North London Festival of Music, Speech & Drama

Paul Barritt (violin)

Paul Barritt was until July 2022 Permanent Guest Leader of the Hallé Orchestra, having previously held the position of leader of the Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra.

His numerous recordings for violin and piano include the complete violin sonatas of Howells, Ireland, Stanford and Schoeck as well as the salon pieces of Albert Sammons (‘The English Kreisler’) and violin works of Rheinberger. During the 2005-6 season he recorded the complete Beethoven violin and piano music with James Lisney. This was followed by a recording of the Brahms Violin Sonatas  as well as a recording of Antony Hopkins’ Partita for solo violin. Paul Barritt and James Lisney have presented cycles of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas some 21 times.

Notable performances with the ECO included Bach’s Double Concerto with Igor Oistrakh at the Barbican and with Maxim Vengerov at the Proms. With the Hallé Orchestra he gave performances of Beethoven Triple Concerto and Vaughan Williams’ ‘Lark Ascending’. Most recent chamber music engagements have included concerts in Germany and France and as director of his own series, Tring Chamber Music, which is now enjoying its 22nd year.

Upcoming engagements include guest leading the Orchestra of St Johns,  a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending’ in a version for violin and voices as well as appearing as soloist/director with orchestras in Wendover and London. Last Easter he appeared as soloist, director and recitalist at the St Endellion Festival, Cornwall.

In recent years Paul has been much in demand giving talks with live music on the subject of Birds and Music, most notably for the Linnean Society of London. In addition Paul has a fascination for sourdough bread and in the past year, after attending both sourdough and scything courses, has derived much satisfaction exploring both skills.

Katy Furmanski (double bass)

Katy Furmanski studied the double bass with Graham Mitchell and Duncan McTier at the Royal Academy of Music and since graduating in 2011 she has enjoyed a richly varied freelance career. 

As an orchestral player Katy regularly works with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and she has also worked with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Equally at home in the theatre pit, Katy has performed many a ballet with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and English National Ballet; opera with English National Opera; and musical theatre with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra. As a session musician Katy has been working with COOL Music since 2017 playing on many a film and TV soundtrack. 

Alongside the more traditional orchestral work Katy enjoys working with various smaller and contemporary ensembles such as London Sinfonietta, Nigel Kennedy’s Orchestra of Life, and the Berkeley Ensemble and she is a founding member of the Bottesini Ensemble which specializes in chamber music that features the double bass. 

Katy is passionate about teaching and education work and she currently teaches at Tonbridge School and Tonbridge Grammar School as well as privately. She is also a deputy teacher at both Junior Academy and the Junior Guildhall School of Music & Drama and she was a licensed teacher for Bromley Youth Music Trust for 8 years. 

Katy has coached young musicians on orchestral music with the Bromley Youth Symphony Orchestra, West Sussex County Youth Orchestra, Kings College School Wimbledon and the Marryat Players and she is a core member of the 14-piece Kidenza orchestra which delivers orchestral concerts and workshops in state schools. Previously Katy has also worked on several varying outreach projects with the education department of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Multi-Story Orchestra. 

Martin Gwilym Jones (violin)

Martin Gwilym-Jones has taken part in performances as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia in halls ranging from Carnegie to your local village. These include appearances on television and radio and at festivals such as Appalachian Chamber, BBC Proms, Berlin, Pablo Casals, Consonances, Keshet Eilon, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Salzburg and Vail. In Chamber Music he has collaborated with many musicians including Philippe Graffin, Matt Haimowitz, Ernst Kovacic, and the pianist Jason Ridgway as part of a regular duo partnership.

Martin currently holds the position of Sub-Leader with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as well as being a Professor of violin at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He has been a guest concertmaster for the Orchestra of English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and a guest principal with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Halle, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra as well as playing with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Martin studied at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal College of Music and the Jacob’s School of Music at Indiana University where he was awarded an Artist Diploma. He received scholarships to these institutions where his main teachers were Maeve Broderick, Itzhak Rashkovsky and Miriam Fried. Martin has won prizes and awards from the Royal College of Music, Sir James Caird trust, English Speaking Union, Welsh Arts Council, Jerwood Foundation and the Entrecasteaux International Chamber Music Competition.

He plays on violins by JB Vuillaume and Philip Ihle.

Fred Lawton (Guitar)

Jessica O’Leary (Graded Strings)

Combining performing, teaching, examining, mentoring, adjudicating and writing, Jessica has a persuasive portfolio career. She has recorded and toured internationally as a professional violinist and member of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Principal 2nd violin of the Orchestra of St. John’s for twenty-five years. She is passionate about playing and teaching music in a variety of styles and has worked with Madonna, Led Zeppelin, the London Symphony Orchestra, and currently the Royal Opera House.

Jessica is Head of Strings at Eltham College and string consultant and examiner for ABRSM. She regularly presents seminars to teachers and adjudicates festivals in Europe and Southeast Asia. She has also been a mentor to teachers on the ESTA (European String Teachers’ Association) PGCert course.

