He is a French horn virtuoso and teacher born in
Cornwall, England.When he was
thirteen he joined the brass band at his school as a trombonist and two
years later in 1967/8 found himself joining the Royal Marines Band and moving
his concentration to the French horn.After seven years he left the service to concentrate on further musical
education and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music where his teacher was
Ifor James, who would also become a co-musician later in his career.He became Principal Horn for the
Royal Scottish Orchestra and spent four years with them before returning to
England to join the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. By this time he had
gained much recognition for his abilities as a chamber music performer as
well as for his work as a soloist and after remaining with the orchestra
for three years he branched out to concentrate on these other facets of his
career.We would go on to
become Principal Horn with the English Chamber Orchestra and work with the
Nash Ensemble Chamber Group, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and tour the
world giving many highly acclaimed performances. Appearing on numerous recordings his solo performances
can be heard on The London Horn Sound, Brass Music Performed and
Conducted by Edward Gregson, The Virtuoso Horn, Greatest Hits and The
20th Century Album with Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, Benjamin
Britten's "Serenade" with the City of London Sinfonia and also with the
English Chamber Orchestra, all of Mozart's Horn Concertos with the Northern
Sinfonia Orchestra, Strauss' 1st with the Philharmonia Orchestra.In his career in musical education
he has been Professor of Horn at Trinity School of Music, Guildhall School
of Music and the Folkwang-Hochschule, Essen, Germany.Regularly giving international masterclasses
and workshops, the Royal Academy of Music awarded him a Fellowship and he
was given the position of President of the International Horn Society.
