Staff A-Z

Billy originated the lead role of Alex in the critically acclaimed world premiere of LEAVE TO REMAIN at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, a production written by Matt Jones (Doctor Who) and Kele Okereke (Bloc Party). He also understudied the role of Seymour in  the Olivier Award nominated production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and played the role of Mark Cohen in the 20th Anniversary production of RENT (London/UK Tour).

Following his graduation, Billy’s stage career varied with roles such as the Mad Hatter in ALICE IN WONDERLAND (European Tour), Moritz Stiefel in SPRING AWAKENING (UK Tour), and Jesus in GODSPELL (Union Theatre). His West End debut came in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of MATILDA THE MUSICAL at the Cambridge Theatre, followed by CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY under the direction of Academy Award winner Sam Mendes at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Billy gained a Broadway World nomination for understudying the role of Jesus in the Olivier Award-winning production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

In addition to his stage work, Billy is an accomplished recording artist having release two studio albums. His recent releases have been featured on BBC Radio 2, and he has been recognised as a BBC Introducing artist, collaborating with prolific songwriters and producers in both London and New York City. His creative talents extend to choreography, where he has directed music videos for MTV, Urban Outfitters, and other notable artists.

Dedicated to nurturing the next generation of performers, Billy teaches at esteemed conservatoires such as Arts Educational School of Musical Theatre, Emil Dale Academy, Italia Conti, and Urdang Academy. His commitment to fostering new talent inspired him to establish KIPA: Kingston Performers Academy, a theatre training ground that cultivates emerging young artists.

Billy has also assisted with the casting process for West End shows such as Matilda the Musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Hairspray and many more.

Recently, Billy has been involved in the development of new musical works, including THE CREAKERS by McFly’s Tom Fletcher, and SYREN, penned by Olivier Award nominee Anoushka Lucas and Jess Edwards. He played opposite Sir Ian McKellen in MOTHER GOOSE and in the role of Nicholas in the Old Vic Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. Billy workshopped the choreography and appeared in the Netflix musical film MATILDA, directed by Matthew Warchus and choreographed by Ellen Kane. Billy’s screen debut was playing the role of Hector in Russell T Davies’ IT’S A SIN for Channel 4/HBO.

Billy originated the lead role of Alex in the critically acclaimed world premiere of LEAVE TO REMAIN at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, a production written by Matt Jones (Doctor Who) and Kele Okereke (Bloc Party). He also understudied the role of Seymour in  the Olivier Award nominated production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and played the role of Mark Cohen in the 20th Anniversary production of RENT (London/UK Tour).

Following his graduation, Billy’s stage career varied with roles such as the Mad Hatter in ALICE IN WONDERLAND (European Tour), Moritz Stiefel in SPRING AWAKENING (UK Tour), and Jesus in GODSPELL (Union Theatre). His West End debut came in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of MATILDA THE MUSICAL at the Cambridge Theatre, followed by CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY under the direction of Academy Award winner Sam Mendes at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Billy gained a Broadway World nomination for understudying the role of Jesus in the Olivier Award-winning production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

In addition to his stage work, Billy is an accomplished recording artist having release two studio albums. His recent releases have been featured on BBC Radio 2, and he has been recognised as a BBC Introducing artist, collaborating with prolific songwriters and producers in both London and New York City. His creative talents extend to choreography, where he has directed music videos for MTV, Urban Outfitters, and other notable artists.

Billy has also assisted with the casting process for West End shows such as Matilda the Musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Hairspray and many more.

As leader of the Cummings String Trio and the English String Quartet, Diana has performed widely both nationally and internationally. The English String Quartet was also the resident ensemble of the London Festival of Chamber Music, a month-long event which during the course of 13 consecutive years (1995 – 2007) gave over 200 concerts, bringing an extensive repertoire of both familiar and rarely heard works to audiences across London.

