Directory of performers.

Tall Trees Bursary Winners 2008…

01429 297019 07790 487 068 Bramwyn, 41 Lawson Road, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool TS25 1AD	Alison Gill – Pianist and Accompanist Alison Frances Gill, 23, is from Hartlepool and has just comleted her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where she achieved her Postgraduate Diploma in performance (specialising in Piano Accompaniment), under the guidance of Andrew West and Daniel-Ben Pienaar. Last year Alison achieved her BMus (Hons) at the University of Huddersfield , where she made her Concerto debut with the University’s Symphony Orchestra, performing Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. While studying at Huddersfield , Alison also achieved her DipABRSM and LRSM in piano performance and on completion of studies was awarded the Rodwell prize for pianist of the department. Alison has a strong interest in contemporary music and has had the opportunity to work closely with several composers while playing in the Huddersfield New Music Ensemble, for performances in the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. In 2003, Alison took the top accolade at the Hartlepool Music & Arts Festival, winning the Russ Nicholson trophy for Best Musician over all categories. She was asked to return to the event from 2004 to 2006 as the Festival’s accompanist and this year she was requested to return as an adjudicator in the final. While studying in London , Alison made her Wigmore Hall debut in 2006 that was filmed for Channel 4 and in May this year Alison was invited to take part in a performance of Satie’s 19-hour work Vexations that took place in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern.	alisonfgill@hotmail.com http://www.alisonfgill.com
penelopeappleyard@hotmail.co.uk 01740 645048 54 The Wynd, Wynyard, Billingham, Cleveland , TS22 5QE	Penelope Appleyard – Soprano Penelope studies with renowned soprano Jacquelyn Fugelle and later this year will continue her studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She has a “flexible, lyric soprano voice”, and gained a Distinction for her recent Master's Degree in Music Performance. Prior to this she gained a First-Class Honours Degree (achieving a First-Class grade for her final recital) and Distinction at Grade 8 singing. Recent solo engagements have included performances of Vivaldi's Gloria in D, Faure's Requiem and the premiere performance of Charles Matthew's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in Chichester Cathedral, with following performances in venues such as Brussels Cathedral. She also enjoys more intimate recital work, most recently having appeared in Weymouth, Dorset (as part of the South Coast Recital Network incl. radio broadcast). Recitals, including the final of the Robert Headley Music Prize, focus primarily on her specialism, and particular love of, ‘early’ repertoire, from the Elizabethan to the Classical, and English Song. She has participated in numerous vocal master classes and is grateful to have received guidance from major performers including Susan Legg, Lesley-Jane Rogers, Michael Pearce, Martin Elliot and Dame Emma Kirkby. Penny is a vocal and instrumental tutor (she is also a flautist, holding the Dip.ABRSM (Performance) and the Trinity Performer’s Certificate on this instrument) and is a published writer on the subject of vocal performance. She is grateful to Tall Trees/Platform Tees Valley, the Funtington Music Group and the South Square Trust for bursary awards towards her further training.
