Robert Allan is a Scottish pianist, composer and conductor based in London. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Bob is much in demand as an accompanist with choirs including the London Symphony Chorus, World Choir, Covent Garden Chorus, Deutscher Chor London, Festival Chorus and Hampstead Chamber Choir and was recently appointed Associate Conductor of the London Nordic Choir.
With a keen interest in contemporary music, Bob has brought many new works into repertoire with such august groups as the Royal Opera House, Aldeburgh Festival, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He has also arranged the music of Sigur Ros, Velvet Underground, Kylie Minogue and Charli XCX for Ireland’s premier contemporary group, Glasshouse Ensemble.
Amy Bebbington is sought-after for her dynamic and engaging teaching style, her wealth of choral and pedagogical experience and is a passionate advocate for choral singing and choral conductor training. With degrees in Piano Performance (UK) and a Doctoral Degree in Choral Conducting (USA), Amy is the Director of Training for the Association of British Choral Directors and co-founder of the London International Choral Conducting Competition (LICCC).
Amy leads choral conducting masterclasses and teaches at international summer schools, including Cork, Limerick and Sherborne. He successful online training course, Choral Leadership and Pedogogy (CLP), created as a direct result of the pandemic, enabled her to engage, and share good practice with choral conductors from all over the world.
She was delighted to be a guest clinician at the Leading Voices Festival (The Netherlands) and at Chor.com (Germany), presenting sessions on kinaesthetic gestures, training emerging professionals and female composers. Known for her advocacy for female conductors and composers, she champions marginalised musicians through choral programming, Discovery Days and private mentoring.
Amy has choral works published by Banks Music Publications, Multitude of Voyces and Choral Music Publishing and is proud to be Musical Director of Corra Sound, Harlequin Chamber Choir, Nota Bene and Sempre Fidelis Singers. She is in demand as a leading choral clinician, adjudicator, mentor and teacher.
James Davey is one of the UK’s most distinguished and respected choral directors, in demand for his work as a conductor, choir trainer, choral education practitioner, arranger and adjudicator.
At the heart of his busy schedule he is Musical Director of Chantage, winners of the Malta International Choral Competition Grand Prix 2015 and BBC Radio 3 Choir of the year 2006, the Chandos Chamber Choir, Amici Cantate, Halstead Choral and Ipswich School Chapel Choir.
Outside of term time, as well as leading his course at Sherborne, he is guest conductor for the Dart Festival Chorus and works as Chorus Master on projects for the Saffron Opera Group preparing Wagner’s epic opera scores for concert production, including Tristan and Isolde, Parsifal, Tannhäuser, Meistersinger von Nürenburg and Die Fliegende Holländer.
Formerly the chief choral advisor for the BBC’s sheet music archive, James has delivered projects for the BBC Singers Education Department as well as regularly conducting and preparing choirs for broadcasts on television and radio. He is also Director of ChoirFixer Limited, fixing professional ensembles for recording sessions and events for films, TV advertising and the entertainment industry.
James is a conducting tutor for the Association of British Choral Directors and is on the ABCD’s Council of Practitioners. In 2018 he co-founded the London International Choral Conducting Competition (LICCC), the first of its kind in the UK.
Martin Ellerby was born in Worksop, England in 1957. After graduating from the London College of Music he studied composition with Joseph Horovitz and counterpoint with W. S. Lloyd Webber at the Royal College of Music. Following this he studied privately with Wilfred Josephs, later becoming the composer’s amanuensis.
He has written in most forms including several sinfonias and concertante works, music for strings, several instrumental sonatas and suites, songs and choral music including a Mass and Carol Symphony for choir and wind orchestra. He has also written test pieces for all the key brass band contests (Tristan Encounters, Elgar Variations, Genesis, Electra etc.) and much repertoire for concert band (Symphony in Five Movements, Tributes, Paris Sketches, Paris Portraits, Menorcan Dances etc.). Additionally, he has composed examination and sight reading material for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and other educational bodies and publishers.
His music has been broadcast and recorded worldwide by leading ensembles and performed at prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Barbican and Wigmore Halls in London; Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York City; Leipzig’s Gewandhaus and St. Thomas Church in Germany; La Madeleine in Paris and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. He has been twice represented at the BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts at the RAH (broadcast on BBC Radio 3). A 7 year post as civilian composer-in-residence to the Regimental Band of Her Majesty’s Coldstream Guards resulted in much music for specific State events, Royal occasions and overseas tours.
