Staff A-Z

He has recorded and appeared with singers such as Marion Montgomery, Dame Cleo Laine, Claire Martin OBE and Dame Jessye Norman.

In 2015, he toured in the USA and recorded with Seth MacFarlane.

He was Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s drummer of choice and for eight years, toured and recorded as a member of Stacey Kent’s group, including her Grammy-nominated 2007 release Breakfast on the Morning Tram on Blue Note.

Matt was a founder member of the Grammy-nominated John Wilson Orchestra performing on various televised BBC Proms and concert tours, 2010-19.

He regularly appears with the BBC Big Band and often with the BBC Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony orchestras, including the Last Night of the Proms, 2017.

Travelling as John Wilson’s drummer, he has most recently performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Antwerp Radio Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2018, Matt toured internationally with Sir Simon Rattle with the London Symphony Orchestra for various Leonard Bernstein centenary concerts including performances of Bernstein’s 2nd Symphony, The Age of Anxiety and a concert version of Wonderful Town.

In 2019, he performed at the Edinburgh Festival with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a concert version of West Side Story for Sir John Eliot Gardiner OBE.

Matt played and recorded for Alan Barnes’s Parliamentary Jazz Award winning 60th birthday project +11 and subsequent album release.

Many appearances at Ronnie Scott’s have included main shows with Claire Martin, Jim Mullen’s Organ Trio, James Pearson’s Portrait of Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson Celebrations also with Dave Newton, Joe Stilgoe’s 80s big band project and as a frequent guest member of the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra.

West End musical theatre credits include the 2015 Savoy revival of Gypsy and ‘the Broadway transfer of An American In Paris‘ at the Dominion theatre, 2017.

Anything Goes at the Barbican, 2021/22

Recent film soundtrack includes Motherless Brooklyn, Catch 22, Doug Days, Four Kids and It, Blythe Spirit, The Lost Marilyn Tapes, A Spy Among Friends and The Great Escaper.

Matt played drums for Callum Au’s critically acclaimed orchestral album, Songs and Stories featuring Claire Martin OBE, released in 2020.

He continues to perform with orchestras such as the LSO, the RLPO, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra and with Britten Sinfonia for Alison Balsom’s 2022 Warner Classics album release.

2023 recording releases include Claire Martin’s Richard Rodney Bennett songbook album project along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and John Wilson’s cast recording of the original score of Oklahoma with Sinfonia of London.

Matt appeared at the BBC Proms last year with the RSNO performing with Nicola Benedetti in a UK premiere performance of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto.

Recent activities also include concerts with the BBC Big Band, James Pearson’s Gershwin Rhapsody In Blue project, The Callum Au – James Davison Quintet, Pete Horsfall quartet, Purdy, Rob Barron’s Celebrating Bernstein trio project and festival appearances with the Guy Baker Big Band.

Forthcoming concerts include the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Southbank Centre as part of their American Music festival for conductor Marin Alsop and concerts and broadcasts with the Orchestre National de Lyon.

In November 2023, Matt will play on a national tour with John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London.

2023 sees the launch of Matt’s own project and recording release Beyond Category celebrating the music of Duke Ellington featuring Pete Horsfall, Alec Harper, Alex Garnett and Will Barry.

Matt is currently interim Head of Jazz at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he also teaches for the Woodwind, Brass & Percussion department.

He is director of the Guildhall Big Band devising a concert project series spanning the history of Big Band jazz.

For the Woodwind, Brass & Percussion department, Matt has most recently devised a project intended to bring the study of drum kit more closely aligned to that of multi-percussion. This has involved working closely with the composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and celebrated drummer Peter Erskine in preparing material and special events scheduled for the forthcoming academic year.

He regularly gives masterclasses and workshops at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Matt is also a visiting Jazz and Drums consultant member of the Britten-Pears Foundation, Aldeburgh Young Musicians.

Malcolm’s love of many different styles of jazz has made him a versatile performer as well as a distinctive voice on the UK Jazz scene. In 1989, after studying at Exeter University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, occupying the lead trombone chair for two years. He has since performed with a variety of artists including Kenny Baker, John Dankworth, Henry Lowther, Martin Speake and Liam Noble. His debut album Lyric Trombone (1996) received wide acclaim – including encouraging words from American trombonist Jimmy Knepper, one of Malcolm’s major influences. He has also worked with soul artists Ronnie Spector and Martha Reeves and has twice toured with Bryan Ferry, featuring on two of his albums As Time Goes By, and The Jazz Age. More recently,  Malcolm has performed widely with the acclaimed Basin Street Brawlers and Three Way Stretch, a trio which also features Liam Noble and Dave Wickins, and draws on a wide range of jazz styles to achieve it’s unique sound. Their album I’ll be Seeing You (2020) is dedicated to the memory of the late Dave Wickins.