With regard to orchestral work, Diana has guest-led the London Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the Liverpool Philharmonic and the Hallé Orchestra and has played with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra. She has performed Bach’s complete concerto repertoire with the London Bach Orchestra at London’s Southbank Centre several times, and she was leader and soloist of the Northern Chamber Orchestra. She is the leader of the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, often appearing as a soloist.

In all these capacities Diana has broadcast frequently and has made many recordings for major labels.

Diana is also a Professor and Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, where as part of her work she is the Specialist for the LRAM Teaching Diploma. She is violin coach of the National Youth String Orchestra and is frequently invited to give masterclasses and workshops, and to participate as adjudicator, panel and jury member at Competitions and Festivals both nationally and internationally.

Ali graduated from Trinity Laban with a BA(Hons) in Dance Theatre and later gained her MA in European Dance Theatre Practice. She has a PGCE in Dance and is an experienced practitioner in teaching, performance and creative contexts.

As well as her work as Head of Harp at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, and her recent appointment at Chethams School of Music in Manchester UK, Gabriella gives masterclasses and harp courses as well as orchestral courses in Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Singapore, Tasmania and Australia. She has also been a jury member in competitions (BBC Young Musician of the Year [strings final]; F.Godefroid International Harp Competition in Belgium, Arpaplus in Spain and North London Competition, etc).

Furthermore, she is actively involved in community music projects, ranging from babies of a few months old to elderly people, hospitals and special needs schools.  Her wide experience of teaching all ages and all backgrounds reflects her commitment to music-making at the highest international level, not only in the solo scene but also chamber music and orchestral, and community work and cross-collaborations. Gabriella and choreographer Susan Sentler work together with dancers and harpists to promote new explorations between movement, sounds and shapes.

Gabriella has earned considerable recognition and has been supported by the Swiss fund ‘Junge Kunstler’. She is also the winner of numerous prizes, awards and scholarships, including the 1989 Victor Salvi Competition, Italy, and the Junge Kunstler prize, Switzerland.

In 2017 she received her Senior Fellowship in Higher Education, and the following year a Professorship.

Emily is the leader of the Hallé Orchestra, which she combines with a vibrant career guest leading other ensembles across Europe, alongside engagements as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

She is the Co-Artistic Director of Thirteen North, a thirteen piece string ensemble driven to bring classical music to new audiences.

She has previously held leading positions in the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

His discography with the Carducci Quartet numbers over 20 CDs, for labels including Signum, Naxos, BMG, Somm, Nimbus and Carducci Classics – the quartet’s own label. Matt has performed at major concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, Washington Library of Congress, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Tivoli Hall Copenhagen, and the quartet performs around 90 concerts each year.

Known for their complete cycles of Bartok, Beethoven and Shostakovich, in 2015 they won a Royal Philharmonic Society award for ‘Shostakovich15’  – a project which included a performance of the complete Shostakovich quartets in one day, at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London.

Matt studied with Felix Andrievsky at the RCM for 4 years and was awarded Junior Fellowships in chamber music for a subsequent 2 years, studying with members of the Amadeus, Alberni and Chilingirian Quartets.

With the quartet he was then a Bulldog Scholar and Richard Carne Junior Fellow at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he now continues to visit as Violin professor and quartet in residence.

As a soloist he has performed concerti by Bach, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Delius, Beethoven, Bruch and Brahms, and is regularly invited to guest lead a range of ensembles and orchestras. Matt can regularly be heard on TV and film scores including Downton Abbey, Poldark, The Theory of Everything, Everest, Boxtrolls, Murder on the Orient Express, Shazam and Paddington. As a violinist Matt has also featured recently on albums by Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding and Jethro Tull.

Many of Matt’s past students have gone on to be successful performers and teachers and can be regularly heard in orchestras including the Halle, Liverpool Philharmonic, Aurora, BBC NOW and the English Symphony Orchestra.

With the quartet, he set up the ‘Carducci Music Trust’ to help inspire musicians for the future and to enable more children to experience live music in schools.

Matt plays on a historic Brother’s Amati violin from 1603 – ‘The Hurwitz ex Cooper‘

English conductor and historical keyboard specialist Steven Devine studied at Chetham’s School of Music and the University of Oxford.

