Vocal and instrumental tutors
The below list details the peripatetic vocal and instrumental tutors. To contact a tutor, please email dmm@surrey.ac.uk. with your enquiry.
Vocal and instrumental tutors
Caroline has been described as a violinist of 'poetic intensity' (Music and Musicians), 'rapt beauty and virtuosic distinction' (Gramophone) and 'a formidable soloist combining beauty of sound with infallible articulation' (La Nacion, Buenos Aires). As the violinist with the chamber ensembles Lontano, she has given recitals throughout the world and gave the Taiwanese premiere of Quartet for the End of Time.
As a period violinist she has appeared as guest leader with The English Concert, Florilegium, The Army of Generals and the Hanover Band, in addition to being principal violin of The Band of Instruments and the Martlet Ensemble in her home town of Oxford. Often to be heard on BBC Radio 3 and numerous other European radio stations, she also participated in the series “Women in Music” for Channel 4, and in a series about Beethoven for the BBC. Recent highlights have included Hummel’s arrangement of the Eroica symphony for piano quartet, with pianist David Owen Norris.
She has had the privilege of taking part in a great many premiere performances and of working with the foremost composers of our day. Her extensive discography ranges from 17th century Italian violin sonatas to numerous contemporary works, via such things as an alternative Four Seasons by Antonio Guido (Divine Art) and the first recordings of early 20th century piano trios for the British Music Society. She enjoys associations at King’s College, London and the universities of Oxford, Southampton and Surrey, and has worked with students all over Britain, including at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, London. She works at the Paris Conservatoire, and teaches abroad in Italy, Taiwan, Argentina, Macedonia and MIT in Boston.
Born in Dublin, David Burrowes sang as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. Later, he was a choral scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read music. He has played as guest principal cello with the London Mozart Players and City of London Sinfonia, as well as performing extensively with the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras.
He held the post of Principal Cello in the London production of The Phantom of the Opera from 1998- 2020.
David is the cellist of the Cirrus String Quartet: www.cirrusstringquartet.com
He has performed in chamber concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room with Cirrus and Primavera, and has appeared on a considerable number of chamber CDs with both groups.
David has taught at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Guildhall School. He currently holds a number of teaching posts in London, Guildford and Chelmsford.
He plays on a cello made by Thomas Kennedy in London in 1801.
Debbie studied flute at the Royal College of Music with both Graham Mayger and Edward Walker. Since leaving in 1976, she has pursued a varied freelance playing and teacher career. She is a member of the City of London Sinfonia and is a regular extra for several orchestras including the Royal Opera House.
During the 1980s she held the flute chair for the Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. Debbie has taught at the University of Surrey since 2002. Prior to this appointment, she taught at Colchester Institute for six years and the Junior Department of the Guildhall School of Music for seven years. In 2015 Debbie qualified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique that not only helps students with postural problems but is greatly beneficial for performance anxiety.
Sarah's work as a trumpeter and saxophonist is diverse and wholly unique. Performances have included working with the Mercury award winning band, Elbow, Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto at the Southbank, London to the UK premiere of Stockhausen’s Abduction for saxophone and electronics.
Performing regularly on a range of instruments Sarah has appeared with Sting on his tour of Europe and DVD, On a Winters Night. She also opened singer Seal's Australian and European tours with a trumpet solo to audiences of 16,000. Past solo appearances include performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra with Christopher Warren-Green, concertos with RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Kwa Zulu Natal Philharmonic in South Africa with Eno Shao, and a performance of Ibert’s Saxophone Concertino with the UK’s critically acclaimed Aurora Orchestra.
Sarah won both the Royal Over-Seas League Competition Main Solo Award for Woodwind and Brass and the Making Music Award for Young Concert Artists in 2000. These accolades brought Sarah into the limelight, leading to broadcasts on BBC Radio 2, Classic FM and BBC Radio 3’s, 'In Tune'.
Paul is responsible for laying down the low frequencies of Nik Kershaw’s band. In 1993, he was voted Best New Musician by the British Music Association and has since established himself as one of the UK's foremost studio bassists and active session musician.
Paul started his playing career comparatively late, having had no formal music training. He started playing bass in a gospel church at the age of 18 and shortly after this he went on to study music in the US and is now an honors graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston USA, and B.I.T, Musicians Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, California.
He received his first break in 1991, working with soul diva Lisa Stansfield and Gabrielle. Shortly after this, he went on to work with Chris Rea and played alongside Jools Holland as part of the Princes Trust Rock School. Later in the autumn of 1993, he started playing bass for Chris Norman, the former lead singer of Smokie. 1994 brought relocation to London to head up to the Academy of Contemporary Music’s bass school. Paul still found time in his busy schedule of full-time courses at the Academy to lecture live performance workshops and he is also a contributor for Guitar Techniques & Bass Guitar Magazine.