As a vocalist, Malcolm has developed a distinctive swinging style and an exciting approach to scat singing. Things are Looking Up by VoxCity5 (2007), features Malcolm’s original arrangements for two voices and rhythm section. The line-up includes fellow vocalist,  Nia Lynn and pianist Barry Green. His next release (due out  Autumn 2020), features Malcolm’s vocals  backed by a quartet, all of whom are graduates of the Trinity Laban Jazz Course and now well known names on the UK jazz scene: Leo Richardson (saxophones), Chris Eldred (piano), Conor Chaplin (bass) and Douglas Marinner (drums).

Recently his disc of solo violin works by Kurtág and Bartók drew praise in The Strad Magazine as a “luxuriantly detailed reading” and in Gramophone Magazine for “his thoughtful, sympathetic performances”.

He has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Philharmonia, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Recitals have included the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room. He has performed extensively across Russia with recitals and concerto performances from Moscow to Vladivostok, and played concertos in Hong Kong and Beijing. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary and he has a number of ongoing projects to expand the violin repertoire through commission and rediscovery of lost works.

A committed chamber musician, Simon was a member of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Octet, performing in concert halls and broadcasts worldwide. Other projects have included the release of a CD of duos and trios by Kodály and Dohnányi.

In addition to masterclasses throughout the UK, he has visited and taught in institutions such as Central Conservatoire, Beijing; Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong; Zhiganov State Conservatoire, Kazan, Russia, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and School of the Arts in Singapore. In 2018 he will be giving a class at the Moscow Conservatoire. He has been on the jury for international competitions, including as chair of a new competition in Kazan, Russia.

He plays on a Rogeri violin, made in 1708. He acts as a consultant to Viaduct Violins in Paris.

In 1986 Dele and Femi left Egypt 80 to form their own band called Femi Anikulapo-Kuti and the Positive Force of which Dele was the musical director and bandleader, he was again responsible for recruiting and training the new band members. He was also the rhythm keyboard player and keyboard soloist. They toured the world extensively and played in several of the major jazz festivals, from Montreux to the North Sea Jazz Festival to the Montreal Jazz festival. They band produced the followin albums – No Cause for Alarm POLYGRAM, NIGERIA,1989, Mind Your Own Business (MELODIE, FRANCE 1991) and Wonder Wonder (TABU/MOTOWN USA, 1995). The Positive Force was also invited to perform at the Jazz Club of Nigeria Festival alongside other renowned musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston, Toshiko Akiosu and Didier Lockwood.

Dele at this time also developed his other musical influences and interests by working and playing with an Afro Jazz Quartet/Quintet and by working in collaboration with a French Bassoon Player called Alex Ouzounoff, to produce a CD titled Made In Nigeria (European music productions 1993) courtesy of the French Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria.

Dele left Femi Anikulapo-Kuti and the Positive Force in December 1995 and moved to London.

In London Dele set about forming a new group, and the resulting projects reflect London’s multicultural environment, with a strong influence of jazz and shades of deep funk and latin music, but all underpinned by the heavy grooves of Afrobeat’s Yoruba rhythm with Dele’s vocals very strongly in the Afrobeat tradition.

In 1996, he started playing as a resident musician in some of the London Nigerian venues, initially playing as a duo, then later on forming Gbedu Resurrection, which he led to several London venues, such as the Africa Centre, (Covent Garden) and The Shrine (then held at the Brixton Fridge). By this time Dele had honed his skills as a composer, singer and entertainer, incorporating the piano into Afrobeat. Dele’s collaborations in this period included working as lead pianist with The African Jazz Explosion All Stars, lead by Claude Deppa and featuring Toni Kofi, Jason Yarde, Byron Wallen, Fayaz Virgi, Jean Tousaint, Thomas Dyani, Harry Brown, Sam Djengue, Francis Fuster to name a few; and also with Lucky Ranku and the African All Stars, lead by the legendary Lucky Ranku and featuring Claude Deppa, Fayaz Virgi, Bukky Leo, Frank Tontoh to name a few.