He is Associate Musical Director of Opera Restor’d, Professor of Fortepiano at Trinity Laban and a member of the staff at Dartington International Summer School.

He has recorded four solo discs and has played on over 30 recordings with other artists. Steven is a regular continuo player with several major UK period instrument orchestras, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music and the New London Consort. Steven has performed as conductor and soloist throughout the world; recent highlights including being pianist and director in a Mozart Concerto in London, Dublin and Manchester, as well as conducting and acting as Master of Ceremonies for Raymond Gubbay Productions at the Royal Albert Hall, Symphony Hall (Birmingham), Bridgewater Hall (Manchester) and across the rest of UK.

Graham has also made two CDs for the UK based label GGR; they are entitled Appassionata and Burgalesa and were recorded by acclaimed recording engineer and producer, John Taylor.

Widely considered as one of the best guitarists of his generation, Graham is currently in much demand as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He has performed at many of the world’s leading recital venues such as Wigmore Hall (London), Purcell Room (London), Palau de la Musica (Valencia), Hakuju Hall (Tokyo) and Phoenix Hall (Osaka). He has also been invited to give masterclasses at festivals and musical institutes throughout the world.

His huge repertoire covers music from the renaissance period to most major twentieth century works written for the guitar, including rarely performed masterpieces such as Maurice Ohana’s compositions for ten-string guitar.

Graham plays exclusively on D’Addario strings.

Graham is currently Head of Guitar at Trinity Laban, London. He is also the Artistic Director of the Royal Greenwich Guitar Festival, London, UK.

As a dancer, Zoi has worked with Kirstie Simson, Yvonne Rainer, Felix Ruckert and Siobhan Davies, among others. She launched her choreographic career in 2006 and her professional portofolio includes, among other works: Can You See Me? (2006), Dromi (2007), Limen (2007), Goddesses in Exile (2008), In The Process of … (2010), Little Creatures (2011), You May! (2012), The Chapter House (2014), Side Effects (2015), Peregrinus (2017), Vanishing Points (2018), When Pillars Evaporate; Work in Progress (2019).

She is the recipient of important UK choreographic awards such as the Robin Howard Foundation Award 2008, the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund Award 2009 and the CFC Award 2010 by the Company of Angels, Sadler’s Wells and The Place, and has participated in Aerowaves, a well-renowned European Dance Platform. She has received several commissions (eg Greek National Ballet) and her works have been presented at venues/festivals such as: Fast Forward Festival 4, ROH2, Arnolfini, BE Festival, Lilyan Baylis, the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the Kalamata International Dance Festival, Operaestate Veneto Festival at the Scala of Milan, Europe in Motion Festival and Springloaded at The Place.

She has participated in several international European Dance Research programs such as the Choreoroam, Big Intensive, Europe in Motion, and she is funded/commissioned by institutions such as the Arts Council England, the Hellenic Centre for theater and dance, the Onassis Cultural Centre, among others. She is a Research Fellow at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London and teaches internationally at institutions/festivals such as: Impulstanz Festival, Sasha Waltz Company, Independent Dance, National Dance Academy of Rome, Athens State School of Dance (KSOT) among others.

Her research is focused on notions of time and the passing of images. It reflects the direction of her practice away from the conventional theatre space and towards off-site installations and interactivity, investigates the qualities and conditions of spectatorship, and draws from the larger social for the development of choreographic activity.

ENO Baylis, the company’s outreach department, has afforded him the happy opportunity to be involved in many projects with people from all sections of the community. He has been commissioned to create events for them such as Jazz Rigoletto with Westminster Council, performed at the Steiner Theatre,The Carmen Storyfor schools in Hackney and Tower Hamlets and The Soldiers Day in Hackney. He has also done education work for the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras and the Royal Ballet.

