What are they doing now?
Some of our former pupils have gone on to great things, playing in some of the country's top orchestras, studying music at college and university, playing as session musicians with bands and pop groups and even becoming teachers with Berkshire Maestros! Find out more about some of our alumni, the time they spent learning with us and what they are doing now. Are you a former student? If so, we'd love to hear from you. Why not drop us an email to let us know what you're up to now?
"I started playing the violin at age 7 when I begged my mother to let me learn after a BYMT teacher visited my primary school. Coming from a non-musical family, I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to learn the violin without BYMT (Maestros). I am most grateful for the Scholarship Scheme (Gold Award) and Berkshire Youth Orchestra, through which I developed a real love of music and experience in orchestral, chamber and solo playing. I realize now how rare it is to have all these opportunities in the county where you live. I am currently a final year undergraduate with Howard Davis at the Royal Academy of Music. I’m a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, leader of the University of London Symphony Orchestra and also play with the London Chamber Orchestra. I’ve done lots of touring all over Europe and to places as far as Kazakhstan and Gabon in Africa. I’ve performed at the BBC Proms and in many of the world’s great music festivals and concert halls. I absolutely love chamber music and still play with the Brinkwells Quartet, formed at the BYMT Scholarship Scheme (Gold Award) when I was 16. I’m in touch with lots of the friends I made at BYMT and we still find the time to get together to play music!"
Sarah Sew
I joined Berkshire Young Musicians’ Trust – now Berkshire Maestros - at the age of eleven, and immediately entered my area’s intermediate double reed ensemble and wind band on oboe. For the rest of my time at secondary school, Music Centre was a major part of my life as I progressed to the senior and county level ensembles and benefited from the Award Scheme. I had never enjoyed singing until my BYMT friends persuaded me to audition for the East Berkshire Chamber Choir, and a year later I was also in Berkshire Youth Choir. I have powerful and deep memories of performances with all these ensembles in England and also on tour throughout Europe, aided by the tour CDs which I regularly play, and of the friendly and encouraging staff, whose main objective was always the musical development of the students in the widest sense. Since leaving Maestros in 2004 in order to read Engineering Science at University College, Oxford, I have held a tenor choral scholarship, for which I was prepared by Maestros staff. Music continues to be my major recreational interest, and I have played in and conducted ensembles at university as well as holding the position of President of my College Music Society. My closest friends are those I have made through Maestros. We regularly meet up in vacations, frequently go promming in the summer, and some of them have even been known to travel to Oxford to help me out by supplying a tuba player, baritone saxophonist and tenor soloist! Without Maestros I would not have met these great people, visited the places I’ve toured, or been inspired to pursue my music so seriously.David O'Neill
"I'm incredibly grateful for the experiences I had at Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (Maestros). I think I first joined the Trust at the age of 6 - becoming a member of Junior Choir - and from then on BYMT became a huge part of my life. Over time I took part in as many groups as I possibly could, initially learning the violin and piano and then later taking up the horn (whilst still continuing with the violin, the piano and choir) which I now play professionally. Since December 2002 I have been principal horn with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra having studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1998 until 2002. The quality of musical training and experience I received at BYMT set me up brilliantly for a career as a professional musician. In addition I had great fun as part of the Trust and made some good friends, many of whom I’m still in touch with - quite a few have also become professionals and so we sometimes get to work together! Particular highlights of my time in BYMT include a tour to the USA with Central Berkshire Girls Choir when I was 16. We had a fantastic time giving a concert every night for two weeks. We recently had a reunion and managed to give a concert of 21 songs all sung from memory after only 2 days of rehearsal having not sung together for 10 years! Testament to the brilliant training we had received all those years before. Another memory is being taken to a late night prom to see the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra play Mozart’s Serenade for 13 Winds conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. We’d been learning the piece as part of the chamber music training on the Scholarship Scheme and so were all taken to the concert to hear it played properly. It was a wonderful concert and little did I know that a few years later I was to get a job with that very orchestra!"Elspeth Dutch, Principal Horn - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
I joined the Berkshire Maestros rather late at the age of 15 playing flute in one of it's many orchestras. I didn't start learning the saxophone until I was 16 and quickly signed up to the Swing Band and within a few years I also played in the Concert band on various different types of saxophone which I would never of had the chance to try otherwise. It was a fantastic social place to go and I had many great times but what I realise now is how fantastic a resource it is and was! You are surrounded by like minded people of your own age and a large number of experienced, helpful and approachable tutors which is something I don't think can be found anywhere else for students of any level.
I'm currently studying European Business and German whilst being director and manager of the Portsmouth University Big Band. This has taken me all over the world and I've played with many great musicians in some fantastic venues. Things I would never have had the confidence or skills to do if it wasn't for the wonderful experience of BYMT.
Lee Hayden
I studied Flute under the tutelage of Simon Salisbury and Voice under Gillian Dibden. I was a member of (what was) BYMT from 1987-1996 and feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to take part in the excellent ensembles, courses and tours that were offered (one highlight for me was the County Youth Orchestra and Choir tour of Austria in 1991). I decided to go back to uni in 2002 as a mature student to read for a degree in Music at City University London, and graduated in 2005. I am now working as a secondary Music teacher in West Berks and using experiences gleaned from teachers at the trust to help enrich my own teaching and learning strategies within key stages 3-5. It’s wonderful to see many of our students at school taking advantage of the peripatetic tuition that is offered by Berkshire Maestros.
Teresa Howard (Nee Bosley)
