The Sue Aston Ensemble | Musicians

Leader : Sue Aston: Composer and professional violinist Sue Aston has appeared on classical recordings, radio and television, both nationally and internationally, and worked with eminent musicians such as Rattle, Kennedy, Donohoe, Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Charles Groves, Esa Pekka Salonen, Gordon Giltrap and Chris De Burgh. She has also supported the folk legends Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick. The BBC1 ‘Heaven and Earth Show’ interviewed Sue about her composition work on one of their episodes about the Cornish landscape.
Sue’s solo videos have been shown on Classic FM TV and are currently being broadcast daily on the Sky classical music channel ‘OMusic’. ‘The Home Coming’ is one of Sue’s most popular pieces, and has been viewed over 800,000 times on YouTube. As a teacher, she has hosted violin master classes, which have been attended by students from around the world. Sue has released two solo CDs and a DVD, which have been described as 'Celtic music for the classically appreciative’ by Cornish World Editor Nigel Pengelly. These are available from Amazon.co.uk. ‘The Forbidden City’ is an original work by Sue, and was commissioned by a youth theatre group in London. This piece was composed for unaccompanied solo violin, and has been arranged for this performance with piano accompaniment. www.sueaston.com www.myspace.com/sueaston
Mezzo Soprano : Maria Heseltine graduated from De Montfort University, Leicester, with an Honours Degree in Fine Art. She then worked at the Verrochio Centre of Art in Casole d'Elsa, Italy, where she saw a local girl give a recital of Puccini arias and felt compelled to learn the craft as a result. After returning to England Maria embarked on some interesting vocations including working for The Guardian newspaper, modelling for Eduardo Paolozzi and performing in a Peter Greenaway installation at the Hayward Gallery.
Meanwhile, she took singing lessons with Peter Medhurst, later applying to Trinity College of Music where she recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Vocal Performance as well as a Licentiate (LTCL) to support her work as a singing teacher.

While at Trinity Maria studied under the tutelage of Teresa Cahill and Robert Aldwinkle. Her roles studied on the Opera Scenes course included Dryad in Ariadne by Strauss, 3rd Nymph in Rusalka by Dvorak, Laura in Iolanthe by Tchaikovsky, Annio in La Clemency de Tito and Dorabella in Così Fan Tutti, both by Mozart. She also sang the part of Hansel in The Runaway Opera's production of Hansel and Gretel, by Humperdinck.

Since moving to Cornwall Maria has enjoyed working with composer Douglas Cook, performing with the Aston String Quartet and singing film soundtracks for artist Andrew Lanyon. Maria teaches Music, Art and Design Technology as supply at Mounts Bay School, and the number of her private singing and piano pupils is growing steadily. Maria lives in Penzance with her husband and two children.

Douglas Cook was born in West Ham, London in 1930, studied piano at the James Ching Piano School, Manchester, during the late 40's and after National Service in Egypt, music at Bretton Hall and composition with composer Anthony Milner. Largely self taught as a composer he soon realised that the avant garde held no appeal and that his natural inclination was to develop a personal style based on melody, harmony and rhythmic interest.

Much influenced by the mainstream 20th century English school including Vaughan Williams, Holst, Walton, Tippett and Britten as well as Early Music and modern French and Russian composers. His work includes a number of pieces for solo piano, flute & piano and various other instrumental combinations, choral works and songs, the Concertino for Cello and String Orchestra, Suite for Brass Quintet, 8 Variations for Recorder Consort, incidental music for stage, film and television.

Douglas moved from London to Cornwall in 1958 and has been fortunate since then to live in the extraordinary part of Cornwall known as West Penwith. Most of his music has been written there and it is tempting to believe that the surrounding landscapes of moor and sea have in some way influenced the character of what he writes, but if that is so it has not been a conscious pursuit. The music usually seems to have its own inner logic and momentum, which he attempts to follow and capture.

Flute : Pippa Drummond She began her musical career as a junior research fellow at St. Hugh's College, Oxford, and subsequently moved to Sheffield as a lecturer in the University music department before leaving to have a family and pursue a career as a professional flautist. She is also the author of a book on the German Concerto and a contributor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

A former principal flautist of the National Youth Orchestra and silver medallist of the Associated Board, Pippa studied music at Oxford under Edmund Rubbra where she gained an honours degree, a postgraduate degree in composition and a doctorate in music history. Her professional career has included regular work with many orchestras, including the English Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Symphony Orchestra and the English Pro Musica. She has taken part in broadcasts for the BBC and local radio and given solo recitals in London, Oxford, Bristol, Bath and Sheffield. She moved to West Cornwall last September and is enjoying playing with the Sue Aston ensemble. Her compositions include church and chamber music.

Cellist : Stephen Brown Born in East Ham, London, Stephen learned the ‘cello at school with William Roskelly. He played the Haydn D Major Concerto with his local Youth Orchestra aged 17, and also studied the Walton concerto. In his teenage years he played with the London Junior Orchestra (conductor Bernard Keefe) at the Royal Academy of Music and also played and performed regularly with friends in a string quartet. He was fortunate to have some conducting lessons from Sir Adrian Boult during these years.

While at University he performed for David Wilcox’s farewell and Philip Ledger’s inaugural concert at King’s College, Cambridge. Later in London he composed, orchestrated & conducted music for pantomimes, shows and reviews. He also played in the London-based group Sinfonia Concertante (conductor Clive Fairburn) receiving favourable notices in the national press.

In the 1980s he was a member of the Salomon Orchestra under various conductors including John Elliot Gardiner, Simon Rattle, Brian Wright and Nicholas Braithwaite, working with soloists that included Nigel Kennedy, Stephen Isserlis and Felicity Lott. The Salomon’s concerts at St. John’s Smith Square were regularly broadcast on the radio.

Later he was to take part in a commercial recording accompanying Hinge & Bracket, and also made a CD with the Academy of St. Thomas in Norwich. He has lived in Cornwall since 2000 and professional engagements have included the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and work with Plymouth Philharmonic Choir and Truro Choral Society. He is a member of the orchestra of New Devon Opera and has played for many other shows and choral societies in Devon and Cornwall. He is currently Musical Director of Bodmin Operatic Society. He plays an instrument made by Charles Boullangier c1840, which belongs to his wife, the ‘cellist Sue Heywood.

Elizabeth Gregg started playing the violin at the age of 9 and took up the viola at 16. She continued to play throughout a varied career which covered almost every area except music!

Since moving to Cornwall in 1982, Elizabeth has played the viola with several local orchestras and is now secretary of the Penzance Orchestral Society. She performed the Telemann Concerto in G with the Cornwall Chamber Orchestra in their 2004/5 season. In January 2008, along with her mentor, Pamela Rosenfeld, she founded Celtic Fiddlers.
Since 1996 she has been teaching the violin and is now working at Bolitho School and at home. Last year she was awarded the Postgraduate Diploma ‘Music Teaching in Professional Practice’ by Reading University.

Hilary Tyreman moved to Cornwall in 1989. She studied music at Royal Holloway College, University of London. After graduation she trained as a primary teacher specialising in music. She is currently assistant head teacher at Pensans Primary School and still enjoys teaching. Hilary has continued her study of music education training with Jo Glover and the late Derek Kitt. She is now working on her Masters degree. Hilary plays the violin in many local orchestras and also has a busy and noisy family life with her two daughters playing 6 instruments between them.