Staff A-Z

Often combining acoustic with electronic sounds Ben’s interest lies in how processes from one can be applied to the other, and the relationship between the ‘human’ and ‘non-human’ in the context of a live performance. He has previously written music for the BBC Proms, Manchester Collective, Nonclassical, National Youth Choir, BBC Singers and Colin Currie Quartet, and is currently working on a debut album.

He played in the National Youth Orchestra for two years, and studied at the Royal College of Music with Terence MacDonagh. He then won Countess of Munster, Vaughan Williams Trust and Martin Musical Scholarships to continue his studies in London and in Germany with Heinz Holliger. Chris is well known for his expertise in the performance of contemporary and experimental music, and has been oboist in the ground-breaking ensemble Capricorn since 1977. He now plays in the internationally renowned ensemble The Fibonacci Sequence, with whom he is shortly to make a CD of oboe chamber music. He has performed and broadcast as a soloist since 1976, being described by Paul Griffiths in the Financial Times as “an outstanding musician, one who seems to exist within his instrument, rapt in concentration” at his Purcell Room debut recital.

Dr. Žak Ozmo is a music director, conductor, plucked instrument performer, and scholar with over 20 years of experience in historical performance, cross-cultural research, and arts innovation. His expertise spans music from the mid-15th century to today, encompassing classical, folk, and popular traditions. He pioneered Global Performance Practice, a forward-thinking approach merging historical performance with diverse global musical traditions.

As the founder and director of the period-instrument ensemble L’Avventura London, Žak is internationally recognised for his artistic vision and scholarship. Praised for his “excellent musicianship” and “searching intellect and wry imagination…beautiful, fluent playing” (Gramophone), he leads projects based on his original research, performing editions, and arrangements. His ensemble has performed at major festivals and venues internationally, including the Kölner Philharmonie (Cologne), Grande Auditório Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon), and the Queen’s Hall (Edinburgh).

Beyond historical performance, Žak is a leading innovator in applied neuroaesthetics, exploring how music and the arts impact brain function, health, and behaviour. As founding director and CEO of the Ozmo Institute for Neuroaesthetics, he collaborates with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to investigate the transformative power of music, dance, visual arts, and architecture in healthcare, education, and community settings.

A passionate educator and advocate for interdisciplinary research, Žak frequently shares his insights on BBC Radio 3 and NPR. In 2019, he delivered a TEDx Talk titled “Why Refugees Are Integral to the Future of Art.” Since 2021, he has also been the producer and host of Music and Medicine, a monthly radio show on WYXR Memphis, available on Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.

Research Interests and Supervision Areas

• Global Performance Practice (including African musical influences in Western music before 1800)
• Historical Performance Practice
• Neuroaesthetics
• Music and Conflict: War, Revolutions, and Pandemics
• Music and Society
• Entrepreneurship

Since 2020, she has been leading the module Writing the Body that explores interdisciplinary and embodied approaches to writing for the MA Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where she also supervises MA and MFA projects. This year, she will teach a 3-week intensive to MA Choreography students as well.

Vanio has worked extensively at Rose Bruford College since 2011 as the principal movement tutor in the BA European Theatre Arts and has contributed to other modules and supervised practical and written dissertations. She was recently appointed as Module Year Coordinator in the same course. She has convened the Research Methodologies unit at the MA Ensemble Theatre (2014 – 2018) and has coordinated the IRP projects for the MA Actor Performer Training (2021, 2022).

Vanio has taught physical and ensemble theatre at Goldsmiths (2009-2022) and has worked as a movement and dance tutor in various other Higher Education Institutions including LAMDA and Middlesex University.

After training as an actor and a dancer in Greece and the UK, she embarked on her Practice as research (PhD, Goldsmiths, 2013, funded by Greek State Institution of scholarships) into the Post-Grotowskian theatre tradition and Contact Improvisation as part of which she worked with the award-winning company Song of the Goat Theatre (Poland). She has studied internationally with various inspirational theatre and dance practitioners including Farm in the Cave (Czech Republic), Studio Matejka (Poland), Meg Stuart (UK), Nancy Stark Smith (UK/Spain), Charlie Morrissey (UK/Malta), Kirstie Simson (UK), and Simonetta Alessandri (UK). In 2022, Vanio became a Fellow of Higher Education Academy.

