I studied with Stefan Popov and Raphael Wallfisch at The Guildhall School of Music and drama. A founder member of the “Guildhall String Ensemble” under David Takeno. We won the International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade and made our Carnegie hall debut in 1991. We recorded with RCA and broadcast regularly for BBC radio. 

Whilst principal cellist with Glyndebourne Touring and Garsington Opera I made guest appearances with groups such as the Allegri Quartet, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Chamber Orchestra and Ballet Rombert.
Teaching experiences include cello @ Royal Academy of Music junior department and chamber music coaching on Pro Corda. 

During my career I became increasingly interested in the role of breath, body and mind during performance and, in 2003, completed the British Wheel of Yoga Teacher training in Scaravelli inspired yoga under Peter Blackaby. I have since taught yoga as an aid to performance as part of the secondary school curriculum and in 2019 taught yoga to string players on the European String Teachers’ Association summer course. I have completed a teaching module with John Stirk this year. 

Jane has assisted Ruth in running Breathing Bow workshops together for five years.

https://dev.thebreathingbow.com/

MUSICAL EDUCATION

1978 – 1982 Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Studied Cello with Stefan Popov and Raphael Wallfisch
1981 - Performance Diploma
1981 - Won the Birdie Warshaw Prize
1982 - Won the School Cello Prize
1971 – 1978 CYM (Centre for Young Musicians London)
1973 – 1978 LSSO (London Schools Symphony Orchestra)
This included tours to France, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Denmark 1976 - Tour to USA under Simon Rattle

Other Skills andTraining

2012 - ITEC Massage course Diploma level 3 under “Pure Massage” – London
2000 – 2003 - British Wheel of Yoga Teacher Training course under Peter Blackaby – Brighton

1991 – 1992 - Aromatherapy Massage course with the Tisserand Institute – London
1978 – 1982 - Alexander Technique training at the Guildhall School of Music

YOGA EXPERIENCE

  • Taught yoga as an “Aid to performance” in schools as part of the secondary school curriculum

  • One-2-ones with a variety of musicians

  • Yoga classes with musicians on Glyndebourne tours

  • Workshops and retreats with Ruth Phillips - “The Breathing Bow” in London, Cornwall and France

  • Yoga for musicians - Teacher on ESTA (European String Teachers Association) SUMMER COURSE 2019 in Chichester

A BRIEF RAMBLE on MY JOURNEY - CELLO & YOGA

I grew up in a musical family and fell in love with the cello on hearing Saint Saëns’ ‘The Swan’ performed live in church one Sunday morning. Coming home and finding two broomsticks I mimed to the music in my head. Luckily my mum found me amidst this fantasy and understood; cello lessons began.
In my eyes, age eight, my first teacher was secretly a witch of 100 year’s, sharing a dark and spooky house with her silent twin sister, who’s job seemed solely to deliver tea and digestive biscuits every 10 minutes. The grandfather clock chimed and creaked ominously as I was ushered into an equally sinister music room, lit only by candles on either side of the piano. This strange other worldly experience occurred every week and although it didn’t put me off, I did live in fear of having my knuckles rapped whilst at the piano.
My first experience of performing was equally bizarre and full of terror. I’m eleven, totally blinded by stage lighting and about to perform that same Saint Saëns “Swan” I’d fallen in love with! Sitting there behind my cello the world stopped. I froze and couldn’t remember a single note! Whilst wishing the world would swallow me up, the music miraculously appeared along with stand! It was clear I was going to have to endure the humiliation of shaking my way through it, alongside an “out of body” experience.
Despite this disappointing start I loved music and playing the cello. I also sensed it would probably take a lifetime to shift some of that fear, and I didn’t have a clue as to how that was going to happen! My mother was a very fine singer and always at her happiest after a performance. She would often say “when you forget yourself the music can live”. I believe it was my mum that planted the seed for my ongoing quest.

Skip to my 40s and living in Hastings. I remember so well walking across the green with coffee in hand (late!) looking out to sea and making my way to that new yoga class. I had no idea quite how different it was going to be. I’d “done” yoga in London, lots of stretching and feeling overwhelmed at the same time as being clueless. I was not aware before this class that I didn’t know how to listen to my body.

As this practice began to work its magic on me I realised I’d found a lot more than relief for my lower back pain. It’s what I’d always been searching for.

Yoga can reconnect us through movement with attention, and bring us to the still space within; for me the place where freedom and expansion are possible in both body and mind. Awareness is the key that reveals the luminous intelligence lurking deep within the body. It sits alongside and supports being a musician so beautifully.