Biographies of the Orchestral Staff
Michael Whight - Conductor and Woodwind Coach
Michael has appeared as soloist with the Philharmonia conducted by Leonard Slatkin in the UK and abroad, and recorded Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto with Robert Craft. Two performances of John Adams’ concerto ‘Gnarly Buttons’ in San Francisco, conducted by Kent Nagano and supervised by the composer, met with rave reviews. With Northern Sinfonia he played the Nielsen Concerto at the Brinkburn Festival, conducted by Paul McCreech and gave two performances of Weber’s second concerto. As part of the “Late Mix” series he performed Henze’s Le Miracle de la Rose and “ New York Counterpoint “ by Steve Reich.This year Michael recorded the Mozart Concerto as soloist/director with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which was hailed as one of the finest available recordings by International Record Review. He appeared at the Bath International Festival in 2005 with London Sinfonietta in a performance of Gnarly Buttons.
In the field of chamber music Michael has worked with the Lindsay’s, the Medici String Quartet, the Schidlof String 
Quartet, the Razoumovsky Ensemble, the Lyric String Quartet, Gidon Kremer and friends, Robert Cohen and Barry Douglas as well as taking part in recordings of the complete wind chamber music of Richard Strauss with London Winds for Hyperion and with the Wind Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for Teldec. He appeared this year at the Bordeaux Festival with the Razoumovsky Ensemble and the Cernier Festival.
Michael has recorded for the BBC including works by Steve Reich, Martin Butler, Alban Berg, John Ireland and Arnold Bax. He was the first British winner of the International Clarinet Congress Competition and also won the Royal Overseas League Competition (woodwind and brass). On the other side of the fence, he regularly helps to judge the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year Award.
Michael was invited to play in the 2003 World Orchestra for Peace, an orchestra made from leading musicians from the world’s major orchestras in St Petersburg and Moscow. He is on the staff of the Canton International Summer Music Academy at the invitation of Charles Dutoit and is principal clarinettist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor of Clarinet at Trinity College of Music.
Charlotte Self - Conductor
Studying conducting under Gregory Rose and Peter Stark led Charlotte to hold the position of Assistant Musical Director with National Youth Music Theatre and Youth Music Theatre: UK for several years. During this time she toured both the UK and Japan, performed in many festivals, including the Edinburgh festival, performed on BBC Radio and helped devise new works. She has also worked as a musical director and repetiteur for many amateur dramatics groups.
Charlotte gained her Bachelor of Music with Honours degree at Trinity College of Music in 2004 where she then won a scholarship to continue her studies at postgraduate level for which she was awarded a distinction in her Post-graduate Diploma.
As a clarinettist Charlotte plays regularly with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Her work with these orchestras has taken her on tours to Holland and America and led to performances at prestigious venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Sadler’s Wells and Madison Square Gardens.
Concerto performances include Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto at Blackheath Halls and Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto in the Royal Naval Chapel, Greenwich, conducted by Diego Masson. She has also appeared at the Purcell Room and has given recitals at music clubs around the UK.
Janice Graham - Violin Coach
Janice Graham is one of the UK’s most distinguished and respected violinists of her generation; her achievements and awards as soloist and leader of major orchestras within the UK mark out a unique position and national profile.
Early musical influences came from her family and from teachers Frederick Grinke, Purcell School, David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and New York Philharmonic’s concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow at the Juilliard School in New York City, USA. It was during these years that her solo career was given the backing of awards such as the Gold Medal of the LSO/Shell competition which subsequently led to concerto appearances at the Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican, and other major London concert venues. Janice’s solo work elsewhere in the UK has covered major venues such as Symphony Hall Birmingham, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, and St David’s Hall Cardiff, as well as numerous solo broadcasts for BBCR3, and recordings on ASV and EMI Records.
As orchestral leader Janice has worked with the world’s greatest conductors including Solti, Davis, Tilson Thomas, Previn and Rostropovich; as such she is a sought after guest leader of all the major UK opera and symphony orchestras including London Symphony Orchestra where she was Asst Leader, Covent Garden, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and many of the top regional orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales where she was Leader for seven years. Janice currently holds the position of leader with the Orchestra of the English National Opera.
Given her dynamic playing profile, Janice’s work embraces many other areas from contemporary work with London Sinfonietta to chamber work with the Nash Ensemble, and includes leading many film soundtracks such as Braveheart and Notting Hill; she is often asked to perform notable solo work from film scores with the conductor/composers such as John Williams and Nigel Hess.
In 2005 Janice was appointed Artistic Director of English Sinfonia, one of the earliest established chamber orchestras in the UK, and with whom she will build a dynamic new artistic product reflective of her natural musicianship and unique range of musical experiences.
Tim Gill - Cello Coach
Tim Gill began to play the cello at the age of eight, subsequently studying with Dimitry Markevitch in Paris, Christopher Bunting at Cambridge and David Strange at the Royal Academy. In 1989-90 Tim was resident artist at the Banff Centre, Canada, where, as a result of winning the Banff concerto competition, he was invited to play the Elgar concerto with the Calgary Philharmonic and later to tour Canada as a recitalist.
His Purcell Room debut in 1990 was met with critical acclaim and resulted in an invitation from the Park Lane Group to give the Priaulx Rainier recital the following year. Tim has since given recitals and played concertos throughout the UK, Europe and India. In 1995 he recorded Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano for Dutch radio with Marietta Petkova, and in 1996 he gave his Wigmore Hall debut and released two CDs on the Guild label with pianist Fali Pavri.
Tim is currently principal cellist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta . He is also much in demand as a soloist and chamber musician.
“Timothy Gill and Fali Pavri elicit a searing lyricism bringing tremendous sense of direction to the melodic invention which can so easily meander in lesser hands.” Classic CD
Brian Thomson - Brass Coach
Brian began playing cornet in brass bands at the age of 10, taking up the trumpet later in high school. Further studies include a Bachelor of Music degree at Goldsmiths College, University of London, followed by a postgraduate Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. During this period he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra for two years.
From 1993-6 Brian was principal trumpet of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, during which time he was professor of trumpet at the Hong Kong Institute of Arts. After returning, Brian was appointed co-principal trumpet with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998.
Solo performances include the Haydn, Hummel and Vivaldi double concertos and Shostakovich`s Concerto for Piano and Trumpet. Brian also freelances with all the orchestras of London and others such as the Orchestra L'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In early 2005, Brian was promoted to principal trumpet with the RPO. In his youth, Brian raced motorbikes.