Staff A-Z

He formed the Bernardi Music Group in 1991 whilst also performing with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, former Guildford Philharmonic and the Oporto Chamber Orchestra plus Manchester Camerata as guest Concertmaster. His vision was to bring together a professional group of musicians committed to inspiring young and older members of a community to come together to share music and support charitable causes.

In 2000, Andrew and the Bernardi Music Group founded the Shipley Arts Festival, which has since grown into a significant event in the county’s cultural calendar, bringing world-class music to rural West Sussex while deeply embedding its activities within the local community. Building on this foundation, the TSMA (Trinity Sannyi Music Academy) was established in Hong Kong in 2017 as the festival’s cultural exchange platform for Asia. TSMA serves as an incubator for young musicians, nurturing emerging talent by providing valuable performance opportunities alongside professional artists. With a strong focus on both skill development and performance experience, TSMA organises annual masterclasses, concerts, and summer and winter schools across Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and other parts of Asia.

For twenty years, Andrew has served as a tutor at Trinity Laban. He has taught violin, viola, chamber music and given lectures at the 2026 Teachers Symposium as the Entrepreneur Artist and has been invited to lead Colab projects in 2025 and 2026. Over thirty former pupils are now in leading positions within the music profession. He was in 2026 deeply honoured to be given the highest possible award by Macua University in a Double Blue for his playing and masterclass.

Andrew has performed with artists as diverse as Joe Stilgoe, Sir John Rutter CBE, Rik Wakeman, the late Natalie Cole, and Gordon Giltrap. He has played on TV and film soundtracks including cameo appearances in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Nanny McPhee plus Pride and Prejudice.

Andrew continues a 25 year relationship with Raymond Gubbay Ltd having performed over 1000 of his 2500 concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Lucerne Concert Hall. He was invited to perform on national television in China to celebrate the Spring Festival on the Phoenix TV to an audience of over 40 million. He is looking forwards to leading his BMG Stradaphonics with Anando Muckerjee in the 2026 EFG London Jazz Festival.

Andrew performs on the 1696 Amici Bernardi Stradivarius and a Voirin bow formerly owned by the late Lord Menuhin. Outside of music, Andrew’s other great passions are sailing, architecture, fine cuisine and racing classic performance automobiles at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

Spring season 2022 featured Sascha as soloist in the Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Printzregententheater in Munich and Konzerthaus Berlin along with partner Antoine Tamestit and the AKAMUS Berlin. As a chamber musician, the recording release of complete string chamber music of Edward Gregson on Naxos Label and international concerts with his Navarra Quartet as well as guesting principal with the London Philarmonic Orchestra and Orcherstra of the Age of Enlightenment will soon be followed by the release of the complete Schubert Trios on gut strings and a rich schedule touring with quartet, a Wigmore Hall recital and with many appearances with Britten Sinfonia.  

Sascha has appeared as principal player of Aurora Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Academy of Ancient Music, English Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra and the Romanian Chamber Orchestra, a newly founded project very close to his heart in Romania. He enjoys the company of chamber music partners such as Anthony Marwood, Jonathan Stone, Katya Apekisheva, Adam Walker, RIchard Lester, Guy Johnston, Tim Posner at various festivals such as Adelburgh, Peasmarch or West Wicklow and their own quartet’s festival in Holland WCMF. Along with his quartet, Sascha has been the artistic director or the Weesp Chamber Music Festival going for last nine years near Amsterdam, curating eclectic programmes featuring guests such as Adam Walker, Aneleen Laenerts and Matt Hunt.  

Both violinist Rainer Schmidt from Hagen Quartet and composer György Kurtag marked strong influences on his musical understanding and approach to music scores. He had since had the opportunity to play in chamber groups with musicians including Thomas Zehetmair, Benjamin Schmid, Leonidas Kavakos and the members of Hagen Quartet. As a member of Mozart Quartet Salzburg, he toured around Europe performing complete Mozart quartets. 

As soloist, Sascha has often performed with the Philarmonic Banatul from Romania, recently the concert piece by Enescu in a unique arrangement with a symphony orchestra and coming up next season, a commissioned piece for viola and symphony orchestra by the Romanian composer Sabin Pautza. In the past years, notable soloist performances are the ones with Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra amongst others, in the Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), the Tonhalle (Zürich), the Kunst- und Kongresshaus (Luzern), the Sydney Opera House, and Melbourne Recital Centre. 

