Having recently returned from my final concert with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall, I thought now would be an appropriate time to update you all on what I have been up to. Looking back over the last two years I seem to have been very busy! I have taken part in many musical activities, concerts and tours and so here are the highlights.

As Principal Horn, NYO has kept me extremely busy. In June 2007 I was privileged enough to perform Dvorak’s New World Symphony with the NYO at Glastonbury festival amidst all the rain and mud. Later that summer we played and recorded most of Vaughan Williams’s major symphonic music for a documentary on his life for channel 5, broadcast on New Year’s Day. 2008 was also an exciting time for the NYO, with performances all over the country of The Rite of Spring and Copland’s Third Symphony to name but a couple. Throughout 2009 we have performed a variety of works such as Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Respighi’s Roman Festivals all over the country, from Newcastle to London.  My final concert with the NYO was just a few weeks ago. Here we played works by Tchaikovsky, Lutoslawski and Respighi in what was one of my favourite NYO proms to date. We were conducted by Russian Maestro Vassily Petrenko who completely inspired me with his phrase, ‘Do everything in life like it’s the last thing you’ll ever do’ and it is safe to say that he will influence both my musical and non-musical life for many years to come. This prom in front of a packed RAH (about 6000 people) and a live BBC2 audience was perhaps the scariest concert I’ve done as the Respighi contained many horn solos and even a cadenza at one point, where the horn represents a hunt in the ancient forests of Rome. To say I loved it is an understatement.

I have now finished my school-life at Chetham’s and have many musical memories from my 6th form years. In lower 6th I took part in a concert tour of Norway performing solo in several churches around the country and finishing off at the prestigious Ole Bull Academy. This was a great trip as Norway is one of most beautiful countries I’ve ever visited. The final Symphony Orchestra concert of the year was with Sir Mark Elder at the Bridgewater Hall where we performed notably Strauss’s Tone poem ‘Death and Transfiguration’ which has a massive first horn part. The beginning of Upper 6th was probably the most important time of my horn playing life. Just before Christmas I had my three music college auditions and I am delighted to say that I achieved full scholarships to the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The problem was how to choose …

To celebrate the end of our times at Chetham’s, the horn department put on a special Horn concert in aid of St. Anne’s Hospice where I was a soloist in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and in Schumann’s fiendishly difficult Konzertstuck. I also performed Mozart’s Horn Quintet in the same week as part of a final solo concert there. My last orchestral concert with the Chethams Symphony Orchestra was at the Bridgewater Hall with David Hill conducting Walton’s Belshazzer’s Feast. With Prince Edward in attendance this was a great way to end my 7 years at Chetham’s School of Music.

Throughout the last 2 years I have had many other great experiences outside Chetham’s and NYO. During the summer of 2008 I took part in the Swaledale festival, something much closer to home. Here I performed the solo part in Strauss’s 1st Horn concerto with the Richmondshire orchestra. I still remember the first rehearsal having just flown in from Norway feeling extremely sleep deprived and not overly coherent! The same summer I was invited to do something very special. This was a week’s course with the Britten Pears Orchestra in Aldeburgh where we rehearsed and performed Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. I was playing 3rd horn which made a very welcome change to playing 1st and this was without a doubt the best orchestral experience I have had to date. Most of the members of the orchestra were either post-graduate, foreign, or in their final years at Music College and so I was extremely privileged to take part.

One of my biggest achievements of 2009 was gaining my LRSM in French Horn Performance. This is the second diploma of the ABRSM which I took in March (the day before my 18th birthday – luckily it wasn’t after!) and I was awarded it with distinction. During May I also had the opportunity to play with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group which is a group of musicians based in Birmingham who specialize in playing and performing modern music. This was a fantastic experience of professional life where you turn up on the day, have a look at your part over a cup of tea and then go and play it – something that I hadn’t done before. No mistakes are allowed so concentration is the key to getting it right first time.

Over the last 2 years I have been having lessons with two professional Horn players from London, Tim Jackson and Richard Watkins alongside my Chet’s teacher, Lizzie Davis. All three of them are at the top of their professions and have given me invaluable tuition, help and advice. Without them I wouldn’t be in the strong position I am now, ready to begin Music College. Starting in September I will be taking a 4 year Bmus course in French Horn Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where I will be studying with Jeff Briant, Hugh Seenan and Richard Bissill.

I would like to thank Sowerby Music society for their continuing support and hope to return to perform sometime in the near future.