Staff A-Z

Born in Manchester, Melanie studied Saxophone, Clarinet and Flute at the Royal Academy of Music.

As a soloist and ensemble player Melanie has made numerous recordings and performed in concerts worldwide. She has performed with many orchestras in the UK, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed in productions at the Royal National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Recent highlights include concerts and an album launch with the contemporary music group Sounds Positive, Jack and the Beanstalk at the Hackney Empire, a production of The Tempest (Globe Theatre) and tours with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Rambert and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

Richard is a Bass Trombone specialist performing on hundreds of sessions in film, theatre, popular, commercial and TV sound tracks. He is known for his work in many large jazz ensembles, from 1940s big band swing to contemporary jazz orchestras and anything in between or outside. He spent many years touring and recording with the bands of two prominent and influential contemporary American jazz artists, Carla Bley and George Russell.

Johnny is a long-term member of the BBC Jazz award winning jazz-funk ensemble, ‘Badbone & Co.’, led by esteemed trombonist Dennis Rollins M.B.E.

Having toured worldwide with the band they’ve notably performed at Glastonbury, WOMAD, the Montreux Jazz Festival, The Royal Festival Hall and Ronnie Scott’s.

Rolf Hind has worked closely with living composers across a broad range of styles: from John Adams and Tan Dun, to Ligeti and Lachenmann; Xenakis and Messiaen, to Simon Holt and Judith Weir.

Born in London and now living there after studies at the Royal College of Music and Los Angeles, his career has many facets. He appears regularly at new music festivals throughout Europe: in Brussels, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Darmstadt, Vienna, Strasbourg and Paris. He is in demand as a soloist with all the major BBC orchestras and plays regularly with the London Sinfonietta. Further afield, he has made numerous appearances, including with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the South West German Radio Orchestra, the Stockholm Sinfonietta, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and orchestras in Holland, Italy, Ireland, Norway, France, Portugal and the USA. As a performer he has had a number of concertos written for him, by Unsuk Chin (BBC National Orchestra of Wales) Poul Ruders (London Philharmonic Orchestra) Bent Sørensen (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Danish Radio) and Simon Holt (London Sinfonietta).

Linda Hirst was born and grew up in Huddersfield, and studied flute and singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her career began during the early music revival of the early seventies, with Roger Norrington, John Eliot Gardiner and David Munrow. From 1974-78 she was a Swingle Singer, she then co-founded Electric Phoenix. With both groups she travelled the world, leading to work with many living composers, and a solo career of international renown, in particular for her performances and recordings of contemporary music.

Zoe Zimin Ho is a theatre-maker and voice, singing, and dialect coach. She was born in Singapore and has roots on the East Coast of the United States, where she graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. She has over 10 years
of experience performing professionally in New York City, regional New York, and internationally. Zoe’s research interests include diversity and inclusivity in institutional voice training, and the transposition of nature onto voice. She will graduate with an MFA in Voice Studies: Teaching and Coaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2025.

Suzie Holmes is Head of Costume and Lecturer at Trinity Laban. She teaches across the BA and MA programmes within the fields of design, performance, and research methods. The focus of her design and teaching practice is upon the performing body’s scenographic relationship with its environment. Key to her collaborative work with choreographers is a fascination with the appearance and behaviour of materials animated by movement and light.

Stella is a dance artist and facilitator with a keen interest in exploring creative practices in health-based settings. Her enquiries into creativity, the body and wellbeing, empower participants individual explorations of their physical body, whilst supporting creative, emotional, and social confidence.

Award-winning Scottish marimbist and percussionist Calum Huggan has captivated audiences and critics alike with his musicality and personality.

Award-winning Scottish marimbist and percussionist Calum Huggan has captivated audiences and critics alike with his musicality and personality.

Calum is an active and sought-after percussion tutor and workshop leader throughout the UK, Four Mallet Specialist at Trinity Laban, Percussion and a part-time lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow).

Ashley teaches Singing at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire to students across Musical Theatre Masters, Degree and Foundation courses.

Alongside this, Ashley teaches 1-1 Singing at the Arts Educational School Sixth Form and mentors year 13 students in preparation for their Higher Education audition preparation.

Bryan has over 40 years’ experience in the singing profession, as performer and coach. He trained at the Royal College of Music, London, and later at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

Bryan has taught at many of the country’s leading drama schools, and has been a member of the faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire since 2007, where he teaches Singing Technique and Skills classes, and one-to-one students. He is particularly interested in the combination of acting, dancing and singing skills, also the technique of ‘belt’.

Mark has taught on the Musical Theatre course at Trinity Laban for 4 years and has choreographed and directed multiple projects.

Mark trained at The Central Ballet School and Arts Ed London. After graduating in 2003, he worked as a professional performer for 15 years. Performing credits include: Original West End cast of Elf the Musical (Dominion Theatre): Original cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane): Lord Battersby in Me and My Girl (Kilworth House Theatre): The Diction Teacher in Singin’ in the Rain (UK tour): Angel in Rent (English Theatre, Frankfurt): Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Emery Theatre, London): Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK tour): Oliver! (London Palladium).

Aleksandar Ilić graduated in 2012, after completing an MA in Choreography. Before studying at Trinity Laban, he was a First Soloist at the National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia.

The Cornish-born baritone Richard Jackson is renowned as a concert artist and a performer of new operas. He was a founder member of The Songmakers’ Almanac, visiting the USA, Hong Kong and the festivals of Edinburgh, Bath, Aldeburgh and Bergen with the group, and taking part in their series of recordings for Hyperion. Early operatic successes included Gian Carlo Menotti’s Maria Golovin, directed by the composer at the Camden Festival, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas opposite Dame Janet Baker, Strauss’s Capriccio for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, and Eugene Onegin at Aldeburgh under Mstislav Rostropovich. He also collaborated with Pierre Audi in the British premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at London’s Almeida Festival and returned for the 1992 Festival in Stephen Oliver’s Mario and the Magician. Other opera projects have included Laurent in Thérèse Raquin, a new opera by Finnissy for The Garden Venture, Paul Barker’s La Malinche in Mexico City, Mozart’s La finta giardinera for Opera North, Finnissy’s Vaudeville for the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Evangelistitesto in Monteverdi/Weir’s Missa e Combattimento for Ensemble Interculturel at La Monnaie in Brussels, Nicola LeFanu’s The Wildman at the 1995 Aldeburgh Festival and Aeneas in Syria.

Julia joined our team in October 2023 as a new Graduate Intern in TL Health.