I studied at what is now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal College of Music. I won prizes and scholarships at both colleges, studied with Hans Hotter in Munich, was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition and was French Song Prize winner in the s’Hertogenbosch International Singing Competition. My solo career was wide-ranging, performing with conductors such as Sir Roger Norrington and Sir Simon Rattle, song recitals with Malcolm Martineau, principal roles with Glyndebourne on Tour, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Opera North as well as broadcasts and festivals in Europe and USA.
I began teaching over thirty five years ago, alongside singing and becoming a mum, and I’ve been lucky enough to be an associate teacher of David Jones, New York-based vocal pedagogue, for nearly two decades. Workshops for The Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music includes adjudicating song competitions at Trinity. I taught on Oxford Song Festival’s Mastercourse for postgraduate students and was a vocal tutor for five years for the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge under Stephen Layton. My teaching at Oxenfoord International stretches back to 2002. More recent invitations to give masterclasses/workshops have been from The Royal Academy of Music and the Dutch National Opera Studio.
My journey also includes much inner exploration, investigating along the way EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) HeartSpeak, Family Constellations and more recently IFS (Inner Family Systems). I’ve given introductions to EFT for BVA, AOTOS, Sally Burgess’ summer school, Oxenfoord International, David Jones’ teaching seminars live in NYC and a short online podcast for his teachers’ seminar recently comparing EFT and IFS. So as well as being a singing teacher I also currently work separately as an IFS coach with musicians and other humans, helping them find more resilience.
I love working with singers who want to reliably find their best intuitive, imaginative singing and allow their unique vibrant communication in performance. I look forward to meeting you there!