Amongst his awards and citations are the W. S. Lloyd Webber Director’s Prize, the Westminster Prize, the Arts Council of Great Britain Dio Fund Award, a WCM Allcard Award, the George Butterworth and Norman Sykes Memorial Fund Awards, the Freedom of the City of London, the Royal Military School of Music 2008 Dr. Martin Ellerby Class, the 2012 BUMA International Brass Award (Holland), and, in his 60th birthday year (2017), the John Henry Iles Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree (DMA) from the University of Salford, an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree (Hon DLitt) from the University of West London and five fellowships. He is External Examiner to the Royal Air Force Music Services (RAF Northolt) and Honorary Principal of the Victoria College of Music Examinations Board. Overseas lecture tours include North and South America, Europe and Australasia. His hobbies include reading, films, walking and cooking.
Philip Ellis Since winning first prize in the Leeds Conductors’ Competition in 1991, Philip Ellis has established a reputation as one of Great Britain’s most versatile conductors. He has conducted extensively throughout the UK including numerous concerts with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, City of London Sinfonia, Northern Sinfonia and over 300 concerts with English Sinfonia.
He made his international debut conducting the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1987, leading to engagements with Hong Kong Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, Flanders Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, St Petersburg Symphony, Joensuu Orchestra, National Orchestra of Mexico, Western Australian Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Würtembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Neue Philharmonie Westfallen and many broadcast concerts with the BRTN Philharmonic (Brussels) for radio and television.
Philip works extensively as a conductor for ballet. He has been conductor for Birmingham Royal Ballet since 1989 and conducts regularly for many international ballet companies: The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, La Scala Ballet in Milan, Paris Opera Ballet at the Opera Garnier, The Australian Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Mikhailovsky Ballet in St Petersburg, National Ballet of Canada, Hong Kong Ballet and Gothenburg Ballet.
He has recorded many CDs including Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals with the Philharmonia and Copland Rodeo, Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, El Salon Mexico and a series of Concert Classics discs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also recorded concerto discs, including Contemporary Clarinet Concertos for Nimbus with Emma Johnson and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations live from the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam with Dimitri Ferschtman.
John Gibbons works with most major British orchestras including the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, LPO, CBSO, Bournemouth, Ulster, and the RPO with whom he conducted the first Classic FM ‘Hall of Fame’ Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He is Music Director of Worthing Symphony Orchestra – the professional orchestra of West Sussex as well as Northampton Symphony Orchestra, Ealing Symphony Orchestra and St Albans Chamber Choir.
He studied music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music winning numerous awards as a conductor, pianist and accompanist. John is also a composer and arranger with notable performances in both St Albans Abbey and Clifton Cathedral. He assisted John Eliot Gardiner on the Beethoven ‘Leonore’ project and the Philips recording of music by Percy Grainger and was second conductor to Leonard Slatkin for Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw and various conductors at the Royal Opera House.
Renowned for his adventurous programming, John has given many world and UK premieres of both new pieces and neglected works. He has several discs to his name including music by Skalkottas, Wordsworth, Arnold, , Bruckner, Mozart and Benjamin.
He has also recorded several film scores and conducted numerous operas for Opera Holland Park, the Spier Festival in South Africa, the WNO, Opera Northern Ireland & Opera Theatre Company and ETO.
Well known as a communicator, John is a Fellow of the Royal College of Arts and Vice Chairman of the British Music Society.
Simon Gregory studied music at Christ Church, Oxford under Simon Preston and Francis Grier and organ with Richard Popplewell, Nicholas Danby and Anne Marsden-Thomas. He retired from Emanuel School, Wandsworth in 2020, having completed periods as Head of Lower School and Director of Music.
He has been an accompanist for the Association of British Choral Directors choral conducting courses in addition to various Sherborne choral and conducting courses. Simon has also acted as tutor and accompanist on Benslow Music Trust courses.
As well as giving organ recitals throughout the UK, he has accompanied various choirs in concerts and at services in many English Cathedrals. He is also a past council member and present trustee of ABCD and has held posts as Musical Director with several choral societies.