Away from ENO Mick enjoys a busy freelance career with the United Kingdom’s premier orchestras and ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and BBC Concert Orchestras and the London Sinfonietta, performing under such world renowned conductors as Abbado, Muti, Gergiev, Previn, Haitink, Maazel, Temirkanov, Mackerras, Tilson-Thomas, Dutoit, Colin Davis, Rostropovich, Elder and many more.

His many film soundtrack recordings include Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, Nanny McPhee 2, Gangs of New York, Tomorrow Never Dies, Enemy at the Gates, Miss Potter, The English Patient and The Mask of Zorro. Mick has also deputized on West End shows such as My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.

Another important part of Mick’s professional life is in education. He is Professor of Percussion at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, percussion coach to the Ulster Youth Orchestra and gives private coaching and consultation lessons. He is frequently invited to adjudicate at music conservatoires. In 2011 he was co-founder of Rhythms Inc, a partnership with a growing reputation for using music to provide experiences that are engaging, inspirational and fun and that build new capabilities, develop team-working skills and promote creativity for a wide range of audiences from children to corporates.

An engaging communicator, Mick has appeared on various national radio shows. He was featured on Gershwin’s Horns with Rainer Hersch, A History of the World in 100 Objects on BBC Radio 4 and was the ‘Spoon Man on Radio 2’s Chris Evans Show. He is also comfortable as a presenter and happily performs humorous solo pieces on quirkier instruments such as musical saw, car horns, kazoo, washboard and even anvil!

Passionate about jazz, he was a founder member of The Lawless Four jazz quartet playing at private events and at venues including the Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican and The Savage Club.

Also in demand as a music administrator, for many years he has acted on behalf of Musical Associates Concerts Ltd and A.W.Events, booking musicians and acting as Orchestra Manager for their stately home and stadium concerts across the country. He was also Orchestra Manager for Camerata Ireland’s triumphant 2000 tour to Brazil, Argentina and Montevideo with music director Barry Douglas.

He is delighted to be a Zildjian Artist and is honored to be an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

His long association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has seen five CD recordings including Food of Love, Christmas Classics and Very Best of Rodgers & Hammerstein and many concerts such as the annual Christmas Cracker at Cadogan Hall and Best of Broadway at Royal Albert Hall. His other recordings include Simply… Michael Dore, and he is featured on numerous albums for Readers Digest, four albums with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Steve Mackey’s Grammy award-winning Dreamhouse and three recordings of Berio’s Sinfonia.

Michael’s work with the Variety Club Children’s Charity has included co-hosting and performing for the Iowa Variety Club Live Telethon in the USA and his Michael Dore Sings the Musicals and More concert in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Theatre roles have included West Side Story (Riff) with Sir Simon Rattle, Jesus Christ Superstar (Peter) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Guys & Dolls (Benny Southstreet) and Candide (Maximillian) with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He created the role of Rupert Brooke in the premiere performances of Young Apollo and played Lieutenant Barri on the original London cast recording of Sondheim’s Passion.

He has performed Shakespeare on stage with Dame Judi Dench, worked alongside Dame Diana Rigg, and his singing partners have included Sarah Brightman, Nell Bryden and Lorna Luft.

Other appearances have included Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins in the UK, Spain and Ireland, the Cathcart Spring Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, and Best of the West End at Hampton Court Festival, along with UK tours of West End Nights, Broadway Lights and Fascinating Rhythms, Wonderful Town in Berlin, The Magic of Broadway in Scandinavia and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

He has conducted vocal workshops and masterclasses in Europe, South Africa and North America and coached in the UK on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Any Dream Will Do series (BBC TV), Hairspray – the School Musical, Grease – the School Musical 2 (SKY TV), Popstars (ITV) and The X Factor.

Michael’s busy studio recording schedule has included many film soundtracks such as Shrek 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. He worked with Adele on her Bond track ‘Skyfall’, is often featured on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Friday Night is Music Night’, has guested on TV shows including Songs of Praise and regularly appears at London’s major concert halls, performing contemporary, semi-classical, Broadway, Jazz, Christmas and intimate Cabaret evenings at venues such as The Crazy Coqs.