Jessica co-authored the beginner string method series Basics for violin, viola, cello or double bass with Paul Harris which was extremely well reviewed in the Strad magazine. They also wrote a series of duets called Flexi Violin from Initial to Grade 5 covering a diverse range of composers and are currently working on a new book to help violin students learn how to also play viola. Her repertoire books, Best of Grade 1-5 and 80 Graded studies are also published by Faber.

Coming from a family of innovative string teachers, Jessica played in the Cork, Irish and European Youth Orchestras while studying with Adrian Petcu. She gained a post-graduate scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music to study with the Amadeus string quartet and holds an ARAM in recognition of her services to music.

She regularly plays chamber music, has recently taken up the harp and sails in her spare time.

Alistair Scahill (Viola)

Alistair Scahill is a freelance viola player who works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Martin Outram and began his freelance career after graduating.

Since 1998, he has been the viola tutor for the Kent County Youth Orchestra, where he was a member until 1991.

He also coaches sectionals and orchestral excerpt classes at Trinity Laban Conservatoire

Anita Strevens (Cello)

Anita Streven’s career has been a varied mix of orchestral, chamber music and solo performance, teaching, workshop leading and adjudicating. She gained her degree at Exeter University before becoming the youngest member of the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. On returning to London and starting a family she played in various musicals in the West End. Through seeking out the best musical education for her sons she discovered Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and trained to be a practitioner. Being sought after in this field – sometimes described as a training in ‘Theory on your Feet’, she has led Dalcroze workshops and training projects with peripatetic instrumental teachers, early years practitioners, orchestral musicians and students; and taught at the prestigious Pro Corda, the National Chamber Music School; at Birmingham Conservatoire and at Junior Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. 

She continues to play her cello, and 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. With pianist Helen Crayford and violinist Kokila Gillett-Khan she has recently formed the Ickham Ensemble, giving performances in East Kent and beyond.

Anita was cello consultant for the 2019-2023 ABRSM cello syllabus and books, grades Initial to 5, and has had education articles published in Primary Music Today, National Association of Music Educators, Dalcroze Society Journal and Music Teacher magazine.

In the Spring term of each year Anita enjoys life on the road adjudicating Pro Corda’s National Chamber Music Festival for Schools.

Hilary Sturt (violin)

Hilary Sturt studied the violin with Shiela Nelson, David Takeno, and Felix Andrievsky, graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music with solo, chamber and contemporary music prizes. As a violinist and violist she performed and recorded worldwide with Ensemble Modern for 20 years, including notable projects with Frank Zappa, Peter Eotvos and Pierre Boulez. Chamber music has played an important role in her life, previously as a member of the Rasumovsky Quartet and Apartment House, winners of the Philharmonic Society Award for the Most Outstanding Chamber Music in 2011. Most recently she is delighted to have joined the Bingham quartet.

Hilary is much in demand as a teacher, adjudicator, and conductor, sitting on audition and interview panels throughout the UK. She was Head of Strings at St Paul’s Girls’ School for twenty-four years and was awarded an MA in Education from the University College London in 2018. Currently she Head of Chamber Music at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music and Instrumental Teaching Tutor and mentor to the MA Ed course at the Senior RCM. She has worked with the ABRSM as a Diploma examiner, recording the violin syllabus Grades 1-4 in 2015, and on the advisory panel for the 2020 ABRSM violin syllabus.

Hilary is dedicated to contemporary music and education, fuelled by her passion for weaving and her husbands homemade sourdough bread.

Nicole Wilson (violin)

A student of Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, Nicole joined the first violins of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and enjoyed a decade touring the world, playing in the world’s greatest concert halls and on countless film and tv soundtracks including Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Subsequently she became an orchestral fixer for COOL Music, booking orchestras to record major UK and American TV series culminating with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in 2008. In 2008 she became a principal violinist at English National Opera and is now a freelance leader in London, leading the London Musical Theatre Orchestra and guest leading and playing principal around the UK including the RPO, BSO, CBSO, LPO, Philharmonia, London Concert Orchestra and Dame Shirley Bassey Orchestra.

As a professor of violin at the Royal Academy of Music and Eton College, Nicole is also Chair of ESTA UK. Her love of connecting great music teachers to talented students resulted in the foundation of the online learning platform Musical Orbit, connecting teachers and students from around the globe, playing a large part in supporting teachers and students during the pandemic. Artistic Director of National Schools Symphony Orchestra for 2022 and 2023, Nicole has founded and managed several music courses with international faculty including Pinchas Zukerman, Augustin Haderlich, Robert DeMaine, Gary Levinson and Clio Gould. She is the founder and artistic director of the Virtuoso International Music Academy at the historic Winchester College, bringing together a world class faculty for string and vocal students from around the globe. An experienced concert presenter, Nicole has presented for BBC 4 TV, Radio 3 and Classic FM Radio as well as live concerts around the UK including the London Symphony Orchestra.