Mike Hall is a jazz saxophonist and educator. He began his musical career with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra which led to a twenty-one year association with composer/pianist Michael Garrick with whom he toured Malaysia and made several CD recordings and national radio broadcasts.
His playing career has included a wide range of work; from freelancing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Hallé Orchestras through to twenty years with the Echoes of Ellington Orchestra. Career highlights have included a week at Ronnie Scott’s Club, concerts at the World Saxophone Congress in Slovenia and Strasbourg with Andy Scott’s Group S and even a feature in John Dankworth and Cleo Laine’s Christmas Show.
He has made a number of CD recordings under his own name (including the Felonious Monks project) and appeared on numerous recordings for other leaders recently including The Jazz Planets, a reworking of Holst’s masterpiece. Mike plays in his own jazz quartet as well as his octet, Boplicity.
Mike headed Jazz Studies at the RNCM for 20 years. He now focusses on performing, writing and running various public jazz workshops throughout the UK and abroad.
Greg Hallam is an esteemed choral director, singer and teacher. He is Musical Director of Bracknell Choral Society, Swansea Bach Choir, Reading Festival Chorus and Swindon Choral Society. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music, in 2019 Greg was awarded an ARAM (Associate of the Royal Academy of Music) for his significant contribution to the music profession.
He is particularly proud to have helped set-up the London Youth Choir, directing their boys’ choir and training choir and delivering workshops as part of their ‘Aspire’ scheme. Greg was Assistant Music Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain for several years and founded the Ulster Youth Junior Choir.
As singing teacher at Wellington College, Dauntsey’s School and Christchurch Cathedral School, Oxford. Greg teaches individual lessons to young singers aged 8-18. He has delivered workshops for the Worcester College Chapel Choir (Oxford), provided vocal tuition to choral scholars and helped produce four of their recordings.
He is visiting tutor to postgraduate choral conducting students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, guiding them in the use of gesture and technique alongside how to lead efficient and effective rehearsals. Greg’s conducting and rehearsal style is drawn from his experiences as a singer. As a baritone, Greg has sung with a number of groups including London Voices, Philharmonia Voices, Voces8 and Dieci Voices.
In addition to directing his weekly choirs, Greg is in demand to lead residential workshops. In 2026 he will conduct choral courses in Salisbury, Cirencester and Cambridge. He is particularly looking forward to returning to Sherborne for the third time to direct the Cappella course.
Mark Heron is a Scottish conductor noted for dynamic and well-rehearsed performances of an unusually wide repertoire.
He appears regularly with major orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Manchester Camerata, Psappha and Meininger Hofkapelle. He is Music Director of the Nottingham Philharmonic and as Professor and Head of Conducting at the RNCM works regularly with all the College’s orchestras and ensembles.
Mark has vast expertise in contemporary music and has collaborated with many of the greatest living composers. He has recorded more than twenty CDs with the RNCM Wind Orchestra and Manchester Camerata on labels such as Chandos, Naxos, NMC, ASC and Polyphonic.
Alongside his conducting activities, Mark has an international reputation as a conducting teacher. Apart from leading the RNCM’s world-renowned conducting programmes, he is a visiting professor to the Royal Air Force and is frequently invited to teach at masterclasses all over the world.
He is a board member of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles.
Linda Hirst studied singing and the flute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her career as a mezzo soprano began in the early music revival of the seventies singing for Roger Norrington, John Eliot Gardiner and David Munrow as well as making Atom Heart Mother with Pink Floyd, recording Tommy with The Who and 2000 Motels with Frank Zappa. From 1974 to 1978 she was a Swingle Singer, she then co-founded Electric Phoenix. With both groups Linda travelled the world leading to an international career working with living composers; among them Ligetti, Berio and Henze and recording pieces written for her by Knussen, Weir, Holt and Osborne etc.
Linda has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, ensembles, festivals and opera companies with conductors Rattle, Gielen, Nagano, Howarth, Harding and more. Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire has been a constant thread throughout the last 40 years, a highlight being Glen Tetley’s ballet with the Royal Opera House. With her improvising trio Tryst, they gave a concert in the Trier Festival in 2023 and visited the Grieg Academy in Norway in 2024.
