Holly Cook

Holly Cook has recently graduated with a Master's degree in performance from Trinity College of Music, where she was awarded a Leverhulme Orchestral Mentorship Award for study, and gained a distinction for performance. Holly studied flute with Anna Noakes and ethnic flutes with Andy Findon and Tony Hinnigan. Her specialist area of study was ethnic flute music, upon which she wrote a dissertation and made a recording of a contemporary Japanese influenced piece of flute music, gaining a distinction for this. As part of her training, Holly undertook a Mentor Scheme placement with the Principal flautist of the BBC Concert Orchestra, Ileana Ruheman. In June 2009 Holly was featured in an interview with Ayre Flutes in Muso magazine. As a soloist, Holly has given solo recital performances at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Cheltenham Town Hall and Royal Tunbridge Wells. Recent concerto performances include the Mozart Flute Concerto in D with Jubilate Orchestra, Bach Brandenburg Concerto 5 with the Brunelleschi Ensemble and the Nielsen Flute Concerto with the Stamford Chamber Orchestra. Forthcoming concerto performances include Honnegar's Concerto da Camera with Freeze Frame Opera and Orchestra Company in December 2010. Holly was awarded a Fellowship of Trinity College London in 2007 and a Licentiate of Trinity College London in flute teaching in 2008.

Katharine Carter

Katharine Carter completed her Masters in Performance in 2010 whilst studying with Anna Noakes and Alan Baker, having read Music at Leeds University, where she studied with Richard Davis and Linda Verrier, graduating with a BA (Hons).

She is a recipient of the Rose Brown scholarship and previously the Leverhulme Orchestral Mentorship, which involved working with the BBC Concert Orchestra’s principal flautist, Ileana Ruhemann.  Katharine is in demand as a freelance flute and piccolo player, recently performing under conductors including Vasily Petrenko and Yan Pascal Tortelier. Katharine regularly plays with the London Arts Orchestra and the London European Orchestra.

Katharine is a passionate chamber musician and recently has performed a series of concerts with the Davenport Ensemble as well as Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 with the Brunelleschi ensemble. With the Trinity College of Music Symphony Orchestra Katharine has been conducted by Barry Wordsworth and Edward Gardner, also taking part in recording Wind Orchestra music by composer Alan Hovhannes for the Naxos label.

Katharine is a member of Ayre Flutes who recently performed at the annual British Flute Society Convention in Manchester for the second time and the Royal Festival Hall for the Park Lane Group. She regularly plays with the Houkou wind quintet, who opened the Malcolm Arnold festival in November 2006, having performed his rediscovered Wind Quintet to Sir Malcolm himself in 2004. She continues to perform regularly as a soloist recently performing at Ongar Music Club, Cheltenham Town Hall and venues in London and Hertfordshire. Forthcoming events include recitals at St Martin-in-the-Fields and in Charlton House.

Kathy Batchelor

Kathy Graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2009 with a BMus First Class Honours Degree and the Daniel Emlyn Davies Award for Flute. During her undergraduate studies, Kathy was taught by Eva Stewart, Joanna Shaw, Jonathan Burgess and Michael Cox. She studied in Bordeaux with Sam Coles. Kathy was mentored by Michael Cox in the BBC Symphony Orchestra and The Academy of St. Martin’s in the Field. She was lucky enough to be conducted by the late Sir Charles Mackerras, playing principal flute in the Royal Welsh College Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

Kathy completed a Postgraduate Diploma in 2010 at Trinity College of Music, London, studying with Anna Noakes and Alan Baker and under the colleges mentor scheme she worked with Alison Hayhurst of the City of London Sinfonia. In 2010 Kathy became an extra for the Welsh National Opera orchestra.

