Drumming

Percussion
Massimo Martone
Matthew Brett
Meadow Brooks
Chiao-An Chiang
Colin Currie
Ethan Skuodas
Francesca Lombardelli
Jani Rodrigues Silva
Jonathan Fourrier
Jonathan Phillips
Quentin Broyart
Robert Wills

From an early age Philip Herbert’s talent for music was nurtured by his parents, and later at the Yorkshire College of Music, where he was awarded a scholarship to further develop his musical studies at the piano, with Irene Ingram and the late John Foster. He later went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education at King Alfred’s College, Winchester, and later to read music at postgraduate level at Andrews University, Michigan. He also gained piano teaching and piano performing diplomas from the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music respectively.

Herbert studied the piano with such teachers as Diana Owen, Guy Jonson, John Owings and the late Kendall Taylor. Owing to his passionate interest in choral music and music for solo voice, he was awarded a Graduate Assistantship enabling him to work as accompanist to the late Harold Lickey, the Head of Vocal Studies at Andrews University, who taught singers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as being the director of the choral ensemble - The Andrews University Singers.

Herbert was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has taught music at all educational levels, as well as making music through composing, performing as a pianist and conducting. He has coordinated masterclasses, workshops and concert series; as well as devised courses and community projects for young people and adults, with creative and interactive contributions from some of Britain’s finest musicians, across an eclectic range of musical genres. His projects have been broadcast on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4, as well as on BBC TV.

Robert Laidlow is a composer and performer based in London and Manchester. His music has been performed and broadcast worldwide, and has received awards including the Royal Philharmonic Society Composers Prize 2019 and a nomination for the 2018 British Composer Awards.

Laidlow's work often incorporates his background as a jazz saxophonist and his interest in scientific collaboration. Robert is the PRiSM Researcher in AI-Assisted Composition in association with the BBC Philharmonic, which has performed a number of his works.

Recently he has been commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Barbican Centre, guitarist Fabio Zanon, the International Festival of Campos do Jordao and Access Contemporary Music Chicago, and his works have been broadcast several times on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC Four, the latter as part of the Royal Institution's popular Christmas Lectures.

Laidlow's music has previously been performed by a wide range of groups including Ensemble Modern, Britten Sinfonia, Psappha, the Elias String Quartet, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and members of the Milwaukee Symphony and Ballet in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Southwark Cathedral, the Barbican Centre and Sala São Paulo.

After graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge with First Class Honours, he studied composition with David Sawer at the Royal Academy of Music in receipt of the Dr Mosco Carner Scholarship from 2016 until 2018, where he also received regular lessons from the late Oliver Knussen. In 2018 he began a PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

He believes strongly in accessibility of new music and has worked with several non-professional ensembles including Contemporary Music for All.

Fumiko Miyachi was born in Tokyo and has lived in the UK since 1993. She stumbled into composition when she was asked to take up a second study at Royal College of Music Junior Department. Since then, she has been a composer and pianist. After completing her BMus and MMus studies in composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, she obtained a DPhil from the University of Sussex under Martin Butler’s supervision.

Her music has been performed and commissioned by many musicians and performance groups worldwide, including the BBC Singers at the Spitalfields Festival, Opera North, MAE at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Lontano at Southbank Centre, Orkest ‘de ereprijs’ as part of Gaudeamus Music Week, Concorde at the Galway Arts Festival and decibel.

Her awards and prizes include 1997 the Joan Weller Composition Prize, the 2002 Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize, the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra Young Composers’ Award in 2005, The New Millennium Composition Prize in 2006, the PRSF Women Make Music Award in 2016 and the 2016 BASCA British Composer Award shortlist.

As a pianist, Miyachi specialises in performing contemporary repertoire, and has premiered and performed many pieces by composers including Howard Skempton, Michael Finnissy, Laurence Crane, Diana Burrell, Michael Wolters, Joe Cutler, Donnacha Dennehy and Colin Riley. Since 2013, she has been one half of Cobalt Duo with Kate Halsall.

She has been a visiting tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire since 2006.