We’ve reached the end of this half term and it’s certainly been one full of highlights, but welcoming our three newest staff members definitely tops the list! So this week we thought we’d dedicate the blog to getting to know our newbies a little better. Welcome Gareth, Clara and Chris!
GARETH- Piano
Gareth was born and raised in Wigan and started playing music from as early as 8 or 9 years old. He played with the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra and Greater Manchester Jazz Orchestra and studied at the RNCM. He now works as a self-employed musician within original project and function agencies. Inspired by bands from The Beatles to LCD Sound System, Gareth enjoys listening to and playing a range of musical styles.
Gareth’s gotten up to some pretty exciting things in recent years:- In 2017 he played in a synthesiser orchestra with Manchester band New Order. This led to being part of their European tour Decades in Vienna and Turin in May 2018! He’s also had the opportunity to travel to Shanghai with the RNCM Session Orchestra and play with guests including bassist Stefan Redtenbacher and pianist Bill Laurence. Alongside function and musical theatre work, Gareth also writes and performs with his own band, Hazy.
CLARA- Cello and Piano
Clara grew up in Hale Barns, not far from Altrincham, and, with parents who were both musicians, was encouraged to start learning the cello and piano from a young age. She attended Manchester High School for Girls for 14 years. The music department there was extremely vibrant and Clara was involved with orchestra, choir and wind band. Thanks to the support and encouragement of her music teachers, Clara was pushed to think seriously about pursuing music. She then went on to study music at Manchester University.
Clara is a freelance performer as part of a string quartet, saxophone quartet and as an individual cellist, whilst also pursuing conducting. Clara has a very eclectic music taste, she names Esperanza Spalding as one of her favourite mainstream artists along with Alt- J. She also loves music from Schubert to Shostakovich, but particularly favours Steve Reich- she even wrote her dissertation on him. Outside of music, Clara loves swimming and was actually a swimming teacher for six years when she was in school!
CHRIS- Singing
Chris studied at the RNCM and now performs regularly throughout the UK as a singer of ’Pushplay’ or ‘The Upstarts’. Having studied under world class tutors such as Audrey Mattis, Wayne Ellington and Hannah Mcgaguingin, Chris can sing a diverse selection of musical genres. Chris has a vast amount of recording and live experiences, including performances with RNCM session orchestra RNCM northern sessions, Northern voices acapella. He has also done backing vocals for Leona Lewis on her UK tour!
We’re so pleased to have such talented teachers join The Music Place team and we hope you all enjoy your lessons with them!
Have a lovely half term everyone!
