Oxford 2023 – Coaches

Anthea Wood is one of the leading freelance bassoonists in the UK today and has worked with orchestras, ballet and opera companies from London to Glasgow. Anthea originally hails from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, and now lives in Dorset.

Whilst a joint Performance/Composition BMus student at Huddersfield University she worked with Stockhausen, Ligeti, MacMillan, Berio and Maxwell Davies. On completing her Postgraduate studies in Performance with William Waterhouse at the Royal Northern College of Music she began regular freelance work with Manchester Camerata and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her teaching credentials have stretched to being on the staff at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior Department, Chethams School of Music, at Napier, Lancaster and Liverpool Universities, as well as regularly coaching National Youth Orchestra GB National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and both coaching and examining at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Her love and knowledge of chamber music has seen her appear with Ensemble 360 (Music in the Round), Goldberg Ensemble, SCO and RSNO Winds amongst others. She also now runs her own annual Bassoon Course on the Isle of Raasay in Scotland.

Anthea plays on an early 8000 series Heckel bassoon made in 1938. Its previous owner was the late Manfred Arlen, former Principal bassoon in the RLPO and co-writer (along with Fritz Spiegl) of the Radio 4 UK Theme.

Stephen is a renowned horn soloist with an international reputation as a chamber musician and many acclaimed recordings to his credit. He has had an unusually varied career ranging from perfoming at Carnegie Hall to playing to classrooms of street children in Bombay. A member of several leading chamber ensembles including being a founder member of the Fibonacci Sequence since it’s inception in 1994, and also of Endymion since 1976. He has appeared regularly with the Albion Ensemble in concert and as a coach on music courses over the last twenty years.

Stephen has broadcast concertos on BBCTV and Radio 3, and appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. His recordings of Mozart’s Horn Concertos with the City of London Sinfonia are constantly broadcast on Classic FM. The marvelous new Horn Concerto by Gary Carpenter was written for him and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and given its world and broadcast premiere in April 2005. Other recent first performances have included solo works by Martin Butler and Stephen Dodgson.

2008 sees the release of ‘Horn’ a CD of rarely recorded chamber works for horn with the Fibonacci Sequence on Deux Elles. This season’s highlights include the Brahms Horn Trio with Angela Hewitt at her festival in Trasimeno, Italy, opening the brand new King’s Place concert hall in London with a horn fanfare and recording the Schubert Octet with the Fibonacci Sequence.

Stephen studied in Manchester with Ifor James and privately with Julian Baker. He is now a professor at Trinity College of Music London, on the faculty of the Yellowbarn Summer School in Vermont, Chamber Music International, and a seasoned participant at the Dartington International Summer School.  (www.stephenstirling.com. Photograph by Achim Liebold)

Robert is working as a free-lance flute-player with a wide variety of orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Welsh and English National Operas, London Philharmonic, The Philharmonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. He is a member of the London Mozart Players, works with Jane Manning’s contemporary music group Jane’s Minstrels, and with the chamber music groups CHROMA and the Galliard Ensemble. Robert has a long-standing duo with the harpist Helen Cole. He studied with Kate Hill initially, and then later with Michael Cox and Sebastian Bell as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. 

Robert has taught at Dartington International Summer School, for the Royal Academy of Music and at the Junior Guildhall. He is a visiting flute teacher at schools in Oxford and Abingdon, and has taught at the Oxford International Flute Summer School.

Recordings include the award-winning CD of music by Harrison Birtwistle made in association with the Galliard Ensemble, music by Tony Payne played by Jane’s Minstrels, and arrangements of Beethoven played by the Albion wind ensemble.

Robert plays on a nickel-silver Bonneville flute made in Paris around 1890 and when not playing or teaching, enjoys growing and harvesting allotment vegetables.

 George Caird, Oboe

George studied the oboe with Janet Craxton and Evelyn Barbirolli at the Royal Academy of Music, with Helmut Winschermann at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie, and privately with Neil Black. He gained an MA in music at Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating to pursue a freelance career as an oboist. He worked with many of London’s major orchestras including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City of London Sinfonia and was a member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from 1983 to 1993. George has also been a member of a number of ensembles, notably as a founder-member of The Albion Ensemble, Vega Wind Quintet and Caird Oboe Quartet.

In addition to many orchestral recordings, he has recorded CDs of solo and chamber music repertoire including ‘An English Renaissance’ of quintets and quartets for oboe and strings, and Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid as part of his published study on that work. Among the works written for him are Paul Patterson’s Duologue, John Gardner’s Second Oboe Sonata, Andrew Downes’ sonata, In the Gardens of Burdwan, John Mayer’s Abhut Sangit and in chamber music, Elizabeth Maconchy’s Wind Quintet, Paul Patterson’s Comedy for Winds and Jim Parker’s Mississippi Five. In April 2023, George will premiere the Oboe Concerto by Gregory Rose.

George joined the Royal Academy of Music as professor of oboe in 1984, became Head of Woodwind in 1987 and Head of Orchestral Studies in 1989. In September 1993, he was appointed Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University, a post that he held until August 2010. From 2011 – 2016, George was Artistic Director of the Classical Music Academy, Codarts Rotterdam, from 2017 – 2018, interim Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and from 2020 – 2021, interim Principal of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. George continues to perform both as oboist and conductor, to teach the oboe at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, is President of the Barbirolli International Oboe Competition, President of the Bromsgrove International Music Competition, a Trustee of the National Children’s Orchetsra and a Trustee of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. In December 2022, George was appointed as a Governor of the Royal Society of Musicians.

