Havilland Willshire

Biography

Passionate about his beliefs in the value of a wide variety of music-making, Havilland Willshire is regularly invited to speak about the role of music in the lives of young people. He has worked extensively with young musicians as conductor and pianist and is highly sought after as adjudicator and competition jury member. An experienced examiner, he has served on numerous validation and review panels. 

Havilland Willshire studied piano with Rsyzard Bakst and accompaniment with Clifton Helliwell at the Royal Northern College of Music and music education at the University of Manchester. He held the post of Head of Metropolitan Wigan Instrumental Music Service for nine years before accepting the position of Head of Junior Conservatoire of Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2000. Following a year as Head of Music Education in 2008 he became Dean of the School of Music in 2009. In 2014 he was appointed Assistant Director of Music and Head of Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, leading to his appointment as Director of Music in 2018. 

A dedicated teacher, he taught for a number of years at the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music Junior Conservatoire and continued to teach throughout his time in Scotland. He also enjoyed an active concert career as soloist and chamber musician including live broadcasts and recordings for BBC Radio.