Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Tutors and Staff (A to Z)
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Margaret Cookhorn
Contra bassoon tutor (only)
Margaret is Principal Contrabassoon and Bassoon with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Margaret joined the CBSO immediately after finishing her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. As well as regularly working with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Margaret has played with many of the leading...
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Anna Cooper
Cor Anglais Tutor
Anna Cooper studied at Chetham's School of Music, and continued her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with James Brown and Jane Marshall. Shortly after leaving Guildhall, Anna was appointed Principal Cor Anglais with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1998 Anna left the RLPO to pursue a freelance...
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Caroline Costello
Piano Tutor
Caroline hails from Coventry, growing up in a musical family which provided strong influences and regular chamber music. This also enabled all of her three siblings to have had long careers as professional classical musicians. Educated at Chetham's School of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music...
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Louise Crane
Vocal Tutor
A singing teacher at RBC for nearly twenty years, Louise studied at the Guildhall, gaining her AGSM Diploma and subsequently won awards from Clonter Opera Trust and the Peter Moores Foundation, as well as a college scholarship, to study at the Royal Northern College of Music. After a season with Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
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Prof Joe Cutler
Professor in Composition
Joe Cutler has been described as ‘writing music of quirky dancing energy and humour mingled with mystery’ (Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph). For more than 20 years, he has been a distinctive figure on the contemporary music scene, often exploring the spaces between genre. His music has been performed in over 40 countries and...
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Sarah Daniels
Piano Tutor
Sarah studied at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with John Humphreys and Philip Martin, where she gained a BMus(Hons), an MA with Distinction and won a Dennis Matthews Scholarship. Since leaving the Conservatoire, Sarah’s early career involved performing both as an accompanist and duo partner whilst also being an active...
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Ben Davies
Cello Tutor
Ben Davies was brought up and went to school in York, followed by studies at the University of Manchester and the Royal Academy of Music. He was fortunate in his teachers, Ioan Davies, Bernard Gregor-Smith and Derek Simpson, all fine quartet cellists who studied with Douglas Cameron at the Royal Academy of Music. Whilst...
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Anne Dawson
Vocal Tutor
Anne Dawson studied at the Royal Northern College of Music , Manchester (PPRNCM Dis:) after gaining a Scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. She was the winner of the John Ireland Festival Centenary Competition, the Gerald Finzi Song Award, the Prize of the City of s'Hertogenbosch - Holland, the...
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Simon de Souza
French Horn Tutor
Simon was brought up in Henley-on-Thames. He studied horn with the virtuoso Ifor James at Colchester Institute , winning several prizes for chamber music, and gaining a Cert.Mus and G.Mus (CNAA) and then undertook postgraduate studies at Trinity College of Music in London. Since graduating he has developed a busy schedule...
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Dr Siân Derry
Assistant Director of Postgraduate Studies (MA Musicology Course Director, Professional Performance - AdvPgDip Course Director)
Siân Derry is a Senior Lecturer in Music, and Assistant Director of Postgraduate Studies (MA Musicology Course Director, Professional Performance - AdvPgDip Course Director) at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She joined the Conservatoire in 2015, having previously taught at the University of Manchester. Siân completed her...