07862 799 873 jonathan.ainscough@alumni.manchester.ac.uk 46 Filey Road, Fallowfield, Manchester M14 6GQ	Jonathan Ainscough – Bass Having begun his singing experience as a member of the Durham County Youth Choir as a teenager, Jonathan went on to study Music at Manchester University, specialising in vocal performance and graduating in 2007 with a First Class Honours degree. Since moving to Manchester, he has sung with a variety of professional and semi-professional ensembles including the choir of Manchester Cathedral, Manchester Chamber Choir, Ad Solem (including an appearance on Songs of Praise), the RNCM Chorus (in Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony with Manchester Camerata), Gaudium (on their tour to Bavaria in 2005), Voces Cantabiles (in a one-to-a-part performance of Spem in alium for the re-opening of the Octagon Library in London) and the Coupland Consort (on Radio 4’s Daily Service). Solo engagements with these, and other, choirs have included D’Astorga’s Stabat Mater, Purcell’s Welcome to all the Pleasures and Come ye Sons of Arts, Bach’s St. John Passion, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man. Equally home on the operatic stage, Jonathan has appeared as Samuel in a production of Handel’s Saul, in various solo roles in Britten’s Paul Bunyan, and as Figaro, Don Giovanni, Papageno and Don Alfonso in staged excerpts from Mozart operas. In May 2008 he will be directing a production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Manchester Cathedral. For the last year, Jonathan has also been developing his involvement in music education: he co-runs opera workshops in Manchester secondary schools, teaches singing at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, and is working as a trainee with the Education Department of Opera North. Jonathan is very grateful to the Platform Bursary for enabling him to continue having coaching sessions with his teacher Martin Bussey.	46 Filey Road, Fallowfield, Manchester M14 6GQ
	Tom Anderson - Guitar Tom started studying the classical guitar with David Booth at the age of 15. He went on to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Mark Ashford and Mark Eden where he is currently in his fourth and final year. During his four years at the Birmingham Conservatoire Tom has participated in classes with such notable teachers and performers as Fabio Zanon, Robert Brightmore, Dale Kavanagh, Laura Young, Roland Dyens , David Tanenbaum and Pepe Romero. As well as being a soloist Tom enjoys participating in performing chamber music, being a member of a flute and guitar duo and also the Nocturne guitar quartet with whom he was a runner up in the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Prize, 2008. With the quartet Tom has performed in such venues as the Venezuelan Embassy, the Bolivar Hall (London), Symphony Hall (Birmingham), the Adrian Boult Hall (Birmingham) and the Oberste Stadtkirche (Iserlohn, Germany) 07891 732 345 86 Eastwood Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham B12 9NB tom_dote@hotmail.com
	Andrew Nunn - Oboe & Cor Anglais Andrew is 20 and currently in 2^nd year of a four year BMus course at the RSAMD. There he is a principal study oboist, second study cor anglais player and is also a conductor of a female chamber choir “Les Sirenes”. Andrew completed his DipABRSM performance diploma in 2005. Recently Andrew was awarded the cor anglais position in the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland where he will undertake a course in Summer 2008. In the first week of the Easter Holidays, Andrew performed across Scotland playing cor anglais with “Camerata” the alumni chamber orchestra for NYOS, where places are prestigious. However Andrew never forgets his roots and the work of staff of the Tees Valley Youth Choir and Tees Valley Youth Orchestra; Andrew spent many enjoyable years performing with both ensembles. andrewnunn@hotmail.co.uk
	Sanaz Lavasani - Soprano Sanaz Lavasani, a soprano from the Tees Valley, is now in her third year at the Guildhall school of Music and Drama. Before moving to London, Sanaz had been very much involved in music in the north of England. She was a member of the Tees Valley Youth Choir from the age of 13 and travelled with them in Belgium and Paris and also performed with them in the Albert Hall and numerous times in the Queen Elizabeth Hall as well as performing in the Dolphin Centre for the Butterwick Hospice. When Sanaz was a member of Stagecoach Yarm, she was entered into the Young Soprano of the year competition which she went on to win. Other awards include the Orange Music Competition and the Cleveland Top Spot Competition. Sanaz was also a member of the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School in Manchester which she attended every Saturday. Sanaz has appeared on Channel Four as part of the South Bank Show with Egglescliffe College, and also on Howard Goodall’s ‘How Music Works’ programmes. She also was part of the cast for the première of Howard Goodall's new musical A Winter’s Tale in which she played one of the lead roles. As well as having a passion for Opera, Sanaz also enjoys performing other styles of music such as musicals and also art songs such as those by Fauré and German Lieder. She hopes to have a very rich musical career, giving her the chance to experience all styles of music.	02070 330 152 07875 013 959 sanaz_lavasani@yahoo.co.uk Flat 30, Gainsborough Studios South, 1 Poole Street, London N1 5EE
