I am a trumpet player and creative project manager/producer based in London.  I have performed in venues across the UK and Europe including the Royal Albert Hall, Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London’s West End, Royal Northern College of Music, Stravinsky Hall (Montreux), and Dobris Castle (Prague) among others. I enjoy working and performing with a variety of groups, and I am determined to help make music-making accessible and enjoyable for all.

I am a passionate advocate for increasing participation in music-making and music education. I am currently a project co-ordinator for Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance for their projects for children and young people.  I work alongside numerous partners including Tomorrow’s Warriors, who were name-dropped by Ezra Collective when they received the Mercury Prize in 2023.   I also co-ordinate a ‘Jazz on Tour’ schools programme and a ‘Musical Theatre Schools Tour’ concert series. From September 2022-July 2023, I worked as the Assistant to Open Academy, the community and participation department at the Royal Academy of Music. I assisted on over 30 projects, 15 external partners and over 6000 participants, working in early-year settings, primary schools, SEND schools, hospital schools, a primary pupil referral unit and projects with people living with dementia. This was a fantastic year that really helped me to develop my project management skills and I loved engaging with people from across society in music-making practices.

I have a First-Class Honours degree in Liberal Arts with a Major in Music from King’s College London.  As part of the performance modules, I studied trumpet under Cameron Johnson at the Royal Academy of Music.  I studied a wide range of modules/subjects, from music, politics, film and media studies, and critical theory, and developed an interest in the ways culture – music and the arts – interact with politics, both nationally and internationally. I wrote a dissertation titled ‘Is that Cuban? An analysis of Cuban music and its relationship to US Modernist, Afro-Modernist and Postmodern models of cultural power’ that analysed the forging of an Afro-Caribbean identity in the US and the western world.  In particular, this forging of an Afro-Caribbean identity resulted in a series of influences and interactions in western genres. 

This research informs my musical practice.  I am the big band manager for Oxford Maqam Big Band.  I worked with Professor Martin Stokes (KCL) and Daniel Woodfield (SOAS) alongside the established Oxford Maqam ensemble to transcribe eight jazz works from 1950s Egypt.  The big band (complete with string section) performed to a sold-out Greenwood Theatre in May 2023 and in June 2024.

From August 2020-August 2022, I was President of KCL Jazz Society. I performed with the KCL Big Band and took a lead on their creative projects, including overseeing the COVID-19 pandemic.  We were the only music society at King’s College London to have free membership.  We had a membership of 200 students and organised over 50 events that engaged with over 1000 students – many of whom had never interacted with jazz music before.  We grew to become the largest music society at King’s College London.  I was eager to diversify the repertoire and the ensemble, picking more charts by female composers and performed and workshopped works by Carla Bley, Maria Schneider and Mary Lou Williams among others.  Our virtual performances throughout the COVID-19 pandemic saw a wide reach of musicians and performers participate, from all five major continents. It was a really exciting way to stay connected during the pandemic.

At KCL, I co-founded both the KCL Brass Band and a popular function band, Fleet Street Beats.  KCL Brass Band entered the Cory Online Brass Band Championships, and won five awards.  The society has now established itself as a leading music society at KCL and competes at the UniBrass competition annually.  KCL Brass Band remains one of the more diverse brass bands in the competition. Fleet Street Beats was devised as a means to encourage live music on campus.  The band allowed students to have their ‘fifteen seconds of fame’, to perform pop songs with a backing of a band.  In May 2022, the band performed a sell-out boat party along the Thames that was replicated by the following Jazz Society committee in June 2023.

I enjoy performing orchestral works.  During the 21-22 and 22-23 concert season, I was principal trumpet with the King’s College London Symphony Orchestra.  We toured Prague in June 2022 and we toured Venice in June 2023. We performed works by Brahms, Dvorak, Wagner and Coleridge-Taylor among others. One of my favourite pieces was workshopping a work by William Alwyn titled ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Part 1’. This was part of a research project by Dr Joseph Fort and concluded in the first performance of the work for choir and orchestra. 

I was a member of Lions Youth Brass from 2010-2019, and their soprano cornet soloist from 2017-2019.  In April 2019, the band represented England in the Premier section of the European Youth Brass Band Championships, and was awarded fifth place.   I have worked closely with Foden’s Brass Band (National Brass Band Champions 2018, 2021,2022 and British Open Champions 2023). In 2018, I performed Tico Tico with Mark Wilkinson, Principal cornet of Foden’s, and performed as a guest soloist in ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ in 2019.

I was lead trumpet of the Sandbach School Big Band (MD John Barber, principal trombone of Foden’s Band) and the Love Music Trust Big Band. During this time, I was fortunate to perform with many world-leading musicians including trumpet player, Allen Vizutti, trumpet player Mike Lovatt, trumpet player John Wallace, singer Matthew Ford, saxophonist Simon Willescroft, clarinettist Amy Roberts, saxophonist Andy Scott, Latin ensemble Apitos and percussionist Anthony Kerr. 

From 2013-2019, I was taught by Tom Hancock (MD Audley Brass Band). I also received regular tuition from Natsumi McDonald (former principal Baritone Horn of Foden’s Brass Band) from 2015-2019.  In 2017 and 2018, I was accepted onto the Love Music Trust/RNCM G&T scheme following two successful auditions.  I received tuition from Dr David Thornton (2017) and Dr John Miller (2018).