Garfield Austin

Garfield Austin began playing the trombone at 12 and, like many classical brass players, was initially immersed in the world of brass bands; as principal of the 70-strong county youth band but also the youngest member of the West of England Champions, Camborne Town.  As one of the senior British brass bands, Camborne recorded recitals for BBC Radio 3 and were Championship Section national finalists.  

Garfield made the move to classical performing and attained his RCM performance diploma under the guidance of the legendary Denis Wick, and went on to study advanced orchestral technique with Ian Bousfield (Principal Trombone, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and Dudley Bright (Principal Trombone, London Symphony Orchestra).  He freelances extensively as a classical tenor and alto trombonist and has performed with professional ensembles including Chaconne Brass, Bath Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BSO Brass Ensemble and The Sinfonietta.  Garfield is the Principal Trombone of Bristol Ensemble.

Emily Mullins

Emily has played for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Ensemble, Orchestra of the Swan and many regional orchestras. She also plays with Bristol Ensemble’s Stephanie Gilbert as part of GEMS flute and harp duo.  

Emily has a BMus from Birmingham University and teaches the harp at schools including Millfield, Clifton College, Kingswood, RHSB and Downside. She has also developed story telling workshops for primary schools and outreach concerts for care homes.

Emil Huckle-Kleve

Hugh Blogg

Hugh Blogg’s musical development began in Watford where he was introduced to a wealth of musical experiences at a young age. He has especially fond memories of playing in numerous orchestras which helped to cultivate a team-spirited approach to performance. The happy combination of study at Watford Grammar School for Boys and the Royal Academy of Music, Junior Dept, led to the decision to read music at the University of Leeds where he continued to relish various roles of responsibility. Particular highlights include performing Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 with the LUUMS Chamber Orchestra, conducting the LUUMS Symphony Orchestra for two years, and playing with LS2, a contemporary music ensemble. During an Erasmus Exchange year at the Conservatoire de Region de Strasbourg Hugh enjoyed working with a diverse range of chamber groups, which ignited a passion for music-making on a smaller scale.

Hugh’s growing enthusiasm for chamber music was realised in the form of the string quartet whilst studying for a Masters at the RNCM. He was initially introduced to quartet playing through informal chamber music socials and rapidly became enamoured with the genre’s spontaneous dynamic. Through quartet coaching, rehearsal and performance he relishes exploring and learning about music in a wonderfully enriching environment – with the goal of continually crafting a living, evolving interpretation. In performance Hugh hopes to share his sense of excitement, wonder, and sometimes bewilderment, towards a form of musical expression that can have such a profound impact on one’s life.

As a freelance violinist Hugh has particularly enjoyed working with the Bristol Ensemble, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata under Gabor Takacs and Ensemble Deva.

John Telfer

John Telfer took a degree in Music/Theatre at York University, then trained as an actor for two years at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, to which he has frequently returned over the years to teach, direct, and musically direct students.

He joined Richard Cottrell’s Bristol Old Vic Company straight from Theatre School, where he spent, initially, 5 happy years in a variety of plays.

Favourite shows have included a magical Midsummer Night’s Dream, also seen at the London Old Vic, and Amadeus at Chester, playing Salieri.

The 80’s were generally a time of touring- including Orwell’s England for The Royal National Theatre- and television work. He was one of the Actor/Presenters on ITV’s children’s shows Let’s Pretend, and played DC Pettit in 4 series of the much loved Bergerac. 

TV appearances since then have included roles in Without Motive, Casualty, Licence To Live and Skins.

Recently  he has been touring playing Johnny Cradock, and Philip Larkin.

He has narrated for The Brodsky String Quartet and also for the Bristol Ensemble  and made literally dozens of radio broadcasts in plays and short stories, and Poetry Please.

Audio books are another enthusiasm, recently completing all 50 of Leslie Charteris’ Saint catalogue; Hans Fallada’s Alone in Berlin was placed 9th in the Telegraph’s 20 best Audiobooks of all Time.

He is also Alan Franks, the vicar in The Archers.

He has written musical scores for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, The Bristol Old Vic, The Mermaid Theatre, Birmingham Rep, The Royal National Theatre, the Cambridge Theatre and The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, for which he and Clive Hayward wrote four pantomimes. He has also composed music for numerous Radio 4 dramas and for BBC2’s Everyman programme When Did You Last See Your Father?, ITV’s Let’s Pretend, the theme tunes for Ozzie The Owl and West Foot Forward (ITV), and was the arranger/musical director for three musical documentaries, Loose Gags, Songs and Sketches on Radio 4, and Festival Follies and Merman on Radio 2.

John has also composed four musicals: Massacre (with Bill Pryde) based on Marlowe’s Massacre At Paris for York University and the Edinburgh Festival; You’re Not Singing Any More (with Chris Bond) about a group of football fans, which was showcased at Bristol City Football Club, Checking Out (which features romance and murder across two continents) and Muscles the Musical (both with Alec Reid), which was premiered at The Landor Theatre in London.

