Classical Music Staff
- Centre Management Team
- Classical Music Staff
- Pop and Jazz Staff
- Music Technology Staff
- Media Staff - Coming Soon
- Performing Arts Staff
- Academic Support Staff
- Technical Support Staff
- Instrumental Staff
- Vocal Staff
COURSE LEADER: BA(HONS) MUSIC / HEAD OF COMPOSITION
Dr Mark Bellis
PhD, BMus, ATCL, PGCE
Mark’s specialisms are composition and Music History. Originally from Chester, Mark studied composition at Cardiff with Dr David Wynne and at Durham University with David Lumsdaine and John Casken and was awarded a PhD in Composition from Durham. He has composed a large scale work for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and has had performances at The Purcell Room, London and on Radio 3. Last Christmas, his carol ‘Unto Us a Boy Is Born’ was performed in a service at Westminster Abbey.
CMPA LIVE! COORDINATOR AND LECTURER IN THE MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS INDUSTRY
Sally Fisher
BA (Hons) Musical Theatre, PGCE, AISTD, QTLS
Sally originally trained as a dancer, gaining her teaching qualifications. Moving to London in the 1990’s saw a career change leading to her becoming Town Centre Manager for pre Olympic Stratford. She managed a £15 million pound regeneration budget and became responsible for raising the profile of Stratford with major events and projects involving the arts and business. From then she became Events Director for an entertainment agency working with high profile clients such as Harrods, Selfridges, Unilever, Meryl Lynch and Canary Wharf Ltd before moving back to Colchester to became Town Centre Manager for Walton-on-the-Naze, winning several major awards for projects she initiated. In 2006 Sally changed career again, fulfilling a lifelong ambition, by embarking on a three year Musical Theatre degree at Colchester Institute and then onto a one year PGCE course where she gained qualified teacher status in the lifelong learning sector. Sally now combines her love of theatre and her expertise in events management as events co-ordinator for CMPA Live! and a Lecturer in event management. She also directs her own performing arts school “Theatricool” at Colchester Institute on a Saturday, nurturing future generations of actors, singers and dancers. In her spare time, Sally is a director and choreographer for several local musical theatre groups.
CURRICULUM MANAGER: HIGHER EDUCATION/HEAD OF PERFORMANCE STUDIES
Charles Hine
ARAM, DipRAM, LRAM, PGCE
Charles Hine is a prize-winning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. He has achieved distinction as a solo and orchestral clarinetist and has undertaken numerous international tours as well as broadcasting regularly for the BBC on radio and television. Charles is a founder member of the Vega Wind Quintet, the first such group to be invited to appear at the Proms, and has also developed a career as a conductor of Wind Orchestras and other groups including the British Clarinet Ensemble. He has taught in a wide range of educational establishments including posts in Rome, the Cairo Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music as well as delivering masterclasses and workshops in conservatoires and colleges at home and abroad.
Robert Miles
BA (Hons), PGCE
Robert works as a composer, musical director and vocal coach in all areas of musical theatre. His work as a musical director has included a diverse range of styles from musical theatre to classical oratorio. In addition, he has worked as a cabaret performer in a number of theatres and clubs. He has worked with both adults and young performers as musical director and regularly leading vocal workshops. He works freelance as a vocal coach, specialising in the development of repertoire and integration of acting and singing. As a freelance composer, he has written original material for Sky Television, BBC Radio and Paramount Comedy in addition to many vocal arrangements for repertory theatre companies. In addition to being Head of Vocal Studies, Rob is a lecturer at Colchester Institute specialising in Voice Craft and Contemporary Musical Theatre Contextual Studies and is trained in the Estill Method.
HEAD OF MUSIC BUSINESS STUDIES
Julia Orpen
MA, BA(Hons), PGCE
Julia Orpen specialises in lecturing on all aspects of the music business. She began her professional career in music publishing, moving on to found her own music agency that both promoted concerts and represented artists, including Ifor James, The Parley of Instruments and the Schiller Trio. She now divides her time between teaching and running a musicians’ advisory service.
