Principal Timpanist, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

I was born and grew up on the south coast of England. After failing in my attempts to fulfil my childhood dream of becoming a horn player, I started playing timpani and percussion at the age of twelve.

I fell in love with orchestral life while a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, before going on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. During this time, I spent four years in the European Union Youth Orchestra, an experience which opened my eyes to the diversity and riches of the orchestral culture beyond Britain’s borders.

In 1999, I moved to Germany to study with Rainer Seegers and to try to become a timpanist in this country. The musicians of the Gewandhausorchester allowed me to join them in 2006.

Playing with other orchestras has always helped keep my ears open and my fantasy fresh, so I’m happy to have been let loose on orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Baroque music is a drug I can’t do without and I’m grateful to have worked with some of Europe’s finest ensembles, such as the English Baroque Soloists, European Brandenburg Ensemble and Concerto Köln, learning an enormous amount from Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock and Christopher Hogwood.

In my own development, I owe much gratitude to Rainer Seegers, Erich Trog, Paul Turner, Torsten Schönfeld, John Chimes and Simon Carrington for their decisive influence.

Sharing what I continue to discover as a musician is a hugely fulfilling part of my life, which I’ve been allowed to do in masterclasses at institutions such as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, Royal Academy of Music in London, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Korea National University of Arts in Seoul, at conservatoires and courses from Bari to Manchester, Lyon to Boston, across Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Great Britain, the United States, South Korea and Taiwan.

Now I’m determined to continue making Copper & Cow the experience and inspiration the younger me was so hungry for!