His work as a director includes The Follies of Weston Super ‘The Owl and The Pussycat went to See…, Die Fledermaus for Bristol Opera, and the premieres of Eric Wetherell’s A Foreign Field and The Snow Child.

He was producer for The Bristol Gilbert and Sullivan Society for some years and fronted the Bristol Rock band AFGM.

Katrina Kleve

After studying at Guildford School of Acting, Katrina has gone on to perform as an actor and musician in various mediums across the country. 

Katrina’s work includes the Original West End cast of Once: The Musical, the Original West End cast of Mrs Henderson Presents, the West End revival of Brief Encounter and the No.1 UK tour of Cabaret.

She has appeared in various commercials, independent films and television shows, most recently voicing a role in the highly anticipated stop-motion film Salvation Has No Name, filmed at Aardman Animations in Bristol.

Katrina also writes songs as a member of the electro-pop band ‘arroh’ who’s music has been continually supported by the BBC. Katrina is also part of the song-writing team for a brand new Netflix series.

She has a lot to thank her father Roger Huckle and the members of the Bristol Ensemble for, for bringing endless music and joy to her life. She loves performing with them whenever she can, both as a singer and narrator on the stage and the small screen!

Amelia Goodall

Amelia Goodall studied violin and chamber music at the RNCM with Christopher Rowland, and at Manchester University with soloist Leland Chen. After beginning her freelance career in London, she moved to France to study classical and romantic music on historical instruments.  Following this Amelia performed in many of the great concert halls in Paris and across Europe with François-Xavier Roth’s chamber orchestra Les Siècles. 

She was introduced to the Parisian tango music scene and took a course with bandoneonist Juan José Mosalini.

Since returning to the UK, Amelia moved to Bristol to raise a family and has particularly enjoyed performing with the Bristol Ensemble, in the Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival and with Tango Calor.

More recently, she set up Lunchtime Live, a concert series in which she has performed as soloist and chamber musician.

Amelia is also a music therapist and keen music educator, specialising in the early years.  She started up the string department at the Cathedral Primary School in Bristol, where she introduced Kodály musicianship classes into the music curriculum and piloted whole class violin lessons.

Harriet Wiltshire

Harriet studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she received a Distinction in performance on both baroque and modern cellos.

With her chamber ensemble, The Burney Players, she won several awards, including in the Van Wassanaer competition and a Deutsche Bank Pyramid award. The group was ensemble in residence at the Handel House Museum.

Harriet was principal cellist with the Southbank Sinfonia with whom she performed Walton’s Cello Concerto (conducted by Edward Gardner), gave the first public performance of a new work for solo cello by James MacMillan and chamber concerts at the Wigmore hall. 

She plays with many of the London-based period instrument ensembles and modern orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, as well as artists such as Paloma Faith, Florence and the Machine and Father John Misty.

She teaches the cello at Wells Cathedral School and Millfield.

Simon Jones

Simon has performed with numerous orchestras including Birmingham Bach Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, English Symphony Orchestra, London Gala Orchestra, Longborough Festival Opera Orchestra, the Moscow City Ballet Orchestra, and RTE Concert Orchestra.

Commercially, Simon has toured and made recordings for Royal Shakespeare Company, Paul Young, The Divine Comedy, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Johnny Mathis, and Barry Manilow. His recording credits include League of Gentleman and Shooting Fish. Simon teaches at Wells Cathedral School, Hazlegrove Preparatory School, and coaches regularly for National Children’s Orchestra, National Children’s Wind Orchestra, National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain, Gloucester Academy of Music and South West Youth Wind Sinfonia.

Laura Tanner

Helen Bishop

Sally Bartholomew

Stephanie Gilbert

Kim Keeble

Marian Givens

Marian Givens is a freelance violinist and teacher, playing with a variety of ensembles such as The Bristol Ensemble, Orchestra of the Swan and La Folia. In 2015 she spent 7 months in Valencia with the opera house Palau de les Arts, under the direction of Zubin Mehta and Lorin Maazel.
She also works regularly in the West End and with pop acts such as Emeli Sande.

She also teaches at The Pilgrims’ School, Winchester and Salisbury Cathedral Schools.

Gavin Wells

Gavin Wells took a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance in the USA from the  University of Northern Colorado, and further a Master of Music degree from the Florida State University. He has since worked as a freelance orchestral musician, soloist, and teacher in the UK for over 30 years, performing regularly with the Bristol Ensemble and the Bath Philharmonia. He has also performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Welsh National Opera.

Imogen Triner

Imogen studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Neil Black and Gordon Hunt, where she won many of the major prizes, including the Paddy Purcell Prize for all wind instruments. She was awarded a Countess of Munster Scholarship and then a Winston Churchill Fellowship to continue her studies with the Berlin Philharmonic’s solo oboist, Lothar Koch.