She has always worked in education and was Head of Vocal Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire from 1995 to 2017. Currently she is vocal coach and singing teacher to the Lay Clerks and Choral Scholars at Canterbury Cathedral. Linda has given masterclasses in the Teatro Colon, La Fenice, several American Universities and for many years at Dartington and the Hilliard Ensemble Summer Schools. She is a fellow of Dartington College of Arts, an Hon DLit (Huddersfield) and a trustee of the Hinrichsen Foundation and was made President of the Kathleen Ferrier Society in 2013.
A native of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, Robert Houlihan lived in Metz, France from 1981 until 2002. There he conducted at the Municipal Theatre as well as frequent guest appearances with the l’Orchestre National de Lorraine, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Metz and his own ‘Nouvel Ensemble Instrumental’. He became a French citizen in 1988. Robert was Principal Conductor of the Tirgu Mures Philharmonic in Romania and Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in Hungary. His festival appearances have included the BBC Proms and the Almeida Festival, the Budapest Spring Festival, the Bartok Festival, the Amsterdam Summer Festival and the Wurzburg Mozart Festival.
He is renowned for his dedication to new music and is frequent in demand to conduct new contemporary works. His fine relationship with many of the world’s leading soloists include Maxim Vengerov, Olivier Charlier, Javier Camarena, Rebecca Olvera, Lesley Garret, Istvan Ruha, Miklos Perenyi, Patrick Gallois, Joaquin Achucarro and John O Conor. Robert has many recordings to his name including the works of several major Irish composers. His reputation as a teacher is legendary and he is much in demand giving masterclasses around the world including most recently classes in Ireland, the UK, France, Holland, Portugal and Hungary.
Robert returned to live in his native Ireland in 2002 where alongside his European commitments he frequently works as a guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra.
Nigel Hutchison graduated with a first class honours degree from the University of Glasgow, this was followed by intensive study with Craig Sheppard at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with help of scholarships from the Scottish International Education Trust and the Sir James Caird Trust. A Fulbright scholarship subsequently enabled him to study with Earl Wild at the Julliard School in New York.
Since his acclaimed Wigmore Hall debut, he has performed throughout Europe, the Far East and the USA and has given concerts in all the major halls in the UK as both soloist and chamber musician as well as broadcasts for the BBC and various radio and television stations in Italy, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Poland and China. He has performed with the London Mozart Players, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic orchestras amongst others and has recorded Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the London Symphony Orchestra.
As a chamber musician Nigel has worked with a number of distinguished artists including Leonid Gorokhov, Robert Cohen, Xue Wei, Hu Kun, Grigori Zhislin and Radoslaw Szulc and has been official pianist for the Menuhin International Competition, the Britten International Competition and the All China International Violin Competition. Nigel is presently an accompanist and coach at the Yehudi Menuhin School.
Alex Jenkins read music at the University of Nottingham graduating with a BA(Hons) and an MA. He was appointed Musician-in-Residence at Christ’s Hospital in West Sussex for two years, where he later worked as a visiting piano teacher. Alex graduated with distinction in his MPerf in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music under the tutelage of Simon Lepper, Roger Vignoles and Andrew Zolinsky. Whilst there Alex was awarded the Titanic Memoriam Prize for best performance by a pianist in the Lies Askonas Vocal Competition and an Accompanist’s Prize at the Brooks-van der Pump English Song Competition, as well as performing at the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
He is currently a professional accompanist and vocal coach at the Royal Welsh College of Music, working predominantly with the Vocal, Choral Conducting and Opera Departments. He is musical director for the postgraduate opera scenes at the RWCMD as well as senior vocal coach in his regular summer residency at Sherborne Summer School of Music. In December 2022 Alex made his TV debut as the pianist for an S4C documentary alongside the ‘Only Boys, Girls and Kids Aloud’ choirs and the world-renowned soprano Rebecca Evans.
Alex regularly works as a choral repetiteur and he is the official accompanist for Swansea Philharmonic Choir and numerous male voice choirs. Recent concert highlights include accompanying Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Alongside the wealth of vocal music he is involved with, Alex is also a member of the Apollo Trio with violinist Oliver Nelson and clarinettist Paul Vowles. In addition to this, he is the official accompanist for the prestigious Gregynog Young Musician of the Year competition.
Alex has recently been appointed as an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).