Following his first solo album Turbulent Times (Eko Star 2002), he was invited to select the tracks for the 3-CD compilation entitled Essential Afrobeat (Universal/Family Recordings, 2004). He was producer and co-writer of Calabash Volume 1: Afrobeat Poems by Ikwunga, the Afrobeat Poet (Rebisihut 2004). He is a central member of the Wahala Project, whose single Wahala appears on Puma’s 2006 Soccer World Cup Compilation CD (Wea/Beacuse 2006). He has also featured on British rapper TY’s recent album Closer (on the track Sweating for your Salary Big Dada 2006), and his track Turbulent Times is featured on Nu Afrobeat Experience (Shanachie 2002), Essential Afrobeat (Universal/Family Recordings, 2004) Sound Affects Africa (Paul Oakenfold Remix Malmaison 2005) and Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project (Modiba 2006). The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project (2006). His new album Identity out on limited edition pre-release (22 June 2007) is in the final stages for Official release in November 2007 (Helico Records).

His live shows are ALWAYS electric, and the crowd response is ALWAYS massive. He has performed all over the world (for example, the Montreux Jazz Festival, Joe Zawinul’s Birdland (Vienna Dele was invited to perform as a guest alongside the late great Joe Zawinul at his Charity Event for survivors of Hurricane Katrina), the Treibhaus (Innsbruck), Paradiso, (Amsterdam), Bimhuis (Amsterdam) Oerol Festival (Terschelling, Holland), the Ollin Kan Festival (Mexico City), Afrikadey! Canada Afrobeat Summit in Calgary, Canada (August 2007), Sensommer Int Musikkfestival 2007 Oslo, Norway (August 2007) and in London (frequent appearances at the Jazz Cafe, The Kemia Bar at Momo’s. The Shrine, and the South Bank Centre (Queen Elizabeth Hall & Purcell Room), to name a few.

Currently based in London, Dele is an educator and instructor in Afrobeat (via his Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Foundation, and as a Visiting Lecturer in Music and Media, London Metropolitan University). Dele performs in one of three formats, each as compelling and funky as the others, a 15-piece Afrobeat Orchestra (featuring a 5-piece horn section and dancers), a 6-9 piece band (the most frequently used format) or a trio/quartet (with bass and drums/percussion.

Sosimi is abetted by a group of musicians, most of whom have either played with him on previous records or have gigged with him on the live circuit. They all have chops to spare and the communication between them is near telepathic. Afrobeat is lovingly given the virtuoso treatment by a combination of Femi Elias, whose Bass growls, twists, turns, pulsates & grooves, Kunle Olofinjana on drums who meshes perfectly with Elias and like a dream machine the groove never lets up. The gear changes are seamless, no accent or punctuation is missed, Phil Dawson who delivers tasty, funky rhythm guitars and some truly exquisite solos from a wide range of angles, again revealing the endless possibilities of what can be done with this music, Maurizio Ravalico on percussion adding colour and The horns – delivered with laser-like precision by Justin Thurgur on Trombone, Tom Allan on Trumpet & Eric Rohner on Tenor Saxophone.

Steven comes to Trinity Laban after being Head of Department for Creative Industries at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University and the Course Leader for Musical Theatre at the London College of Music, University of West London as well as teaching courses, guest lecturing and delivering masterclasses in Canada, Holland, Lithuania and South Africa.

He was also the Associate Executive Director of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. As a performer his credits include Scrooge (West End – Palladium and multiple tours), Doctor Dolittle (UK Tour), Flora the Red Menace (All Star Productions – Landor), 13 Days (Grimeborn Festival – Arcola Theatre) as well as many concerts, cabarets, operas, film and TV. Recordings include Dracula and an album of Sondheim duets, It Takes Two.

Steven is the founder of The Thriving Creative offering business and marketing training and coaching for creatives. He’s published in academic journals (Journal of Arts Entrepreneurship Education, Journal of Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance) and in the press (The Stage, Drama Student Magazine) and is writing a book for Routledge on freelancing the creative economy.

He holds a PhD in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship from Goldsmiths, University of London and is a certified Mindfulness Teacher (UK College of Mindfulness Meditation).

In his early career, Daniel worked as a dancer with Michael Clark and Matthew Hawkins, as well as appearing as Tadzio in Britten’s Death In Venice at Glyndebourne.

After moving to the Big Apple, aged 20, Daniel worked for many years with Merce Cunningham, performing around the world in theatres including Palais Garnier & Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Staatsoper unter den Linden & Schiller Theater (Berlin), the Roundhouse, the Barbican, Tate Modern (London), Festival Theatre (Edinburgh), Kennedy Center (DC), New York State Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Rose Theater & City Center (NYC); with musicians including Radiohead, John Paul Jones, Sigur Rós, Takehisa Kosugi & Sonic Youth.

