My musical life began unconsciously, growing up in a household of musicians: father Edward a violinist, mother Helen a pianist and older brother Harvey also a pianist. Music was a constant companion in the house, someone was always practising Chopin or unaccompanied Bach, and as a result it is impossible to remember ever ‘being exposed’ to classical music for the first time.

Already able to read music, I started playing the tenor horn aged 6, moving on to the euphonium and finally the French horn in about 1976, all under the guidance of Robert Peel, the brass teacher at Marlborough College. It was at this time that I followed Harvey, my older brother, to New College Choir School in Oxford, starting as a chorister at the same time that Edward Higginbottom became the director, who was taking over from David Lumsden. It was here that music really took hold of me viscerally and I soon fell in love with the choral repertoire from Byrd, Tomkins and Tallis through Palestrina and Purcell to the Victorian masses of Stanford, the anthems of Wesley and on to the music of Kenneth Leighton and Benjamin Britten. Rehearsing and performing the St. John and St. Matthew Passions are highlights I particularly cherish. I cannot exaggerate the effect and influence these years had on my musical education.

From New College, I was awarded a music scholarship to Marlborough College (where Dad was Head of Strings) and continued my horn studies there with Robin Kellow and in London once a month with Anthony Halstead.

After school I went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for four years, studying the horn with Hugh Seenan and Anthony Chidell, both of whose influence and guidance were enormous and defining as far as my horn playing is concerned. In my last two years at music college, Hugh gave me invaluable experience playing alongside him on many occasions in the London Symphony Orchestra, where he was Principal Horn. This led to a blossoming freelance career when I graduated in 1989 which I pursued in and around London for the next ten years.

I recently (2021) rejoined the Philharmonia Orchestra as Principal Horn, having previously held the position from 1998 until 2008. I spent the intervening thirteen years freelancing in London and as Prinicipal Horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In both of these positions, and as guest principal with the LSO. and other UK orchestras, I have worked with many of the world’s leading musicians in the most prestigious concert halls at home and abroad, a life of music and travel that, while often exhausting, has filled my life with the most extraordinary experiences.

During this time I have been frequently invited to perform as concerto soloist, particularly in Mozart’s ever popular 4th horn concerto. Most memorably, for me, I performed this concerto in the Dennis Brain 50th anniversary memorial concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with the Philharmonia conducted by Barry Tuckwell. I am also to be heard on the celebrated Deutsche Grammophon recording of Schumann’s Konzertstuck for four horns and orchestra with Christian Thielemann and the Philharmonia, with Nigel Black magnificently leading the four solo horns.

Over the years I have also been fortunate to perform Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with several of the UK’s most renowned tenors, including Philip Langridge, Ian Partridge, Mark Padmore, Charles Daniels and Ian Bostridge, and have performed Richard Strauss’s 1st horn concerto on several occasions, both in the UK and abroad.

In addition to orchestral playing, I have enjoyed many concerts as a chamber musician, performing both with the RPO and Philharmonia’s own ensembles and with established independent groups such as the Nash Ensemble, London Winds, the Razumovsky Ensemble, the Pleyel Ensemble and Britten Sinfonia.

In 2006 I was invited by Charles Dutoit and Chantal Juillet to become part of an international faculty of leading players from Canada, the USA and Europe establishing new summer music academies in China and South Korea. Over the following few years, the faculty enjoyed introducing challenging orchestral and chamber music repertoire to students and young professionals chosen from the host country and eastern Asia. In January 2019 I enjoyed two weeks spent at the Cartagena International Music Festival in Colombia, giving masterclasses and coaching the horn section of the Festival Orchestra as well as performing with the Philharmonia.