome, shortly before taking her DipABRSM in Piano Performance.
Lydia is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, where she has performed in numerous concerts, including performances with the RNCM Big band. She is a keen chamber musician, performing in a variety of ensembles in venues across the UK. She is also an advocate of contemporary music, most recently performing in the Union Chapel, London, and as part of an opera in Merseyside.
I am a historical flautist based in London, United Kingdom.
An alumna of the Royal College of Music, I have graduated their BMus (Hons) degree with first class in 2016 and their MMus degree with a distinction in 2018. There I studied Historical Flutes with Rachel Brown and Lisa Beznosiuk and participated in the RCM Baroque Ensemble, where I played in multiple concerts and had the honor of being a soloist in their performance of J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in 2016. I was a scholar at this institution, where i had a Kyra and Douglas Downie Award, a Kirby Laing Award, a Barry Shaw Award and St, Marylebone Educational Foundation Scholarship.
In the past few years I have also learnt from Olavo Barros, Wilbert Hazelzet, Ashley Solomon, Claudio Astronio, Adrien Butterfield, Jane Chapman and Carla Rees, amongst other prominent musicians of the Flute and Historical Performance scene.
My repertoire ranges from the late seventeenth to the late nineteenth century and I am especially interested in the music making in the home of the eighteenth century France.
I am very happy to take part in the Handel House Talent Scheme 2018-2019 at the Handel and Hendrix Museum in London.
Martin Smith was a scholarship winner at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied violin and conducting. He began his career as a member of the Duke String Quartet, performing with them throughout Britain and Europe, before joining the London Mozart Players, the UK's longest established chamber orchestra.
He has worked with most of the UK's leading chamber orchestras, and has appeared as leader or guest principal player with many others. He has made solo appearances around the UK and also in Europe and the United States, many as leader of the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra which he led and directed for over ten years.
As a conductor Martin has appeared with the London Mozart Players, and has led orchestral workshops for them and for ESTA. He has been conductor and artistic director of Enfield Chamber Orchestra since 2008, and of the Richmond Orchestra since 2016, and is increasingly in demand as a guest conductor. Martin joined the staff of EJMS in 2013.
"Music is part of our human birthright. I have never met an unmusical child. Helping them realise that is a passion for me, and EJMS is the ideal place in which to do it."
In addition to working as an accompanist at Ealing Junior Music School (EJMS), Matthew has various roles with the Addison Singers, as Deputy Music Director, Director of the Jazz Ensemble, accompanist (Oratorio and Jazz choirs) and soloist. His other appointments include accompanist for singing classes at the City Literary Institute, and also for residential courses, including events for Suzuki string players.
Matthew was formerly Director of the Saint Martin Singers, an a capella group, based at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. His recital work includes concerts with Covent Garden principals (Chris Maltman and Quentin Hayes), and performing as a concert pianist onboard the cruise ship, QE2.
Having trained as a concert pianist and graduated with Honours from the Royal Academy of Music in 2009, Nina performs to the highest level both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She combines her international experience in performance with her musical knowledge and training to make Music Theory relevant, applicable, and engaging for students of all ages. Nina has been a tutor of music and piano for almost twenty years and has successfully prepared students of all ages and levels for exams, auditions, competitions, and concerts. She has been teaching Music Theory at Ealing Junior Music School for more than ten years and is also a visiting piano tutor at Clifford Chance Law Firm. Nina has a broad spectrum of musical interests covering all genres and is active in many other fields of the musical profession including performance, education, and research. Her enthusiasm for teaching enables her to ensure that each student will get a specifically tailored approach to encourage his or her own musical development at a pace that suits him or her. Hailing from both Switzerland and Thailand, Nina has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and is a prizewinner of numerous festivals and competitions. She has given solo recitals in many venues worldwide and also participates in various instrumental ensembles and corporate/commercial events. Her musical training began in her hometown of Chiang Mai, Thailand where she studied piano with Professor Bennett Lerner before continuing on to Cornell University in New York where she studied English Literature and Music. Nina then moved on to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she gained her LRAM (Licentiate of The Royal Academy of Music) Teaching Diploma in 2006 and graduated from the BMus Course in Piano Performance with Honours in 2009.
Paula started her music studies at the age of four, in Tarragona, Spain, under professor
Josep Maria Ferrando. Her violin studies were followed by the Honour Prize at Vilaseca's Conservatory in 2018 with remarkable critiques. A keen violin player, Paula has taken part in various masterclasses with highly acclaimed musicians such as Levon Chilingirian, Krysia Osostowicz, Gerhard Quartet, Endellion Quartet, London Symphony Orchestra side by side…
A big step in her career was the year she spent studying next to Eva Graubin, in Barcelona whereas the year after, she began her Undergraduate degree under professor Krzysztof Smietana, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Paula has given many recitals as a soloist, but also as a violinist in orchestras, ensembles, string quartets and piano trios. Some of the well-known venues where she has performed are the Pau Casals Auditorium in Spain, Barbican, where she performed Verdi's Requiem under James Blair and Saffron Hall in the UK, where she performed a recital and taught a masterclass with her quartet.