He was a core member (actor, videographer, musician) of Marisela La Grave’s inter-media group Magnetic Laboratorium  for many years, and has worked with, (among others), Philippe Parreno, John Kelly, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Paulina Olowska.

In 2013/14 he was Curator for the Dance Program for the exhibit Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In 2018 he performed a free-improv trio as part of the Hoping for Palestine benefit with guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer Steve Noble, with an audience of 1,700 people at London’s Roundhouse.

His 2019 staging projects for the Merce Cunningham Trust include Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event — for the occasion of Merce Cunningham’s 100^th birthday — at London’s Barbican, as well as staging Merce’s work on the Royal Ballet and Dance On Ensemble.

Alongside her research, Rebecca teaches on the BA Contemporary Dance, BSc Dance Science, MA Performance, MA/MFA Dance Science, and Graduate Diploma programmes at Trinity Laban. She supervises dissertation students and teaches release-based contemporary technique, research methods, dance history, and culture perspectives in dance.

Rebecca completed her PhD at the Centre of Dance Research in 2019. She holds an MA in Dance with Distinction from London Contemporary Dance School (2010) and a BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre with First Class Honours from Trinity Laban (2008). Rebecca has worked as a visiting lecturer at Bird College, Coventry University, London Studio Centre and the University of London. In 2019 she was invited to be a member of the contemporary dance technique assessment panel at the English National Ballet School.

Rebecca is co-editor of ‘Digital Annotation and the Understanding of Bodily Practices,’ a special issue of the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. As a dancer, Rebecca has worked with Yvonne Rainer and Cat Patterson, performing in Yvonne Rainer: Dance Works (2014) and the BBC4 documentary Dance Rebels: A Story of Modern Dance (2015).

Education:

2019: PhD in Dance, Centre for Dance Research, Coventry University

2010: MA in Dance (with Distinction), London Contemporary Dance School

2009: Post-graduate Diploma in Performance (with Distinction), London Contemporary Dance School

2008: BA Dance Theatre (First Class Honours), Trinity Laban

Publications:

deLahunta, S., Rittershaus, D., & Stancliffe, R. (2021) Editorial. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 17(1), 1-6

Stancliffe, R. (2021) Differentiating (an)notation practices: an artist-scholar’s observation.  International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 17(1), 69-85

Stancliffe, R. (Forthcoming) Moving (together) in a distributed setting: The impact of online music and dance delivery for older adults’ lived experience. In L. Bissell & L. Weir (Eds.) Performance in a Pandemic. Routledge.

Stancliffe, R., Wakeling, K., Evans, L. & Howard, S. (Forthcoming) ‘Beyond the Walls’: The Artist-Researcher and Performative Dissemination. In  R. Prior & T. Fischer (Eds.) Applied Arts and Health, Education and Community: Building Bridges. Intellect.

Stancliffe, R. (2019) Training the Analytical Dance Eye: Video Annotation for Dance. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training 10(2), 273-288

Stancliffe, R. (2018) Video Annotation for the Articulation and Transmission of Dance. In S. Ellis, H. Blades, & C. Waelde, C. (Eds.) A World of Muscle, Bone and Organs. Coventry University, pp. 358-381.

Stancliffe, R. (2018) Mediating and Visualising Steve Paxton’s Material for the Spine. In S. Whatley, R. K. Cisneros, & A. Sabiescu (Eds.) Digital Echoes: Spaces for Intangible and Performance-based Cultural Heritage. Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 213-230

Stancliffe, R. (2017) Zoi Dimitriou’s The Chapter House [review]. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices 9(2), 305-309

Meehan, E., Blades, H. & Stancliffe, R. (2015) Editorial. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices 7(1), 3-5

Selected presentations:

Chappell, K., Redding, E., Crickmay, U., Stancliffe, R., Jobbins, V., & Smith, S. (2021) Bodies of Evidence. Contribution of dance to health and wellbeing: Debating research methodologies and impact. Wellcome Centre for the Cultures + Environments of Health, 19 April, i-symposium.

Howard, S. & Stancliffe, R. (2019) ‘Beyond the Walls: Performative Dissemination in Arts and Health Work. Paper presented at the Building Bridges in Applied Arts and Health, Education and Community: From the Past to the Present and Future conference, 7–10 August, Telford, Shropshire.

