I was supposed to play the cello - my family has camcorder footage of my mother introducing me to that instrument at the age of two! However, when I was six, and the time came to pick an instrument in school, I chose the violin.

​

In my school years and into my teens, I played in many of the youth ensembles that East Sussex Music Service had to offer. In 2012, I gained a place in the county's top two youth ensembles, the East Sussex String Chamber Orchestra (directed by Christopher Hirons) and the East Sussex Youth Orchestra (conducted by Colin Metters). This gave me a very strong grounding in orchestral playing which I further honed at Trinity Laban Conservatoire.

          At Trinity, the violin was my second study, and I was taught by Gillian Findley and then by John Crawford. I was priveleged to play in orchestral projects alongside my friends who were first study string players, resulting in many memorable performances under prestigious conductors, including Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique under the baton of Ewa Strusinska at Cadogan Hall, and orchestral workshops of Copland's Appalachian Spring with Jonathan Mann.

​

I have also been very active in the performance of contemporary music and in chamber ensembles. I was a founding member of the Silverwoods Flute and String Quartet (which is what the above picture depicts), and during our time together, we performed many works of contemporary music (including some of my own pieces).

​

The instrument I play is an early 1900s copy of a Giuseppe Pedrazzini violin.