In 2010 Kathy began an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma course at Trinity College of Music, supported by a Leverhulme Scholarship and The Ann Driver Trust. Continuing her studies with Anna Noakes she was a semi finalist in the Trinity College of Music Soloists Competition 2011. Kathy has been conducted by Edward Gardner, Ryan Wigglesworth and Howard Williams in the Trinity College of Music Symphony Orchestra. Chamber music is an active part of Kathy’s musical life, performing with the contemporary flute group Ayre who have performed at British Flute Society Conventions. She toured the Alsace region of France with the Billroth Sextet and performed the 4th Brandenburg Concerto with the Trinity College String Orchestra in Madrid. She enjoys playing with harpist Claire Iselin and also with the newly formed London International Quintet. Kathy enjoys giving recitals with pianist Yukiko Shinohara and they are currently recording favourite works from the flute and piano repertoire.

Emma Price

Emma Price was born in 1985 and grew up near Sherborne, Dorset.
She made her concerto debut at the age of 18 at St. George’s, Bristol.
Emma went on to read Music at the University of Birmingham, where she
studied under Colin Lilley and Jonathan Rimmer, and has recently
completed her Masters Degree at Trinity College of Music, where she
studied under Anna Noakes. As a soloist and orchestral player, she has
also performed at prestigious venues around the UK, including St.
John’s, Smith’s Square and the Poole Lighthouse Centre for Performing
Arts. As a founding member of Ayre Flutes, comprised of postgraduate and senior undergraduate students from Trinity, Emma is looking forward to attending the British Flute Society Convention in Manchester for the second time.

Marielle Way

Marielle Way is a versatile flautist and educator. Recent concerto engagements include Poulenc’s Flute Sonata orchestrated by Lennox Berkeley, J.S Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4, and Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto. Most recent orchestral work includes principal flute with New London Orchestra, Locrian Ensemble, Ryedale Festival Opera, and Britten-Pears Orchestras and her outreach and education work has included workshops and performances with London Breakbeat Orchestra and pop group, St Germain.

Marielle is also a dedicated chamber musician, regularly performing with the Bax Trio (flute, viola and harp) and duo partner Elizabeth Burgess. Marielle is Artistic Director of the Westgate Music Series in Lewes, East Sussex and is a dynamic and passionate teacher, holding the posts of flute and orchestral tutor at Dunraven and St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Schools in London.

Marielle’s graduate studies took place at Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music. She has since been the recipient of prizes including the Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship, Harold Clarke Woodwind Prize, Jellinek Award and awards from the Newby Trust, and EMI Sound Foundation. Marielle works all over the UK and is based in Brighton.

Jennifer Raven

Jennifer Raven is a young musician with an excitingly varied career.

 Recent work includes co-founding The London-Jerusalem Music Project, funded by the British Council BI Arts and the Anglo-Israel Association. Following a successful tour of Israel performing newly commissioned music by Middle Eastern composers, the project comes to London in March 2012. Jennifer also performs with harpist Federica Mossone for the NHS Verve Arts programme, for which they have been awarded a 2011-12 Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust grant. In November 2011, Jennifer will perform as part of the on-stage chamber group accompanying world famous singer Joan Rodgers CBE at Boughton House.

With multi-media ensemble The Conference of Birds, Jennifer has travelled to the Brazilian city of Belém and the Amazon Rainforest for a British Council residency, and to Tuscany for a unique programme of music for walking holidays.

As an orchestral musician, Jennifer has performed as part of The Bristol Ensemble for a new programme of gypsy and baroque music. She was also principal flautist for Opera de Baugé in summer 2011. As a soloist she has performed at venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall and St George’s Bristol, and has performed concertos in the UK and Czech Republic.

Jennifer specialises in music education, and in September 2011 joined ARK Schools to support their ever-expanding music programme. In February 2009 she launched the creative education initiative FairBeats!, which has just been awarded a highly competitive Youth Music grant to continue workshops at Action For Refugees In Lewisham.

In July 2010 Jennifer completed her studies with Lebanese flautist Wissam Boustany at Trinity College of Music and received her Masters with distinction. Previous to this she studied music at Bristol University, graduating with 1st class honours. www.jenniferraven.co.uk

Sarah Desbruslais

Sarah studied music at Canterbury Christ Church University College. She enhanced her studies further with Karen Jones to attain a Distinction in her Performance Diploma in 2004 and then with Anna Noakes, Wissam Boustany and Alan Baker to attain a Masters degree in flute performance and FTCL at Trinity College in 2008.