John Longstaff read music at Girton College, Cambridge and studied conducting with George Hurst, Edward Downes and Vilem Tausky. He came second in the 1988 Leeds Conductors Competition and since then has held full time positions at the Opera House in Kiel, Germany and with Northern Ballet. He has worked on projects with Sir Charles Mackerras, David Lloyd Jones, John Price-Jones, Ivor Bolton and Richard Bonynge and is a sought-after composer, orchestrator, arranger and conducting teacher as well as playing for conducting courses with Denise Ham and Sian Edwards.
John is Director of Music at St. Peter’s Church in Harrogate and was until 2011 Artistic Director of the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra. His children’s ballet Goldilocks and the Three Bears was shown on CBeebies television and on national tour with Northern Ballet. With English National Ballet he has conducted Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake and Coppélia and in 2019 he made a new English translation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. During lockdown his reduced orchestrations of ballet scores were played in several notable opera houses including, Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, L’Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Greek National Opera in Athens.
Recent work includes a new performing edition of Bruckner’s 3rd Symphony which he conducted with the Kernow Philharmonic Orchestra in Cornwall, a reduced orchestration of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore for English Touring Opera, and a new translation of Bach’s St. John Passion. (again with Andrew Greenan).
Natalia Luis-Bassa is Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music, Principal Guest Conductor of the Oxford University Orchestra, and Musical Director of the Jersey Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of Venezuela’s world-renowned El Sistema and the first person in her country to earn a degree in Orchestral Conducting, she later completed postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music in London, winning the Michael Mudie Conducting Prize and the Ricordi Prize.
A passionate advocate for music education, Natalia has built enduring partnerships with the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain, the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland and Great Britain, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Benedetti Foundation, alongside youth and university orchestras worldwide. She has conducted internationally with ensembles including the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Bombay Chamber Orchestra, and Australian Youth Orchestra
Her career has been shaped by mentorship with Sir Colin Davis and masterclasses with George Hurst, Lorin Maazel, and Sir Mark Elder. In recognition of her artistry, Natalia was named an Elgar Ambassador by the Elgar Society in 2007.
Colin Metters, is an English conductor, orchestral trainer and conducting pedagogue. He was Professor of Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music (London) where he founded the Conductors’ Course in 1983. He retired as Head of Studies after serving in the post for 30 years. He currently holds the title of Emeritus Professor of Conducting, RAM, London.
His early studies were with the revered George Hurst, who invited him to work as his assistant at the Canford Summer School of Music. With over five decades of experience, he has mentored many of the world’s leading conductors through personal guidance and friendship. He has an unparalleled insight into conducting technique and the instpiration to truly connect with the music.
Colin left the Royal College of Music to take up the post of principal conductor at the Ballet Rambert Company. He was later appointed conductor of Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, whilst at the same time forging a burgeoning career guest conducting all over the world. He has worked with many of the major symphony orchestras in the UK, Europe, USA, South America and the Far East.
As a teacher, he has given masterclasses in Germany, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, Australia, China, Portugal, Venezuela, Vietnam and the USA and he is frequently invited to join the juries of prestigious international conducting competitions in Germany, Russia, USA, Spain and Portugal.
Oliver Nelson, born in Glasgow, began learning the violin at the age of six. He gained scholarships to both Canford School and the Royal Academy of Music and at the latter he studied the violin with Xue-Wei. During this time, he gained distinctions in both an MMus and the Fellowship diploma, winning the Academy concerto competition and appearing as soloist with its string orchestra.
His performances have included recitals at St Martin-in-the-Fields, chamber music at Jamie Walton’s North York Moors Chamber Music Festival and concertos ranging from those with the Dorset Chamber Orchestra and Rebecca Gilliver, to the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra.
He is in demand as a recitalist with some of Britain’s finest pianists, including Nigel Hutchison, Julian Jacobson, and Vasilis Rakitzis. Oliver’s violin playing appears in film, both in Francois Girard’s The Song of Names collaborating with Howard Shore and Clive Owen, and Bruce Webb’s award-winning Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Martyn Noble is much in demand as a freelance Organist and Pianist in London having previously spent over 10 years working at His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, both as Sub-Organist and Acting Director of Music. Roles that included playing/conducting annually for Classic FM’s broadcast of Carols from Buckingham Palace, which airs immediately after H.M. The King’s speech on Christmas Day and performing and assisting in music for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee and The Coronation of King Charles III. Martyn is currently Teacher of Organ and Piano Accompanist at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, Accompanist to the London Concert Choir and Musician-in-Residence at Highgate School.