Stancliffe, R. (2018) ‘Video Annotation as an Analytic Practice’. Research seminar at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, 7 November, London.

Godoy, M., Kräftner, B., & Stancliffe, R. (2018) Panel at the Perform. Record. Enrich. Share: Opening up and publishing processes in performance creation colloquium, October 24th, Zurich University for the Arts, Zurich.

Allain, P., Naccarato, T., Stancliffe, R. Stansbie, L., & Whatley, S. (2018) ‘REF Panel’. Panel at the Dance Dialogues: Discipline, Practice and Futures event, 7 September,

Awards:

2020: Longlist nominee for Dance One UK’s Rising Star award

2019: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

2015: Winner of the Coventry School of Arts and Design poster competition

2015: Coventry University PhD Studentship, Centre for Dance Research

2008: The Sylvia Bodmer Memorial Fund Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreological Studies

Having also studied dance vocationally at London Studio Centre, Leanne still enjoys participating in dance and now applies dance science techniques when in class and also when teaching young students. As an active member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, Leanne has previously volunteered as part of their Student Committee and is now currently a member of their Promotions Committee.  Leanne is also a qualified Group Exercise to Music instructor and hopes to incorporate this within her work in Dance Science in the future.

Since graduating Leanne has worked as a Graduate Intern in both the Dance Science and Health department at Trinity Laban and now also works as a Lecturer on the BSc Dance Science programme as Module Leader of Researching Dance Science. Leanne also teaches Dance Science to the first year students studying at Bird College. Leanne is also Communications Coordinator for The Bridge Dance Project which is a cooperative endeavour between leaders in the dance medicine and science field, and in the competition / commercial dance field.

Stephen is a member of Endymion Ensemble, The Fibonacci Sequence and Capricorn. He has taken part in many critically acclaimed recordings, including Mozart’s entire output for wind ensemble with Chamber Orchestra of Europe and his second recording of the Brahms Horn Trio, with the Florestan Trio, released by Hyperion to rave reviews, and a ‘Gramophone’ award nomination.

Initially developing dance and theatre school provision, Victoria moved swiftly into further education and apprenticeships in performing arts and sport, with programmes receiving external recognition such as ‘Outstanding’ judgements (Adult Leaning Inspectorate), Beacon status for teaching and learning, and professional industry acknowledgement. This led to partnerships with higher education providers, and the development of the musical theatre provision at Trinity Laban.

As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Trinity Laban Senior Teaching Fellow, Victoria is committed to access and participation, and the development of teaching and learning environments that support progression and achievement. Most recently, she has utilised her MSc in psychology to research the area of mental health and wellbeing in tertiary musical theatre education settings, identifying how programmes and interventions can be established to support the development of good mental health in educational setting, and when transitioning into employment.

Victoria believes that the student is the absolute centre of the learning journey, and that it is important to support personal development beyond the core curriculum outcomes, fostering the unique individual and personal identity within the learning community.

Victoria is a Trustee for a growing Multi Academy Trust in Kent and External Examiner for other Musical Theatre programmes across the UK .

Creative Outputs

Performance credits include: Aladdin, Cinderella and Humpty Dumpty (Millfield Theatre), A Chorus Line (MYT), Fran in A Christmas Carol (Terry Hawes Productions), Aida, MTV, Dream Team (Hewland International), 100 Years of Cinema (Mermaid Theatre), Lead vocalist and dancer for various cabarets.

Choreography Credits include: Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Bugsy Malone, Oklahoma, Little Shop of Horrors, Dick Whittington, Wizard of Oz, Oliver, Corporate Events, Cabarets and College Showcases.

Anita Strevens’ career is a varied mix of orchestral, chamber music and solo performance, teaching, workshop leading and adjudicating. She has played with most of the London chamber orchestras – City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Orchestra of St Johns, Primavera – and is a member of Accordare Quartet and Trio Vita. Recent solo performances have included Haydn’s C major Cello Concerto and all six Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites in JAM on the Marsh Festival and in Garway Bach Festival. She teaches cello and Dalcroze Eurhythmics at Junior Trinity and Sevenoaks School and is a visiting lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire, teaching pedagogy.

For Pro Corda she directs Pro Corda West and coaches on the mainstream and Special Educational Needs courses as well as heading the programmes for Young Music Makers. She leads Dalcroze Eurhythmics workshops for educational organisations, orchestras and local authorities.

She has had education articles published in Primary Music Today, NAME, Dalcroze Society Journal and Music Teacher magazine.

She plays on a cello by Henry Lockey Hill and a bow by Vigneron.