As a performer, she has worked for an eclectic mix of artists (Theatre Lab, Athletes of the Heart Lab, Song of the Goat Theatre, Angela Woodhouse, aswespeakproject, Nesreen Nabil Hussein). She has co-created with artist and dramatherapist Tania Batzoglou the performance ritual project titled CANDID that reflects on how female friendships evolve over time. She has led intergenerational projects for women that combine yoga, movement, and writing. Vanio’s work engages with issues of vulnerability, memory and candidness fusing physicality, video, autobiography and text into poetic, surreal and immersive environments and it has been shown in Greece, UK, Italy, Poland, Germany, Egypt and Lebanon.

Qualifications And Background:

Education
2009-2013: Practice Based PhD: ‘Towards a practice of Attunement: An Incorporation of Elements from Song of the Goat Theatre and Contact Improvisation’ / Goldsmiths, University of London & Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

2008: Diploma in Dance / Birkbeck University
2007: MA Performance Making (Distinction) / Goldsmiths, University of London
2004: Diploma in Acting, Drama School of the Odeion Athinon / Athens, Greece

1999-2003: BA in Theatre Studies (First) / National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Other teaching qualifications:
2022: Fellowship Higher Education Academy
2019: 200 hours Yoga Teacher Training (by Yoga on the Lane – Vinyasa flow yoga)

2017 – 18 Fellowship in Accessible Performance Practice (Rose Bruford College)
Movement tutor and movement director with D/deaf or disabled young artists Ensemble 2018 Train: Training Programme, GRAEAE.

Grants and awards:

2010 – 12: Grant by A.G. Leventis Foundation towards doctoral research

2009 – 12: Full-time scholarship by State Scholarship Foundation of Greece (IKY) towards doctoral research

2006 – 07: Full-time scholarship by State Scholarship Foundation of Greece (IKY) towards Master’s studies.

2000 – 01: ERASMUS- SOCRATES FREEMOVER scholarship (IKY) for attendance at the Theatre Studies Department (Paris VIII – Vincennes- St Denis) and Department of History of Arts (Universidad de Salamanca).

His writing appears in books and journals including The Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio, Organised Sound (CUP) and Playing With Words: The Spoken Word in Artistic Practice (Cornerhouse) He lectures widely, including invited talks and workshops in Bangalore, Istanbul and Recife (Brazil) as well as at the BBC, Tate Modern and Tate Britain among others.

From 2003 – 2011 he led the MA in Sonic Arts at Middlesex University and also teaches regularly at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Conferred with the title of Professor in January 2017.

Designs include work for companies such as Retina Dance, Charles Linehan and Marie-Gabrielle Rotie. Since 2003 Fay has held the position of Senior Technician at Trinity Laban Faculty of Dance, where she has lit numerous pieces for Transitions and now also contributes to the teaching of Performance Design. Fay joined Lizzi Kew-Ross and Company as part of the creative team in 2010; their next work will go into production later this year. Fay is also part of collective ‘The Latecomers’; with Dance Artists Anne Gaëlle Thiriot and Geneviève Giron. At the moment Fay is touring an installation performance with Angela Woodhouse.

He has been described as “A Magician of Sound…hyperkinetic rainbow-hued…joy & freedom” (Financial Times), “the most joyous sound I’ve heard in ages!” (New York Times),  “A riotous overabundance of love and rage…an extraordinary experience” (The Wire),”a system-crasher of genre…unmistakable style…highly complex, sophisticated and extremely entertaining, virtuoso ad absurdum” (Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik), and “a super nova…a brazen sensorial mash up…riot and a rainbow…brimmingly heartfelt multi sensorial, genuinely energising fizzer of a new work…super charged joy…forces us all to sit up and loosen up and buck up” (Kate Mollison BBC New Music Show.)