Martyn’s annual appearances include performances for the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music in London and as Organist for Evensong at the Hooglandsekerk in Leiden (The Netherlands). During Summer 2023, he gave the opening concert at Himmerod Abbey’s ‘Orgelsommer’ in Germany and in 2018, deputised for several shows as ‘Keyboard 2’ for the UK tour of ‘Miss Saigon’ the musical as they performed at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford and the Theatre Royals in Plymouth and Norwich.
His recital appearances include Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Canterbury, St Paul’s and both Liverpool Cathedrals. He has also played in Paris, The Netherlands, Budapest, Brussels, Germany and Northern Ireland. In February 2020, he had his debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, playing the organ for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
In 2015, Martyn graduated with a first class Bachelor of Music degree from London’s Royal College of Music, and completed his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO) and Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) diplomas in Organ Performance in 2023 and 2011 respectively. Martyn has appeared live on BBC Radios 3 and 4 and has recorded for Novello, Boosey & Hawkes and for choral CDs with Priory, Delphian and Signum records.
As a composer, Martyn has written several choral works as well as pieces for organ, all of which have received enthusiastic praise. His works have been premiered at St James’s Palace, Exeter University, the Royal College of Music, Highgate School and in The Netherlands. His music has also been performed in The King’s Chapel of the Savoy, St. Magnus-the-Martyr, London and the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.
Bjørn Sagstad is Artistic Director of the Military Wind Bands in Norway, professor at the Academy of Music (FHNW) in Basel Switzerland and an associate Professor at the University of Bergen (Grieg Academy of Music).
Bjørn undertook his formal training at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Grieg Academy of Music in Norway and the University of Tromsø and Trondheim/NTNU in Norway. He has worked with symphony orchestras in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Hong Kong and the USA and with all the professional military wind ensembles in Scandinavia along with the Royal Marine Band in Holland and the Royal Marines in Portsmouth UK. He was Chief Conductor of several orchestras and wind ensembles including the Prinsen Brass Ensemble (Denmark), the Kristiansund Symphony Orchestra and Opera (Norway), the Norwegian Navy Band and the Kristiansund Wind Ensemble.
He is a sort-after guest conductor and conducting lecturer giving masterclasses all over the world. His repertoire is extensive and includes orchestral, choral, music theatre, opera and ballet as well as specialising in contemporary music.
He has made several recordings and been responsible for the premieres of a large number of new works. Bjørn is currently directing a five-year mentoring programme for young conductors sponsored by Dextra Musica and the Norwegian Band Federation.
Malcolm Singer composer, conductor and teacher, was Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School for 19 years and currently teaches Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He read music at Magdalene College, Cambridge before studying in Europe with both Nadia Boulanger and Gyorgy Ligeti. He was later awarded a Harkness Fellowship, spending two years at Stanford University, California.
Malcolm has many works to his name and is particularly known for his choral music and his pieces for young people. His many commissioners have included the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Singers and a piece for Lord Yehudi Menuhin which was premièred in the Royal Albert Hall.
London Landscapes, commissioned by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra was performed by the orchestra in Ohio in the autumn of 2024 and Clarion Call for Wind Ensemble (first heard at Sherborne) was performed by the University of Dayton Wind Ensemble. A new piano piece was premièred by Thomas Beijer at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam in 2025.
David Smith is an experienced, prize-winning and sought after accompanist having performed in many important venues including the Wigmore Hall and Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He has featured on BBC Radio 3 and in festivals which include Aix-en-Provence and Heidelberg partnering some of today’s exceptional singers and instrumentalists.
He studied at both the Royal College and Royal Academy of Music and is now linked variously as both accompanist and coach at both of those conservatoires as well as Trinity College of Music. In addition, he works as a freelance repetiteur and pianist at amongst others, the Royal Opera House, Opera Holland Park and Dorset Opera.
