Simon Goff, violin at the Birmingham Conservatoire

This year in Birmingham has been a very productive year. As well as things going well at college and my violin playing coming on well, I have begun to make lots of useful contacts and extend my playing outside of college. I have always had a footing in the ‘band’ world of playing and I have previously found this quite a separate thing from my classical music world, however this year I have begun to merge these two aspects into my musical career. Read more …

Helena Smart, violin

Our first Peter Chase Award recipient, Helena graduated from the RNCM in 2002. In London she plays with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the London Mozart Players as well as leading her Trio on Saga Cruises. Now married to cellist Liandro Silvera, Helena is expecting their first child (due November 2011).

Charlotte Broadbent, singing

Charlotte has finished her Musical Theatre degree at the University of East Anglia and is now teaching singing in Darlington. She has just got back from China where she did some gigging with a band (quite a different experience!) But she had an incredible time and the experience really opened her eyes to new styles of performance that she hadn’t ventured into before. She did a project with the National Youth Theatre over the summer, writing and performing the music for a production called S’warm.

Charlotte is working hard and saving up to move down to London ( – where the action is!) and hopefully auditioning for the Carl Rosa Opera Company after working with them last year.

Andrew Turner

French Horn