In 2007 he won the audition for the Principal Viola of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Previously a member of Camerata Salzburg (2006-2012) with Roger Norrington and Leonidas Kavakos was followed by Sascha successfully auditioning for the Australian Chamber Orchestra where he was appointed as a core member shortly after. He played as co-principal viola from 2012-2015 and acting principal viola 2015-2017 and had a significant role in curating chamber music programs and education. During his collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sascha found an exceptional exemplary of a 1610 Gio Paolo Maggini viola which he used in concerts for two years, having to return it to the orchestra after relocating to the UK. 

Sascha enjoys playing regularly in gut stringed ensembles, appearing as co-principal viola with Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Le Poeme Harmonique and the Academy for Ancient Music Berlin. He worked with conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, Louis Langrée, Sir Roger Norrington, Philippe Herreweghe and Rene Jacobs and is a founding member of Schubert String Trio London.   

In addition to his activities as a classical musician, Sascha is dedicated to jazz and other forms of improvised music and regularly appears at jazz concerts and festivals. He loves to play with his father bassist Johnny Bota, guitarist James Kitchman and pianist Bruno Heinen and has appeared at jazz festivals in Europe as well as the EFG Jazz Festival in London with the J.Kitchman Quartet. Part of ACO Underground he appeared next to shout poet Marcie O’Neal, and shared stage with Giovanni Sollima and Jonny Greenwood. 

Sascha plays on a labelled M.Albani viola 1639 made in Bolzano, a baroque Pawlikovski instrument and on an NS design 5 stringed electric viola with various pedals.

Image credit: Andrej Grilc

Teaching includes the NYO cello coach for 10 years, and chamber music coach for Cambridge music faculty. Her countless pupils have ranged from King Charles to her present Trinity Laban pupils where she has taught for 30 years. 

“I am devoted to teaching and seeing people find themselves and succeed!” 

Naomi has conducted many small orchestras including Trinity Laban Sinfonia and organised numerous courses at her home. 

As a jazz bass player and singer she went on tour with John Cleese and the Cambridge Footlights to various festivals in the 60s. 

Her love of painting, writing,  poetry, horses not to mention French cooking and her 5 children plus grand children and now great grand children keep her firing on all cylinders! She is married to the composer and writer Antony le Fleming 

Raised in a quiet village in rural Suffolk, Olly went on to study Jazz Piano at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Trinity Laban, graduating with a First Class BMus (Hons) in Jazz and an MMus with Distinction. In 2018, he received the Peter Whittingham Award, which supported the creation of his debut album Scathed Citizens, featuring acclaimed New York saxophonist John O’Gallagher. His latest release, In Those Remote Stars, was featured on BBC 6 Music and hailed as a ‘profound meditation on imagination, rediscovery and the possibility of better worlds’.

In the UK, Olly has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Ronnie Scott’s and Café OTO. International performances include LOFT in Cologne, Donau 115 in Berlin, Schnittpunkte der Musik in Austria and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico. As a sideman, he has worked with artists including Sam Eastmond, Olivia Murphy, Becca Wilkins, George Garford and Dave Sear.

Growing up in Lucca, Italy, Valentina began her musical journey as a pianist before embracing the double bass in 2009. She graduated with the highest mark and honors from the L. Boccherini Conservatoire and later earned a Master of Performance from the Royal College of Music in London, with distinction. She continued her studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance under Leon Bosch, receiving multiple prestigious scholarships, including those from Trinity College London and the Leverhulme Trust. In 2018 she won the Carne Trust Junior Fellowship, a distinction reserved for outstanding musicians.

Valentina has received numerous awards, including: 1st Prize at the RCM Double Bass Competition (2016), Vernon Elliot Double Bass Competition (2018), Vivian Joseph Classical Concerto Competition – String Category (2018), De Simone and Partners Prize at the Rome Chamber Music Festival (2018), Pass Project Composer Residency Fondazione Arturo Toscanini Parma (2024), Composer in Residence at the Visby International Centre for Composers (Sweden), supported by the Swedish Government (2024) and the Artist in Residence at BANFF, Canada (2019).

She was also a finalist in prestigious international competitions such as Migliori Diplomati d’Italia (2015) and the Double Bass International Competition Galicia Garcia Graves. In 2017, she was selected as one of only 16 double bassists worldwide to compete in the Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Competition in Texas.

Her compositions have been commissioned by major institutions, including Agnelli Foundation (Torino),  Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, Italian Cultural Institutes in Washington DC, Hong Kong, Hannover, Wolfsburg, and Stuttgart and Fondazione Giacomo Puccini (Lucca).