Marie Ross, Clarinet

Dr. Marie Ross is Lecturer of Music at The University of Auckland, where she teaches both modern and historical clarinets, chamber music, musicology, and serves as Director of Woodwinds and Director of Early Music. Marie spends part of her time in Europe where she is Associate Principal Clarinet of the French orchestra, Ensemble Matheus. She has frequently performed and recorded with historical orchestras such as Concerto Köln, MusicaAeterna, Die Kölner Akademie, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

A passionate educator, Marie has taught masterclasses at leading institutions such as The Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has organized and led her own workshops in Chicago designed for modern clarinetists to learn historical instruments and performance practice. Last year, she was invited by the International Clarinet Association as a featured artist on the World Stage Series to lecture on topics such as “Ornamentation in Mozart” and “Creative and Technical Benefits of Learning Historical Instruments for Modern Performers”. Last summer she was on faculty, teaching and performing at the Berwick Academy, the historical performance program of The Oregon Bach Festival.

Marie has recently released a CD of the Brahms clarinet Sonatas and Trio on original instruments. The recording is part of her research into Romantic performance practice and was called “ground-breaking” by Gramophone Magazine UK. She shares her research on her podcast, “Fidelio”, where she regularly discusses early music topics, her historical clarinet collection, and interviews colleagues of various artistic disciplines.

Marie has a Doctorate in Clarinet Performance from The University of North Texas, a Master’s Degree in Early Music from The Royal Conservatory of the Hague, a Master’s Degree in Clarinet Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Roger Coull studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Trevor Williams, and later Frederick Grinke, and whilst a student was awarded many scholarships and prizes. Chamber music has always been one of his great passions and it was there that he formed the Coull Quartet under the guidance of Sidney Griller.

The Coull Quartet was appointed quartet-in-residence at the University of Warwick in 1977, where its members are still actively involved in its music making, and soon established itself as one of Britain’s leading string quartets. The Quartet performs regularly in concerts and radio broadcasts in Britain, Western Europe and the USA and has also toured India, the Far East, Middle East, South America and Australia. 2009 saw their first tour of mainland China and in 2012 the Coull undertook its first tour of Brazil, and was awarded a prestigious New Music 20×12 commission, with composer Joe Cutler, to celebrate the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Included in their many critically acclaimed recordings are the complete Schubert Quartets on Upbeat Classics, the complete Mendelssohn Quartets on Hyperion Records (the recommended choice of BBC Radio 3’s Record Review) and a recording of quartets by Walton, Elgar and Bridge which was voted ‘Record of the Year’ by the BBC Music Magazine. The ensemble has a broad repertoire and has retained a strong commitment to contemporary music, commissioning works from eminent British composers such as Robert Simpson, Nicholas Maw and Edward Cowie. One of the Coull Quartet’s most recent recordings (Sibelius quartet and piano quintet) was Editor’s choice in the September 2010 Gramophone magazine.

Roger Coull’s years of experience as an orchestral trainer and conductor gained through his work at the University of Warwick, the Tees Valley Youth Chamber Orchestra, and the String Orchestra course at the Canford Summer School of Music have led to many conducting invitations. He is a regular guest conductor of the Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Beauchamp Sinfonietta, conductor of the University of Warwick String Orchestra, and a regular director of the Helix Ensemble. He is principal conductor of the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra, and has also conducted the Academy of St Thomas, and the Crendon Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. He also has much experience as a teacher, and has given many masterclasses internationally. He is a regular guest at Britain’s music colleges as teacher, examiner, and adjudicator and was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music for his services to professional music making.

Jane Salmon is especially well known as a chamber musician. Her work has taken her to more than 45 countries across the world and has involved her in more than 60 CD recordings, numerous broadcasts, first performances, festivals, and concerts in many major venues.

Jane was cellist of the Schubert Ensemble, winner of the Royal Philharmonic prize for chamber music and a leading exponent of music for piano and strings for 35 years. The group commissioned over 35 new chamber works and appeared at major European venues including Wigmore Hall in London and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. 2018 saw the group’s celebratory final season with over 50 concerts including two return tours to the USA. A library of live performances are now available on the Schubert Ensemble’s YouTube channel.

A member of the National Youth Orchestra, Jane read music at Clare College Cambridge and studied cello with Amaryllis Fleming and Johannes Goritzki, attending masterclasses with Pierre Fournier. She was awarded a number of scholarships and awards and selected by YCAT with recitals at the Wigmore and Purcell Room, a solo tour of India and was on stage solo cellist in the National Theatre production of Arthur Millers ‘Broken Glass.’

A founder member of Endymion, which championed new music as well as classical repertoire, she has performed in many premiers. The group ran a series of Composer Portraits at the South Bank, worked with Opera Factory (including a TV recording of Birtwhistle’s Punch and Judy), recorded a series of English Chamber Music and has performed several times at the BBC proms. Jane also has been guest principal with the Scottish and English Chamber Orchestras and London Sinfonietta and played with the Academy of St Martins and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. She has given many masterclasses and workshops, adjudicates and examines, and is a tutor in cello and chamber music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.