Paul has been touring and working as a music director and session musician with artists including:
- 5Star
- A1
- Altered Image
- Blazing Squad
- BoneyM
- Chris Norman
- Chris Rea
- Clarksville
- Dane Bowers
- Donny and Marie Osmond
- Dside
- Eban Brown
- Enrique
- Gabrielle
- George McCrae
- George Michael
- Geri Halliwell
- Jason Donovan
- Liberty X
- Lisa Stansfield
- Mary J Blige
- Midge Ure
- Nik Kershaw
- Odyssey
- Paul Young
- Phix
- Rachel Stevens
- Rose Royce
- Simply Red
- Sister Sledge
- Sophie Ellis Bexter
- T’Pau
- Tavares
- The DireStraits Experience
- The Lighthouse Family
- Toyah
- Westlife.
Caroline graduated from Trinity College of Music in 1989, and then completed two post-graduate years at The Royal College of Music. She was awarded the William Webster prize for Orchestral Double Bass playing and the Eugene Cruft prize for solo performance.
Caroline is a busy freelance Double Bass player, working frequently for many London orchestras and performing in the West End. She is Principal Bass for English Touring Opera and Sub Principal Bass at the English Symphony Orchestra. She regularly performs in summer Opera Festivals including Opera Holland Park, Grange Park and Garsington. Caroline is an enthusiastic teacher and enjoys teaching students of all ages. She currently teaches at St. Catherine’s School, Christ’s Hospital, Cranleigh School, The Royal Grammar School, and the University of Surrey.
Jenny spent many years as the vocalist of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, she toured extensively with them in the UK and abroad, and appeared several times at Ronnie Scotts where she is featured on many of their live albums including Cottoning on, In Control, and A View From The Hill. She is also featured on the compilation album Nite at Ronnies. She recorded the main soundtrack for the film The Brylcreem Boys, starring Gabriel Byrne, and Jean Butler, and sang at the Cannes film festival, where it was premiered, she also sang on the soundtrack of the highly acclaimed James Ellroy film L.A. Sheriffs Homicide
Jenny filmed in Belfast playing the part of Mrs Croucher in the Spike Milligan film Pukoon, starring Elliot Gould, and narrated by Sir Richard Attenborough. Other TV credits include TFI Friday, BBC Hall of Fame, CH4 comedy series Barking, and BBC Looking Good, she has also done voice-overs for programs such as BBC's Ballykissangel.
Tom studied saxophone with Kyle Horch at the Royal College of Music, graduating with a first class Bachelor of Music degree in 2004. He then studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the Master of Music jazz course, graduating with merit in 2005.
As a freelance saxophonist, Tom has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Aurora Orchestra and English Touring Opera. As a jazz musician, Tom has performed and recorded with John Taylor, the James Taylor Quartet and Mike Outram amongst others.
Roy was educated at Dauntsey’s School, going on to study music at Goldsmith’s College, and singing under Alexander Oliver, William McAlpine and Rudolf Piernay at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After a career in teaching, Roy became a professional singer in 1998, joining the world famous choir of St Paul’s Cathedral the following year. In addition to the broadcasts, concerts, special events and daily services there, Roy sang with a number of Britain’s best chamber choirs and vocal ensembles, including the Clerks, the BBC Singers, Exaudi, Ex Cathedra, Tenebrae, the Gabrieli Consort and the King’s Consort.
More recently, he has been developing a career as a conductor. In addition to his own choirs Hart Voices (Fleet) and The Chantry Singers (Guildford), he is a regular guest conductor of a number of other groups including the Waverley Singers. He is also an occasional lecturer, editor, arranger and composer. His choral arrangements have been performed by the award-winning folk group Ninebarrow and also by the choir of the United States Navy Band, whilst his compositions have been performed by the choirs of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, Salisbury Cathedral School and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Roy has sung as a soloist with a number of UK-leading orchestras including the City of London Sinfonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Mozart Players. In addition to performances in London’s major concert venues, his work has taken him all over the country and throughout Europe as well as to Israel and the States. He has appeared on many recordings, film soundtracks and radio and television broadcasts, both at home and abroad.
After two years of training at the prestigious Purcell School of Music, Joe was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. Having graduated with First Class Honours, he continued his studies for a Masters in Performance, receiving a Distinction as an Ian Evans Lombe and Mary Dobson Scholar.
Joe performs all over the UK and abroad, in a huge array of musical contexts; ranging from work as a contemporary solo artist, to that of an orchestral, chamber, west-end and session musician.