Timothy Uglow is a versatile, dynamic and inspiring conductor, organist and harpsichordist whose work has been heard on all UK classical radio stations and beyond. He is the Director of Music at Worksop College and North Notts Chamber Choir, having previously been Organ Scholar at Salisbury Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He has numerous CD recordings to his name: early recordings date back to his time as a chorister at Wells Cathedral, whilst in more recent ones he features as organist or conductor.
As an organist, he has performed as a soloist in many of the UK’s leading cathedrals and concert halls and he brings to the summer school a wealth of experience working with both amateur and professional choirs.
Stephen Varcoe was for many years a leading international baritone soloist, with a wide repertoire ranging from the Baroque to Contemporary music. Among his more than 150 recordings are works by Purcell, Handel and Bach with the John Elliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir; Haydn and Beethoven Masses with Richard Hickox and a large number of songs with piano. These include Schubert, Fauré, Chabrier and Hahn with Graham Johnson, Parry, Stanford and Finzi with Clifford Benson and Grainger with Penny Thwaites.
Since retiring as a performer, Stephen has taught notably at the Royal College of Music where he directs song classes and coaches individual students. This and his Doctorate in Performance make him ideally suited to teach at Sherborne Summer School where he has been now for several years.
Alongside his teaching career, Matthew Wright is regularly engaged as an Organist, holding positions as Director of Music at St Wilfred’s Church, Cantley as well as Organist at Worksop College and Musician in Residence at Ranby House School. His responsibilities take him across the country for services and recitals at many of the major cathedrals. He also plays regularly for a number of choral societies in the region. Matthew started his formal training as an Organ Scholar at Doncaster Minster under the direction of Joseph Sentence, Dr Francis Jackson and Martin How. Matthew continues his professional studies with Gareth Green.
Prior to his career as an Organist, Matthew trained as an Opera Singer at both Birmingham Conservatoire and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Matthew made his professional debut with Glyndebourne in 2011, working with notable directors including Sir David McVicar. What followed was an international career as a freelance singer with companies including Wexford Festival Opera, Buxton Festival Opera, Raymond Gubbay, Bergen National Opera and orchestras such as the CBSO and London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Notable TV and radio credits include The Office the Opera where Matthew worked closely with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to recreate the character of David Brent for their 2009 Comic Relief sketch and Lads in their Hundreds, a collection of songs curated by Ian Burnside premiered on In Tune with Sean Rafferty for BBC Radio Three.
Matthew works regularly as a workshop leader with charitable organisations such as VoiceChoice, Streetwise Opera and Singing Squad who work in the community and in schools; demonstrating techniques employed in singing and performance which act as a highly effective model for learning and personal development.
Agata Zając is one of the most distinguished young Polish conductors in the fields of classical music. She began her musical journey as a violinist before completing her conducting studies at the Poznań Academy of Music. Upon graduating in 2020, she was appointed Resident Conductor with both the Toruń Symphony Orchestra and the Sudeten Philharmonic in Poland.
Following these early engagements, Agata quickly garnered international recognition. She was subsequently selected for prestigious positions including Mills Williams Junior Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Assistant Conductor to Ludovic Morlot at the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and Conducting Fellow with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Hamburg.
Now based in the UK, Agata maintains a vibrant international career as a guest conductor. Her recent engagements include performances with renowned ensembles such as The Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Britten Sinfonia, Grazer Philharmoniker, Orchestre national de Metz, Orchestre de Picardie, Malmö Opera, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Athens Philharmonia, as well as leading Polish orchestras including NOSPR in Katowice, Szczecin Philharmonic, Poznań Philharmonic, and Opole Philharmonic.
She has participated in numerous high-level conducting masterclasses, studying with celebrated maestros including Paavo Järvi, Jorma Panula, Johannes Schlaefli, Mark Heron, Antony Hermus, Marin Alsop, and Peter Eötvös. In 2023, she was selected as a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, working under the guidance of Andris Nelsons, Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her previous training also includes the Tonhalle Conductors’ Academy (2022), Gstaad Conducting Academy (2021), and NOSPR Conducting Academy (2021).
Agata has stood out in several international competitions. She won 2nd Prize and the Audience Vote at the 2023 Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition. She also received special distinctions at the Malta International Conducting Masterclass and Competition (2018) and the International Conducting Competition Città di Brescia (2021). Her achievements have been recognized through a scholarship awarded by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and she holds the title of Associate Member of the Royal Northern College of Music.