Alongside her accomplishments as a violin player, Paula has an extensive experience as a music teacher. She has been teaching all the levels of violin since 2017, either face-to-face or online, as well as music theory. Paula's successful music teaching career is built on her dedication to her students, making them feel welcome and comfortable to enjoy music to the fullest. Paula joined EJMS on 11 September 2021.
Piers has lived in Ealing for most of his life and, having rebelled against piano lessons at an early age, began a lifelong interest in singing while a chorister in St Barnabas Choir. Other than choral music, his musical tastes are diverse. From Bach to Bacharach, Elgar to the Echo and the Bunnymen…..it's partly the diverse choice of musical repertoire in EJMS that appeals to him.
The other aspect of EJMS that is important to Piers is its sense of being a musical community and mission. EJMS People care deeply about all aspects of musical performance and conveying that interest to all students.
When not at EJMS, Piers runs a large mutual organization that funds housing associations and is also a board member of a Building Society. He is a chartered banker and treasurer.
Brent Cundall joins EJMS in September 2021. Brent is a multi-instrumentalist, originally from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He has taught peripatetic music lessons on guitar, bass and drums for the last 4 years with the Twyford Academies Trust, as well as teaching Year 7 and Year 8 music classes at two Trust schools. He currently teaches at Ada Lovelace, Ealing Fields and William Perkins schools in the Trust.
Growing up in Nashville, Brent was surrounded by music. Starting out on trombone, his interests quickly expanded to drums and guitar as well. Brent studied Jazz percussion at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. While there he studied drums, bass and theory and arranging with jazz greats Jerry Coker and Donald Brown. After leaving school, Brent spent two years working as a bassist and percussionist at Dollywood theme park in East Tennessee, owned by Country music star Dolly Parton. His time there saw him performing with members of the Parton family and, through playing 5 shows a day, 6 days a week, eventually performing in front of over a million and a half people.
Since then, Brent has lived and worked in Atlanta, Knoxville and Nashville, where he lived for several years before moving to London in 2015. He worked as a recording and performing musician on bass and acoustic guitar in and around Nashville, including gigs with several Contemporary Christian Music artists such as Steve Green, Phil Keaggy, Wes King, Buddy Greene and Rick Florian of Whiteheart. He also toured for a stint with The Stolen Faces, a band celebrating the music of the Grateful Dead.
Ross Underwood is the parent of three children, two of whom attended EJMS until the age of 16.
Ross spent 20 years in the IT industry before making the decision to start up his own completely unrelated business in the Legal Industry.
Ross's wife Laura, a Clarinet teacher, began to teach at EJMS in 1999. This prompted Ross to volunteer as an active member of ‘The Friends of EJMS', the school's PTA, as he was already a parent sitting in the Café every Saturday morning and he thought he may as well make himself useful ! Over the last 18 years Ross has been Chair and Deputy Chair of The Friends and has helped develop the Café into what is today.
In April 2009, Ross was invited to join the Board of Trustees of EJMS. Having an IT background, Ross's IT expertise has helped support the development and evolvement of EJMS's IT systems to meet the ever more complex needs of the school.
Although not a musician, his family are; and Ross gets great satisfaction by being involved and contributing to the fantastic thriving organisation that EJMS has become.
Ruth Ferguson was accepted into the Chapelle Reine Elisabeth in Belgium at the age of 17 where she studied with Andre Gertler. She was awarded the Martin Musical Scholarship for five years to support her studies. Previously to this, she played in the National Youth Orchestra and at the age of 14 she performed Bach's Violin Concerto in A Minor with them.
At the age of 20, she was appointed Sub-Principal first violin of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now known as Birmingham Royal Ballet). Following this, she joined the BBC Radio Orchestra and played with them for 10 years. As a freelance orchestral musician, Ruth worked regularly with the London Sinfonietta, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Major influences in Ruth's musical development were Bela Katona and Henryk Szeryng. Since having a family, Ruth devotes her time much more to teaching. She has found a passion for nurturing young talent and believes that every child should have a musical education and deserves music in their lives.
Sandra has enjoyed teaching singing at EJMS for 8 years. It is a very rewarding part of her music life. She believes singing should be joyful and loves guiding young people into the habits of breathing well, communicating, good posture and diction - the basic building blocks for any style of singing. With encouragement, even the diffident can develop confidence in expressing emotion and musicality through singing.
An accomplished singer, Sandra has broadcast for Radio 3, been a soloist with ensembles, choirs and orchestras here and abroad including The Chamber Group of Scotland, BBCSSO, Sentieri Selvaggi. She has sung roles with ENO, London Early Opera, ETO, European Chamber Opera, Opera Holland Park and Buxton Festival
In addition Sandra teaches singing privately, is a visiting lecturer of vocal style and presentation at the Scottish Conservatoire of Music, has adjudicated at the Edinburgh Competitive Festival and at the RCS.