He appears frequently with numerous ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra, often featuring on national radio and television. He has also been invited to feature as Guest Principal Percussionist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Other projects have seen him collaborate on stage, and/or in the recording studio, with internationally renowned artists such as Stormzy, Jacob Collier, Stewart Copeland (The Police), Kuljit Bhamra and Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
From early on in her career Margaret has worked as a piano accompanist, playing for some of the first BBC Young Musician of the Year competitions. As a music student at Brasenose College (Oxford) she specialised in piano performance and as organ exhibitioner, directed the chapel choir and played for college services and concerts. She graduated with first class honours before postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music. She has pursued a varied career, teaching piano in numerous school and university music departments, and accompanying young musicians in competitions, auditions and recitals.
Frequently posted abroad with her husband's work in the Foreign Office, Margaret has taught in the british schools of Athens, Brussels and Bratislava. She has also performed with renowned soloists from Greece, Turkey and central Europe, giving recitals and masterclasses in the conservatoires and festival series of Ankara, Bratislava and Athens. Abroad, she worked as musical director for many shows, pantomimes, cabarets and revues.
Margaret has recorded a number of CDs the earliest of which, with The Holywell Ensemble, was included in the BBC Music magazine's top 50 CDs of the year. She has premiered and recorded specially commissioned works, and with The Holywell Ensemble she has performed at major venues including London's South Bank and the Wigmore Hall. She has toured for the British Council and recorded for the ABRSM graded examinations.
Jennifer Snapes has taught undergraduates and postgraduates at Surrey University since 2013. She is a visiting singing teacher at Wellington College, Berkshire and was for many years a teacher-in-residence for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and vocal coach to various cathedral girls’ and boys’ choirs (working with boys' changing voices).
While Jennifer's professional performing experience is mainly in classical and choral music, she also loves working on opera and music theatre repertoire, and her background as a linguist (studying modern languages at Cambridge) gives her a particular interest in the communication of song texts. Following her choral scholarship at Clare College, Cambridge, Jennifer studied on the ENO Baylis course The Knack, and then went on to complete a post-graduate vocal diploma with distinction at Trinity College of Music. Prior to having her son, she was an ad hoc soprano with the BBC Singers and worked with other UK-based vocal ensembles. She has been a member of the professional choir of All Saints Margaret Street in London since 2004, which now broadcasts sung services online around the world every Sunday.
Jennifer regularly attends courses on the latest developments in vocal pedagogy, and her detailed knowledge of how the voice works, along with her positive and encouraging teaching style, help her to engage with each student to find an individual path to improved vocal technique, musical expression and confidence in performing.
Paul Thomas is an experienced teacher and performer in many styles of guitar.
After initially taking up the electric guitar he studied classical guitar at the London College of Music and Trinity College of Music.
Paul was a founder member of the Tetra guitar quartet with whom he recorded and toured extensively. He has been a regular performer in London and the UK as both a blues/jazz guitarist and classical guitarist. Paul is currently recording and performing with the mezzo soprano Lita Manners and with his own blues band.
UK based drummer Darby Todd can be found playing many styles of music with many artists, Darby adds musicality and excitement to any project he works with. His drum credits include, The Darkness, Martin Barre, Alan Price, Gary Moore, Kee Marcello (Europe), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow), Carl Verheyen, Robert Plant, Disney's The Lion King, Robben Ford, Paul Gilbert and many others. Darby is as comfortable playing jazz in a small jazz club as he is playing rock in an arena.
When not touring Darby can found in his London based studio remote recording for artists and bands around the world as well as a limited amount of teaching.
On graduating from the Royal Academy of Music, David worked with every orchestra in London and made recordings for numerous artists including Nigel Kennedy, Placido Domingo, Sir Cliff Richard and many others. West End work has included performing in shows such as My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, Miss Saigon & many others. Film work has included appearing in the Mike Leigh film 'Topsy Turvy' and playing on the soundtrack, recording for movies and television(one of his favourites was playing on Wallace & Gromit's 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'). As well as a career as a freelance trombonist he has also been Principal Trombone at English National Opera and a member of the English Brass Ensemble.
David has travelled and performed in over 47 different countries and has had a concerto written for him by the composer David Gow which he recorded for Radio 3 with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
When not performing his time is taken up with teaching and coaching, specifically at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music, University of Surrey, Charterhouse School, Trinity School in Croydon, Lancing College, Epsom College, Reigate Grammar School and working for The National Children's Orchestra of Gt. Britain, Thames Youth Orchestra and EYSM course.
The education of young musicians has long been a passion of David’s work, combining workshops and masterclasses with in-depth narratives on brass playing. From starting a brass department at a prep school in Surrey whilst studying as a student at the RAM to leading brass education workshops for teachers to further improve their technical teaching techniques for all ages, there has always been a clear agenda of promoting brass playing instruction.
David has written a series of trombone pieces, which in a collective book, relays a formative means of demonstrating technical demands from early grades to the more advanced player in an original format. The book is published by Mucky Herbert Music in a series of ‘Journeys’ for all brass instruments.