His music has been awarded: an Ivor Novello, Paul Hindemith Prize: ” a Brit who defies every conceivable genre boundary…an extremely modern and future-oriented style”. Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize: “Unbridled joy…sophisticated, passionate music full of pulsating energy and stylistic diversity”, Elb Philharmonie’s Claussen Simon Composition Prize, RPS Royal Philharmonic Society Prize, Dankworth Jazz Prize, Leverhume Art Scholarship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra , the Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Award.

He was a London Symphony Orchestra Panufnik Composer and has represented the UK in the Orchestral section of the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM).
“Some of the most genuinely extraordinary orchestral music you’ll ever have the good fortune to experience…staggeringly happy…unstoppable, continue-at-all-costs need to sing. Melody is literally everywhere…it’s undeniably a superabundance, yet it’s also an unbelievable, glorious treat” 5 against 4.

Alex has released three critically acclaimed albums MUSIC for BOSCH PEOPLE (Birmingham Record Company/ NMC label), iLOLLI-POP (non-classical) and HAPPY MUSIC for ORCHESTRA (Delphian) as well as many smaller releases. Each has been widely reviewed and featured in Uk, USA and Europe in broad sheets (NYT, Guardian, Times, Financial Times etc) and Music magazines (The Wire. Quitus, Bandcamp, Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, Crescendo,Positionen, Point of Departure etc.)

He is a commissioned contributor to John Zorn’s Arcana X 2021. “This is what an orchestra can be like in the 21st century: an ensemble that speaks with one voice yet also gives voice to each of its members” The Times

His music is frequently performed internationally by many of the worlds leading orchestras, ensembles and festivals: London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), WDR Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elb Philharmonie, Ensemble Modern, Klang Forum Wien, London Sinfonietta, AskSchöenberg, Neue Vocalsolisten, Riot Ensemble, Explore Ensemble, Ensemble Klang, London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), National Youth Orchestra GB, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain,, BBC proms, Bang on a Can Long Play, MearzMusik, Guadeamus, ECLAT, impulse Graz, Now essen, Klangspuren swartz, Wigmore hall, Klammer Klang,, Making Music (UK), Hyper Duo, National Youth Jazz Orchestra (UK) NYJO, Listen-Pony, Aldeburgh Festival. “Alex Paxton’s fascinating score impressed me from the very first moment…the notes literally jumped out at me from the score; it was clear that this was a unique compositional voice, combining a complex, almost chaotic sensibility with a charming grounding in folk tradition.” conductor Alan Gilbert

He has written six operas hosted by English National Opera and Helios Collective, Tête à Tête opera festival, Second Movement Opera. “Operatic Game Boy music played by a virtuosic motley crew that’s inexplicably been hired to provide live jingles for a primetime TV show sometime in the recent past that never quite was” Point of departure

As a jazz trombone soloist “Paxton is a monster improviser” (Bandcamp) Alex has performed concerto-like pieces of his own with WDR Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Asko:Schoenberg,  Riot Ensemble, Ensemble Klang, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), & ensemble x.y.

He is founder of Dreammusics ensemble and performs regularly with pioneering improvisers (eg: Charlotte Keeffe, Steve Noble). “meticulously scored…seems to change with every bar, enfolding bite-size pieces of classic minimalism, brass brand tradition, electronic noise, & video game plasticity..intensely virtuosic and giddily joyful. electronically slathered trombone…connects his garrulous attack to the most extroverted playing of George Lewis & Roswell Rudd…” Bandcamp Daily Best Contemporary Classical.

Alex has written extensively for musicians in community settings including, innovative ways of writing for young instrumentalists & singers in a post-Roald Dahl world of new-music.  eg: NOGGIN and the WHALE (Massed forces including 500 young instrumentalists and singes), Fly Like a Kitchen, Muffin, Pudding Tummy and The smelling test.