Sharada grew up and discovered her love of music in Ealing and after studying at the Royal College of Music she was appointed to the Viola section in the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Since 1990 Sharada has pursued a freelance career based in London. Her experience covers all genres of Music and she plays with many of the leading UK Orchestras and with Soloists and Conductors of world renown.
Sharada teaches Viola at Tonbridge School and both Violin and Viola at Hobbayne Primary School. She has taught at Royal College of Music Juniors, Junior Guildhall, Benenden School and QYMC. Many of Sharada's pupils join Ealing Youth Orchestra and some have gained places in the National Youth Orchestra.
Job Titles:
- Clarinet / Saxophone Teacher
Sim studied jazz at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, has performed on BBC Radio 2's Mark Lamarr Show and toured Europe with the Glenn Miller Memorial Orchestra. He had his playing praised in a Musicians' Union Magazine review of an album by jazz singer Julie Dunn.
Stephanie started working as a Front Desk Assistant on Saturday mornings in 2015. As an EJMS parent of 11 years, she is also involved with the EJMS Parents' Association - The Friends of EJMS - and has been its Treasurer for four years. Her experience as a long-term EJMS parent has proved invaluable for working at the EJMS Front Desk and helping other parents navigate the EJMS's ‘ocean of opportunities'. She loves being part of the EJMS community which brings Ealing children from varied backgrounds, nationalities and schooling environments together, through their common interest in music.
Stephanie is originally from France and has been a Londoner for 28 years - Actonian for 22. She enjoys contributing to the Acton parent community: previously, she was chairperson and secretary of her children's primary school's PTA as well as parent governor in her children's local comprehensive secondary school.
During the week Stephanie is a French tutor and peripatetic French teacher in local schools. She is also currently studying part time for an MA in Applied Linguistics at Kingston University. Stephanie's main passion is languages and she feels that one of her favourite quotes - "One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." (Frank Smith, psycholinguist) - is a fitting analogy for both the acquisition of foreign languages and learning to play music.
Job Titles:
- Recorder / Fun Theory Teacher
Teresa Wrann was born in Thüringen, a little village in the middle of the Austrian alps. She graduated with distinction from her BMus in Recorder and Music Education in Austria and her Master's degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Teresa is passionate about offering every child a chance to make their first musical steps and experience the joy music can bring. Music is a wonderful way of communicating with each other and offers opportunities for every child to be included.
She started teaching in London in July 2017 and has previously worked as a recorder and early years music teacher in Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Teresa regularly performs as a soloist and with various baroque orchestras as well as her early music ensemble "Apollo's Cabinet" in the UK and Europe and hugely enjoys the variety it gives her.
Besides teaching and performing, she is passionate about cooking, dancing, languages and loves to travel.
Tim Davenport graduated from Brunel University, London with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science.
Tim's daughter studied music at EJMS for many years and Tim became very involved with the Friends of EJMS as a committee member and the mainstay of the EJMS Café.
Although his daughter has now left EJMS, Tim has continued to be very involved with the school.
Tim's professional life has seen him in various employments that utilised his computer skills. Since 2013 Tim has been an engineering manager for the Financial Times, delivering numerous software projects.
In 2017, Tim was asked to become a Trustee of EJMS, as the Chair of Trustees was keen to put to good use Tim's enthusiasm and IT knowledge.
In 2019, Tim not only helped with designing major changes to the EJMS Database, but is also currently heavily involved with the creation of the brand new EJMS website.
Although not a musician himself, Tim strongly believes that EJMS is an organisation that really deserves his support, as it offers so many opportunities to children who live in Ealing.
I am a friendly teacher with almost twenty years of teaching experience and a music graduate of Goldsmiths' College, London University.
Walid was born in Middlesbrough and moved to Manchester to study at Chethams' School of Music. He then went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he obtained his BMus hons and MMus in Piano Performance. Walid won many awards in both national and international competitions, appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Manchester Camerata and has performed in various solo and chamber festivals throughout Europe. Walid has adjudicated piano competitions and many of his students have won prizes and scholarships for musical education. Currently an accompanist at EJMS, Walid also works as part of the Twyford CofE Academies Trust whilst maintaining an active performing career.
Yolande is a qualified music teacher and is proud of her ‘Kiwi' upbringing in New Zealand. She grew up surrounded by music and embraced opportunities to learn brass, cello and piano as well as sing in choirs.
Yolande has always loved to perform in groups and currently plays in the Richmond Brass Band and the Hounslow Symphony Orchestra. When time allows, she also enjoys playing in ensemble groups. As well as teaching musicianship at EJMS, she teaches the piano.
Yolande has taught in High Schools in New Zealand and Primary schools in Kenya and England. She strives to inspire children, teenagers and adults to be involved in music and realise the positive effects that music making has on a person's social, physical and mental well being.