During the pandemic, Valentina gained international recognition for her project How I Met Puccini®, featured in The Strad. This innovative initiative combined historical research, personal storytelling, and performance, offering a fresh and engaging perspective on classical music.

As a soloist, she has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Teatro Regio di Parma (Italy), Wolfsburg Theater (Germany) and St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London).  She has also collaborated with I Solisti Veneti, under the late M. Claudio Scimone, and has premiered new compositions written specifically for her by leading contemporary composers.

A fearless musical explorer, Valentina has redefined the role of the double bass in jazz and experimental music. She has performed at leading jazz festivals, including Düsseldorf Jazz Marathon, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Udine Jazz, Tuscia Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Clinics and Zappanale Festival.  She has also made a name for herself in the Frank Zappa community, transcribing and performing Zappa’s repertoire for double bass in innovative ways.

Her solo albums showcase her boundary-pushing approach to the instrument:

• “Music from the Sphinx” (2019)
• “Ruutsu” (2022)
• “Shake Your Duty” (2024, Parco della Musica Records, Rome)
• 8 singles for Ulysses Arts Label (2021)

Currently, Valentina lives in London and is a double bass professor at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and she is the owner of the brand How I met Puccini® She also has extensive experience in jazz, performing at major jazz festivals such as the Dusseldorf Jazz Marathon, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Tuscia Jazz, and Umbria Jazz Clinics, and reaching the finals in competitions such as Tuscia Jazz as the best double bass and electric bass player and the Nicola Tiberio Awards in 2012. She plays a 2014 Scipioni Bass made in Mantua and is a D’Addario artist.

www.valentinaciardelli.com

The output of Cole’s artistic practice manifests through performance, composition and teaching; all informing and reinforcing each other. With a musical language that is informed by and spans across cultures and modalities, Xhosa is a sought after composer in the contemporary classical and improvising industries in the UK. Having been commissioned by the BBC, Symphony Hall, Ideas of Noise Festival and Flatpack Film Festival and Aldeburg Festival Cole is building his own methodology for composition that puts islamic geometry, natural structures/processes, West African rhythms and non-hierarchical orchestration and performance at its center. This unique combination is the foundation of highly invigorating music that has the stability of sacred music structures found in Wester- Harmony and free combustion of Black improvising traditions. Cole’s teachers include John O’gallager, Hans Koller and Pat Thomas, who supported in building an understanding of Western Classical composition from the foundations of Schoenberg’s ‘Fundamentals of Musical Composition’ through to the modalities of Messiaen, Bartok and Thelonious Monk.

The pre-reductionist understanding that the arts are all reflections of the same divine principles has always been at the heart of Xhosa’s outlook on music. His first steps in the arts were through dance and thus he carries a vision that isn’t limited to solely music. To date he has co-directed 3 short films, curated and performed a durational piece at the Midlands Arts Central and worked with several award winning playwrights, poets and visual artists. His inquisitive nature has drawn him to the inner workings, both practically and conceptually, in these fields and continues to imbue his collaborations with increasing creative empathy for those with whom he works.

In 2018 he was the recipient of the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award and has since: performed alongside artists including Monty Alexander and Courtney Pine and as a soloist for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; appeared at the BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Ronnie Scotts; and received the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Newcomer, Jazz FM’s Breakthrough act and Peter Whittingham Jazz Award. Last year Xhosa completed a 38 date UK tour with his quartet featuring NYC tap dancer Liberty Styles. To date he’s recorded two studio albums: K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us featuring saxophonist, Soweto Kinch and Pianist, Reuben James and Ibeji, featuring conversations and duets with seven percussionists from the African Diaspora, which explores themes of Brotherhood, Ancestors, Masks, and Codes. As an improviser, Cole’s career has launched into the contemporary classical and free jazz communities into Europe and beyond, working closely with internationally acclaimed artists including Hamid Drake, Elaine Mitchener, Jason Yarde, Mark Sanders. More recently he has been developing connections within the Berlin music communities with Bex Birch, James Banner and Asger Nissan.

Xhosa has the rare trait of having firm roots in tradition paired with an uncompromisable radical vision. His art speaks to an intersectional experience that celebrates the reality of community connection and challenges conventions that inhibit true creative expression.

 

It is the highly gifted Xhosa Cole who is currently making most waves … Cole has the rich expressive range and technical skills that characterise significant soloists.

The Guardian

The 24-year-old tenor saxophonist/composer is a British sensation and proves that he’s here for blood with this release … He’s got technique, talent, artistry and a burning desire that shows throughout the set.