He is professorial composition staff at Trinity Laban and has worked as lead-composition tutor (and workshop leader) on the National Youth Orchestra GB, he has taught/ lectured at composition and improvisation at conservatories including, RAM, GSMD, RCM, The Royal Conservatoire (NL) (and multiple universities).

Alex studied as a scholar at Royal Academy of Music & the Royal College of Music and is an endorsed solo artist with Micheal Rath Trombones.

Sally recently performed all the Beethoven Cello Sonatas with pianist Ian Buckle in the Leeds International Concert Series and gave the british premiere of In manus tuas for solo cello by Caroline Shaw at the London Spitalfields festival.

In summer 2018, Sally played in chamber music festivals in Germany, Scotland and England and performed recitals in Nuremberg and Brooklyn, New York. 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the Fitzwilliam Quartet, who are celebrating by re-recording their benchmark Shostakovich Quartet cycle and the late Schubert quartets.

Nic is also the founder and violist of the internationally acclaimed Smith Quartet renowned for their performance of new music and prize winners of the Prudential Award for the Arts. Now into their third decade, they have collaborated with many of the worlds leading musicians including John Adams, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, David Tannenbaum, Andy Sheppard, Django Bates, the rock group Pulp, and dance companies Siobhan Davies and Shobana Jeyasingh.

They regularly perform in many of the worlds most prestigious festivals and leading concert halls. The Smith Quartet record for Signum Classics their first three albums receiving worldwide acclaim. As a violist and a conductor, he has worked with many of London’s leading orchestras including London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, English Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. The more observant viewer may also have seen Nic playing the part of a ghost in Anthony Minghella’s film Truly, Madly, Deeply.

* Conferred with the title of Professor in January 2017.

He has been awarded the Gerald Moore Prize for accompanists and the Paul Hamburger Prize for Accompaniment in association with a performance of Die schöne Müllerin, directed by Graham Johnson. He has also won the Accompanist’s Prize at the Bampton Young Singers Competition. He has participated in many international competitions including Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Wigmore Hall/International Opera Competition, and the Das Lied International Competition.

Dylan has been an Oxford Lieder Young Artist (with contralto Jess Dandy) and has performed at the festival in subsequent years. He is an alumnus of the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria, where he performed in masterclasses for Julius Drake, Rudolf Jansen, Helmut Deutsch, and Elly Ameling. Dylan is a Britten-Pears Young Artist and studied there with Christoph Pregardien, Julius Drake, and Richard Stokes. He is a laureate of the Académie Royaumont in association with the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Together with mezzo Ema Nikolovska, Dylan gave his debut recital at Wigmore Hall in May 2019. He has performed in recital at other venues in London such as the Barbican, Milton Court Concert Hall, St. Martins-in-the-Fields, Cadogan Hall, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Dylan can be heard frequently on BBC Radio 3, whether it is for a Proms Extra concert, a Total Immersion performance, or live on InTune.

Dylan has attended SongFest on the Martin Katz Fellowship and the Aspen Music Festival as a student of Ann Schein. He was a participant in The Song Continues masterclass series at Carnegie Hall with Marilyn Horne, Jessye Norman, and Dalton Baldwin, and was subsequently invited to be a pianist for their residency in Paris.

Dylan has also played in masterclasses with Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Dame Felicity Lott, and with Roger Vignoles, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Christian Gerhaher at Wigmore Hall.

Dylan is the founder of re-sung, a London based song recital series that focuses on the connection between text and music, with special interest on creating new interpretations of masterworks and championing contemporary songs.

Dylan was recently appointed to the Vocal Coach faculty at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. He has also recently recorded the complete songs of Samuel Barber for Resonus label.

He is regularly invited, as chamber musician and soloist, to appear at international festivals which have included Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Nordland, Hong Kong and Bermuda.

Despite reading Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, Anthony gradually became more absorbed with playing the clarinet. The National Federation of Music Societies’ “Young Artist” award provided a springboard for his recital career, and he made his Wigmore Hall debut in 1994. Concerto appearances at the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Cadogan Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall followed.

Anthony plays on Selmer Recital Clarinets.