Sarah has performed at all of the major London Concert Halls with artists such as James Galway, Kirsten Spratt and Mike Mower; the Marlow in Canterbury for the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations and for the British Flute Society Convention in Manchester and Park Lane Composium with ‘Ayre Flutes’. She has attended summer schools at Dartington, Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon. Sarah performs both as a chamber musician and solo artist and is currently working towards premiering a Concerto by Geoffrey Hanson and a Sonata by Cyril Schurch. Sarah is also in high demand as a freelance orchestral musician having played Principal positions in Shostakovich No. 10 and several of the Brandenburg Concertos, under the instruction of Barry Wordsworth and Simon Wright.

 Recent performances have included playing Principal for the Westminster Philharmonic and the Dartford Symphony Orchestra in Debussey’s L’Apres Midi d’un Faune and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. She has also premiered a new show called ‘The Ripper’ in the west end by Paul Herbert. Forthcoming events include recitals at St. Martin- in- the- Fields, Cheltenham Town Hall, Regents Hall and Blackheath Hall and Charlton House both as a soloist and as a flute and percussion duo. Sarah is also to play flute and piccolo in West Side Story at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford this coming December 2011. She is also part of an exciting new baroque trio called the Desbruslais Ensemble.

Sarah has also gained a very positive experience through teaching music to those with special needs.

Rebecca Coker

Rebecca began playing the flute at the age of seven and started lessons at the age of eight. In 1996 Rebecca was awarded a place at the Junior Guild Hall school of Music and Drama where she studied for five years under Mary Ryan, Sarah Newbold and Anna Noakes.

Rebecca has attended a variety of courses consisting of the National Wind and Chamber Orchestra of Great Britain, Amadeus Orchestra and ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’ directed by Anna Noakes. She has also toured Italy with Surrey County Youth Orchestra where she played principal flute.

 Rebecca was successful in winning the Senior Woodwind Soloists class at Woking Music Festival in 2003, progressing to perform in Woking Young Musician of the Year. Following this she won Godalming Music Festival where she was asked to play at the rewards presentation evening. An invitation followed to play for Woking Symphony Orchestra.

After accepting a place to study at Trinity College of Music on the BMus (Hons) course she continued her studies with Anna Noakes and also received tuition from Lynda Coffin. Rebecca plays regularly with Romanza a flute and harp duo and Gemini Duo a flute and cello duo. Both duos play for a variety of functions, most recent functions have been held at the Polish Embassy and the St Merchants Taylor Hall Bank, London. Rebecca has also had the opportunity to play for various shows including Oliver and Mikado.

After graduating in 2008 Rebecca continued to study at Trinity College of Music with Wissam Boustany and completed her PGDip in 2009. Since then she has continued to perform with Ayre, Guildford Symphony Orchestra, Gemini Duo and Romanza on a regular basis.

Rebecca has 10 years teaching experience and is a respected teacher among pupils, providing private flute, piano and theory tuition across Surrey as well as teaching for Surrey Arts.

Missy Mills

Anglo-Zimbabwean flautist Missy Mills graduated from the University of Cape Town with a First Class BMus in 2006, and holds an MMus degree from Trinity College of Music. During her time in Cape Town, she played with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and performed in numerous concerts, winning the W.H Bell Award for Outstanding Wind Soloist and the UCT Concerto Competition.

In 2007, Missy was invited to study privately with esteemed flautist Raffaele Trevisani in Milan, Italy, and was awarded a full Beit Scholarship to study a Masters degree in music at Trinity College of Music with Lebanese flautist Wissam Boustany. At Trinity College, she researched and developed a unique music teaching method for her dissertation, which received a first and has been used in subsequent lectures at the college. Missy is a founding member of the contemporary flute octet Ayre; which has performed at prestigious venues such as the British Flute Society Convention in 2008 and 2010, St Martin-in-the-Fields and Royal Festival Hall. Missy is currently Head of the Centre for Young Musicians Hackney.