North Cheshire Wind Orchestra Conductors
- Alpesh Chauhan - Guest Conductor
-
Tom Newall - Guest Conductor
Dr Catherine Tackley - Musical Director
Catherine studied
Music at the University of York, where she conducted ensembles
including the University Big Band and student Concert Band and
Orchestra. She also performed in many groups as a clarinettist,
saxophonist and recorder player. Upon graduating in 1997 she was
awarded the John Paynter Prize in recognition of her contribution to
the Music Department. Catherine then worked as music teacher in
secondary schools in Newcastle and London and obtained the Postgraduate
Certificate in Education. During this time, she also worked and
performed with the National Youth Music Theatre and was a founder
member of Payback, one of London’s leading function bands.
Catherine is currently Senior Lecturer in Music at the Open University. Prior to this, she was Head of the Centre for Jazz Studies UK at Leeds College of Music. Catherine has a Ph.D. from City University, London, and her book "The Evolution of Jazz in Britain 1880-1935" was published by Ashgate in 2005. Her work has also been published in recognised journals, and has been presented at national and international conferences. She was awarded a prestigious Edison Fellowship at the British Library in 2006-7 to study recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. She is currently writing books on this subject and on Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert. Catherine is a co-editor of the Jazz Research Journal (Equinox), and is a member of the editorial board of Studies in Musical Theatre (Interim Publications). She is a member of the Board of Jazz Services and Women in Jazz (Swansea). Catherine is active as an conductor and instrumentalist in both classical and popular styles. She is currently Musical Director of Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats Big Band and the North Cheshire Wind Orchestra, and principal guest conductor of the West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra.
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Yibin Seow - Principal Guest Conductor
Yibin
Seow, the winner of the 6th Swiss Conducting Competition (2010) and the
International Wind Orchestra Conducting Competition "Con brio", Austria
(2010), is currently studying for his Masters in Conducting at the
Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and his studies are generously supported by the Zochonis Charitable Trust.
Yibin's involvement in conducting began as an assistant wind band conductor to Dr Lee Tian Tee with the TPJC and ACJC Symphonic Band in Singapore. He later underwent formal training with Maestro Wang Ya-hui at the YST Conservatory of Music, Singapore and Professor Felix Hauswirth at Basel Music Academy, Switzerland. He has taken masterclasses and lessons with conductors including Timothy Reynish, England, Dr Harlan Parker at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, USA and Alexander Polishchuk, Russia.
During the last few years, he has conducted
several wind orchestras including the Basel Musikschule Blasorchester
(Windspiel), Stadtmusik Basel Blasorchester and the Musikgellschaft
Harmonie Büsserach, which obtained a 2nd prize in the recent
Eidgenössisches Musikfest 2011 in St Gallen, Switzerland.
Yibin joined the Junior RNCM staff as a conductor at the start of this term, working alongside Ewa Strusinska.
Alpesh Chauhan - Guest Conductor
Alpesh
started playing the cello aged seven. In his hometown of Birmingham, he
studied under Veronica Raven, Elaine Ackers and then Ulrich Heinen
achieving a diploma in performance in the summer of 2007. He is now his
final year at the Royal Northern College of Music (on the cello),
studying with Eduardo Vassallo.
Alpesh began conducting at the age of 16, directing ensembles at the
secondary school he attended. In September 2007, he made his public
debut with the Bournville String Orchestra by conducting Samuel
Barber’s renowned Adagio for Strings. After a successful performance,
he went on to become the conductor of the orchestra, conducting the
orchestra through the last three years.
In the past, Alpesh has set up an orchestra (St. Peter’s Sinfonia) made
up of friends and local music teachers in Birmingham and he also set up
a string orchestra and a symphony orchestra in his first year at the
RNCM made up of fellow students.
Through various initiatives and invitations in both Manchester and
Birmingham, Alpesh has now worked with string orchestras, chamber
orchestras, symphony orchestras, brass ensembles, woodwind ensembles
and a choir in events ranging from concerts to a composition
competition and a fourth-year final recital.
Alpesh is mentored by Michael Seal (Associate Conductor of CBSO) but
has also received tuition from Mark Shanahan and Mark Heron. His
associations with Michael Seal have also led to him taking rehearsals
of Birmingham Schools’ Symphony Orchestra in Seal’s absence. The coming
academic year will see him working furthermore with BSSO, Birmingham
Philharmonic Orchestra and North Cheshire Wind Orchestra.
Daniel Parkinson - Guest Conductor
A
former pupil of Chetham’s School of Music, and music graduate of the
University of York, Daniel is currently studying privately with Mark
Heron, conducting teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Over the last two years, Daniel has had the opportunity to work with many ensembles including the University of York Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta, Airedale Symphony Orchestra, Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra, Chester Philharmonic Orchestra, Chester Chamber Orchestra, North Cheshire Wind Orchestra and the European Medical Students’ Orchestra and Choir. He has been appointed Associate Conductor of the Chester Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2011/2012 season.
Daniel was the conductor for ‘A Symphony for Yorkshire.’ This was commissioned by the BBC in the summer of 2010 and received nationwide coverage across television, radio and online. It has since won a Prix de Circum award, three RTS (Royal Television Society) awards and sold in excess of 3,000 copies, raising more than £20,000 for charity.
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Charity Number 1110947
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2011 North Cheshire Wind Orchestra