HEAD OF CONTEMPORARY STRINGS
Tim Pells
BA, ARAM, LRAM, PGCE
Tim is a graduate of the University of British Columbia (BA ’77), The Banff School of Fine Arts (Jazz Performance), and the Royal Academy of Music (Performer’s and Advanced Courses). He was Guitar Organiser for the Inner London Education Authority from 1983 to 1990 and has worked in every level of music education since 1969. Tim is Mentor for Guitar on the National Certificate of Teaching course run by the Associated Board (CT-ABRSM), and Head of Guitar at the London Centre for Young Musicians. He has performed and recorded worldwide with the English Guitar Quartet, and current projects include commissioning new pieces for the Quartet. He performs with Andrew Allen in the Gemini Duo, accompanies soprano Elizabeth Clarke and cellist Sylvia Moore, and performs with Ramon Goose in an acoustic clues duo.
COURSE LEADER: EXTENDED DIPLOMA IN MUSIC (CONCERT MUSIC)
Matthew Simpkins
MA (Oxon), PGCE, ATCL
Matt’s professional musical experience encompasses classical, folk, jazz, avant-garde and rock. Following four years as Press and Marketing Manager at the Colchester Mercury Theatre, he produces music and scripts for media companies, writes and reviews for magazines ranging from Choir and Organ to International Piano, works as session violinist and Hammond organist, and records and performs with his bands "FuzzFace" and "Rev Simpkins and the Phantom Notes". He is one half of the duo "Sons of Joy" with fellow course leader Dan Merrill.
COURSE LEADER: BA(HONS) FILM MUSIC AND SOUNDTRACK PRODUCTION/LECTURER IN MUSIC
Mark Roberts
MA, BMus (Hons), Cert Ed, Dip ABRSM
Mark is a graduate of Goldsmiths College London. Mark’s experience comes from both record production/engineering and performance side of music being an active musician involved in performance of orchestral, jazz and popular music. In addition to leading the new degree in Film Music and Soundtrack Production, Mark lectures in music history, musicianship and practical studies.
CURRICULUM MANAGER: OPERATIONS AND PROJECTS/HEAD OF MUSIC IN EDUCATION
Phil Toms
MSc, BA (Hons), ALCM, QTS
Phil Toms is an active musician in the area, specialising in double bass, piano and keyboards. His musical interests bridge the gap between classical, jazz, film music, music theatre and popular music. Phil has a strong background in music technology and, having spent the past ten years teaching in primary and secondary schools, he is currently lecturing on music in education and musical theatre. He is developing community outreach projects and keeps the mechanics of the centre running, such as the bookings diary, course timetables and facilities. In 2004 Phil was awarded the Leader of the Year Award for Outstanding Service to Youth by the Jack Petchey Foundation. He enjoys spending time at Longleat House, near Bath, where he is often found at the piano.
HEAD OF KEYBOARD STUDIES
Lesley Young
MMus, BMus, ARCM, LMusA, AMusA, PGCE
A prize winner in national and international piano competitions both at home and abroad, Australian pianist Lesley Young has combined a performing career spanning three continents with teaching, examining and adjudicating, and commissioned a number of new works. By the age of twenty she had made many radio and television broadcasts, played at the Sydney Opera House and appeared as soloist with leading Australian orchestras; her Wigmore Hall debut followed three years later. A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, RNCM and Royal College of Music, Lesley studied with Max Olding, Ryszard Bakst and Yonty Solomon and in master classes with Vlado Perlemuter, Jorge Bolet (at the Edinburgh Festival), Ronald Smith and Sergei Dorensky, amongst others. Lesley’s specialist research interests include 19th century piano music, Australian composers, the music of George Gershwin and the cognitive psychology of music. Following a music lectureship at James Cook University, Lesley became Head of Keyboard Studies at Colchester Institute in 1995, where she teaches piano and lectures on the MA, BA (Hons) and ND music programmes in research, music literature and performance.