	Claire McIntyre – Trombone & Sackbut Originally from Stockton-on-Tees, Claire McIntyre studied at the University of Birmingham, where she received tuition on trombone and sackbut from David Purser, Tony Howe and Sue Addison. Since graduating with honours in 2004, Claire has performed with various ensembles including The Sixteen, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, Ex Cathedra, The London Handel Orchestra, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, I Fagiolini, The King’s Consort and The Gabrieli Consort and Players. She has also played at The Globe Theatre, London. Claire was a semi-finalist in the 2006 International Early Brass Competition in Toulouse, and is currently studying with Charles Toet at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland.	45 Grosvenor Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 7AE Claragraben 144, 4057 Basel, Switzerland +44 7748 948129 +41 612 222318 claire.mcintyre@live.com

Image currently unavailable. Tel: 01325 460270	Clare Gale – Violin Soloist, and member of ‘Partita’ – String Quartet Clare, currently a fourth year RNCM undergraduate, started playing the violin at the age of five, carrying on a family tradition spanning four generations. Sher has played, and led, many north-east ensembles including Durham County Youth Orchestra, Northern Junior Philharmonic Orchestra, North Yorkshire Schools Symphony Orchestra and the award winning Young Sinfonia. Current;ly Clare studies with Thomas Kemp, previous tutors include Thelma Handy (Leader RLPO), Stece Wilkie, Iona Brown and Bradley Creswick. She has performed masterclasses with Allegri String Quartet, members of Boston Symphony Orchestra and violinists Leland Chen and Thomas Zehetmair. At 14 Clare made her solo debut, performing Mozart Violin Concerto in G Major, with Darlington Orchestra. She has performed solos with Darlington and Dales Youth Orchestra and has toured Europe with the European Vacation Chamber Orchestra performing Vivaldi Summer Concerto. Clare’s Northeast quartet, ‘Partita’, performs regularly across the North to a diverse audience including Royalty and they have also toured the UK as backing for the prog-rock band, Mostly Autumn.As well as loving to perform in quartets, orchestras and as a soloist, Clare also loves working with children. She is an experienced instrumental teacher and in addition she frequently takes interactive music education workshops and short term projects to primary-school children in the Manchester region. Clare is a keen supporter of the Handicapped Children’s Pilgrimage Trust (H.C.P.T). Her involvement with the charty involves taking and being a full time carer for disabled children on a week long, all expenses paid (for the children only) holiday to Lourdes in France every Easter. She is involved in many fundraising events for the H.C.P.T, the biggest so far being a 50K walk from Bazet to Lourdes in December 2008.
Gareth Proctor - Guitar
Matthew Robinson - Guitar
Anna Huntley – Mezzo Soprano
Samantha Ward – Clarinet/Woodwind
Sam Kennedy - Violin

previous winners…
Sebastian Karsted - Guitar
Steven Proctor - Violin
Philip Curtis - Tenor
Stephen Stockton – Double Bass
more performers…
Marie Hopkins - Flautist	Marie Hopkins, 22, studies with Rachel Jeffers (of the BBC Concert Orchestra and Philharmonia.) Prior to this she has studied under Judith Mellor, Brian Stewart and Alan Lockwood. Marie is a recent graduate of the University of Huddersfield where she studied Music and often took the role of principal flute and piccolo in both the Orchestra and Wind Orchestra. She has played in the National Wind Chamber Orchestra, toured with the VACO, as well as being appointed principal flute in the Orchestra for the EYSM course. In addition to solo recitals, Marie currently plays in the Richmond Orchestra, the Teesside Symphony Orchestra and the Teesside Big Band, and is regularly hired to play for musicals. Recent shows have included the Threpenny Opera, Guys and Dolls, Westside Story and Whistle Down the Wind with the National Youth Music Theatre in the Greenwich Theatre, London. Although a principal study Flautist (incl. piccolo, alto and bass flutes) Marie is also a well established Clarinettist, Saxophonist, and double bassist. Proficient on most common members of the flute family, soon to include the baroque flute also, Marie is available freelance to join ensembles as a specialist in this capacity. In addition to her Honours Degree, Marie holds the ATCL in performance and distinction at Grade 8, and is currently training in arts administration with Platform to supplement her performing and teaching.
Rebecca Topping – Pianist
Christine Purvis - Pianist
Emily Smith - Soprano
Katie Anderson
Nikki Lycett