Sue Addison

Biography

Sue Addison was born in Louth, Lincolnshire, which is situated in the heart of England and also at the heart of the brass band movement. It was during her teenage years as a member of the Market Rasen Town Band that Sue fell in love with playing the trombone. She then went on to study the trombone seriously at the Sam Newsom Music School in Boston before receiving an Exhibition Scholarship at the Royal College of Music London. She studied the trombone at the Royal College for four years with Arthur Wilson and John Iverson, graduating with an Honours ARCM, and receiving the Brass prize. Shortly after completing her studies at the Royal College, Sue was offered a position in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the directorship of Sir Simon Rattle.

It was during this time that the growth of the Period Instrument movement was having a positive impact on the music business and Sue was increasingly offered the opportunity to be part of this exciting new development. For this reason, she moved back to London as a freelance player where she became principal of the newly–formed London Classical Players, The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Sixteen Choir and Orchestra, Academy Of Ancient Music and the Gabrieli Consort. She was a member of the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique for twenty-two years under the directorship of Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

She is a founder member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and she also founded the ensemble His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, of which she was a member for twenty-five years. She has played with nearly all of the major London orchestras and chamber ensembles including the London Sinfonetta and Nash Ensemble. She also plays Principal Trombone with Garsington Opera and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

She is currently professor of trombone and sackbut at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Centre for Early Music Performance and Research (CEMPR) at the University of Birmingham, and Birmingham Conservatoire. She has also given masterclasses at the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music London, Mannes College of Music New York and Boston Early Brass symposium in the USA.

She was also awarded a Hon LRAM for her teaching work at the Royal Academy of Music in 2002.