Downbeat

ENO Baylis, the company’s outreach department, has afforded him the happy opportunity to be involved in many projects with people from all sections of the community. He has been commissioned to create events for them such as Jazz Rigoletto with Westminster Council, performed at the Steiner Theatre,The Carmen Storyfor schools in Hackney and Tower Hamlets and The Soldiers Day in Hackney. He has also done education work for the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras and the Royal Ballet.

Away from ENO Mick enjoys a busy freelance career with the United Kingdom’s premier orchestras and ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and BBC Concert Orchestras and the London Sinfonietta, performing under such world renowned conductors as Abbado, Muti, Gergiev, Previn, Haitink, Maazel, Temirkanov, Mackerras, Tilson-Thomas, Dutoit, Colin Davis, Rostropovich, Elder and many more.

His many film soundtrack recordings include Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, Nanny McPhee 2, Gangs of New York, Tomorrow Never Dies, Enemy at the Gates, Miss Potter, The English Patient and The Mask of Zorro. Mick has also deputized on West End shows such as My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.

Another important part of Mick’s professional life is in education. He is Professor of Percussion at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, percussion coach to the Ulster Youth Orchestra and gives private coaching and consultation lessons. He is frequently invited to adjudicate at music conservatoires. In 2011 he was co-founder of Rhythms Inc, a partnership with a growing reputation for using music to provide experiences that are engaging, inspirational and fun and that build new capabilities, develop team-working skills and promote creativity for a wide range of audiences from children to corporates.

An engaging communicator, Mick has appeared on various national radio shows. He was featured on Gershwin’s Horns with Rainer Hersch, A History of the World in 100 Objects on BBC Radio 4 and was the ‘Spoon Man on Radio 2’s Chris Evans Show. He is also comfortable as a presenter and happily performs humorous solo pieces on quirkier instruments such as musical saw, car horns, kazoo, washboard and even anvil!

Passionate about jazz, he was a founder member of The Lawless Four jazz quartet playing at private events and at venues including the Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican and The Savage Club.

Also in demand as a music administrator, for many years he has acted on behalf of Musical Associates Concerts Ltd and A.W.Events, booking musicians and acting as Orchestra Manager for their stately home and stadium concerts across the country. He was also Orchestra Manager for Camerata Ireland’s triumphant 2000 tour to Brazil, Argentina and Montevideo with music director Barry Douglas.

He is delighted to be a Zildjian Artist and is honored to be an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Kit performs solo pipe organ and solo piano concerts – and also plays in collaborations with saxophonist Tom Challenger, cellist Lucy Railton, composer Shiva Feshareki and with the band ‘ENEMY’. He is also currently working with violinist Aidan O’Rourke, composer Max de Wardener and in an organ trio with Reinier Baas and Jonas Burgwinkel. He also teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he himself studied and now holds a Fellowship.

“An exceptional soloist” – Wormser Zeitung
“It testifies to his world-class stature” – The Guardian
“One of the finest pianists of his generation” – Jazzwise
“Considerable chops and flowing imagination” – Downbeat

Malcolm’s love of many different styles of jazz has made him a versatile performer as well as a distinctive voice on the UK Jazz scene. In 1989, after studying at Exeter University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, occupying the lead trombone chair for two years. He has since performed with a variety of artists including Kenny Baker, John Dankworth, Henry Lowther, Martin Speake and Liam Noble. His debut album Lyric Trombone (1996) received wide acclaim – including encouraging words from American trombonist Jimmy Knepper, one of Malcolm’s major influences. He has also worked with soul artists Ronnie Spector and Martha Reeves and has twice toured with Bryan Ferry, featuring on two of his albums As Time Goes By, and The Jazz Age. More recently,  Malcolm has performed widely with the acclaimed Basin Street Brawlers and Three Way Stretch, a trio which also features Liam Noble and Dave Wickins, and draws on a wide range of jazz styles to achieve it’s unique sound. Their album I’ll be Seeing You (2020) is dedicated to the memory of the late Dave Wickins.

As a vocalist, Malcolm has developed a distinctive swinging style and an exciting approach to scat singing. Things are Looking Up by VoxCity5 (2007), features Malcolm’s original arrangements for two voices and rhythm section. The line-up includes fellow vocalist,  Nia Lynn and pianist Barry Green. His next release (due out  Autumn 2020), features Malcolm’s vocals  backed by a quartet, all of whom are graduates of the Trinity Laban Jazz Course and now well known names on the UK jazz scene: Leo Richardson (saxophones), Chris Eldred (piano), Conor Chaplin (bass) and Douglas Marinner (drums).