Imogen Triner is one of Britain’s foremost oboe soloists and performances have included major concerti with the Tivoli Festival Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Turku Philharmonic and Kuopio Symphony Orchestras – both in Finland, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway, the Kansas Chamber Orchestra, the National Italian Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Radio and Television Orchestra, the Norkoping Chamber Orchestra in Sweden and many orchestras in the UK. Many of these performances have been recorded for the radio.

As a chamber musician Imogen has performed highly acclaimed recitals in major London venues and in festivals throughout the UK. She has toured all over Scandinavia, America and Japan both as a recitalist, giving masterclasses and with her Oboe Quartet.

In the UK Imogen works regularly with chamber groups which include the Bristol Ensemble with whom she has played numerous concerti and recently recorded 2 CDs which include Vivaldi’s C major oboe concerto. Imogen is the oboist in the oboe quartet ‘oboeworks’.

Joanne Green

Joanne Green began her career in Melbourne taking a Bachelor of Arts in Music and performing with the Melbourne Symphony. Gaining the Clarke Scholarship from Melbourne University in 1993 enabled Joanne to complete a postgraduate degree at the Royal College of Music under Felix Andrievsky, where she also studied baroque violin with Catherine Mackintosh.

David Pagett

David Pagett studied clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music with Sidney Fell and Janet Hilton. As a freelance musician, David has worked extensively throughout the UK with some of the country’s leading orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. As well as working as an orchestral musician David has played in West End Productions of Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, 42nd Street and West Side Story. David plays principal Clarinet with the Bristol Ensemble, and as well as teaching and coaching around Bristol and Bath he also conducts the South Gloucestershire Wind and Youth Orchestras.

Juliet McCarthy

Originally from Bristol, Juliet studied at Guildhall with American ‘cellist Leonard Stein and upon graduating spent the first 15 years of her career working as a pit musician working in London’s West End and on tour in the UK. Her favourite show to play is West Side Story which she was lucky enough to spend two years working on.

Since returning to Bristol in 2000 she has enjoyed a very varied career spanning most musical genres. She has been principal ‘cello with the Bristol Ensemble, The National Symphony Orchestra, Southern Sinfonia, The British Sinfonietta, The British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, The Welsh Musical Theatre Orchestra, Swansea City Opera, Cardiff City Voices and many others. Since 1996 she has regularly played with the piano trio in the Pump Room in Bath and also still  plays in musical theatre productions including the last major tour of Phantom of the Opera. She has also played for The Bristol Jazz Festival and with 90s band McAlmont and Butler.

As a recording musician Juliet has played on numerous scores for film and television including The Third Day, a recent production for Sky/HBO starring Jude Law and Naomi Harris. She has played on sessions at (among many others) Abbey Road, Real World and Rockfield, famous for being where Bohemian Rhapsody was recorded.

Juliet also teaches at three independent schools in Bristol including Clifton College where she went as maternity cover for a term in 2002 and hasn’t left yet! Once a year she is asked to spend a day at Oxford Cello School giving masterclasses to the adult performers.

Jeremy Little

Jeremy studied at Bristol University and has a busy musical schedule in the South West of England.  As well as his work with the Bristol Ensemble he plays for Welsh National Opera, Bath Philharmonia, English National Ballet, the Ulster Orchestra and many more.  Jeremy records for film and television, the most notable of which was a solo role in the film Dog Soldiers (a werewolf horror!).  He teaches at Millfield School and enjoys being a percussion tutor for the National Children’s Orchestra.

Mark Kane

Mark was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain before taking up a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London in 1989, studying with Julian Baker and Timothy Brown. Since leaving college Mark has continued to work as a freelance musician having worked with numerous orchestras within the UK as well as the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Norway. Mark is currently principal horn with both Bristol Ensemble and Southern Pro Musica Orchestra.

Bernard Kane

Born and raised in Cardiff, Wales, Bernard Kane, violist and composer, holds degrees from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (Doctor of Musical Arts), Yale University (Master of Music) and the Royal College of Music, London (B. Mus. Honours). He studied viola with Roger Best, Simon Rowland-Jones, Jesse Levine and David Harding.

He has worked with the orchestras of English and Welsh National Opera, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Bristol Ensemble, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the Quincy Jones Orchestra. A keen chamber musician, he has played in master classes with the Tokyo, Colorado and Arditti string quartets; he has also taken part at the Academy of the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland. He founded the Cardiff based chamber ensemble Chameleon Cymru in 2000 and is the violist in the Hillman Quartet.

In addition to performing, Bernard has enjoyed narrating with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and at the Norfolk Chamber Music festival. His performance of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales was broadcast nationwide throughout Canada on Christmas Day, 2005.

Roger Huckle

Roger Huckle has been the inspiration and guide for Bristol Ensemble – Bristol’s professional chamber orchestra, and a cherished musicians’ collective of exceptional standard – since its foundation in 1994.

Born in Bristol, Roger studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and with Frederick Grinke, was a member of Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic, and now performs with leading UK orchestras – including co-leading the London Concertante and Opera Box Orchestra.

Roger appreciates Bristol Ensemble players’ musical hunger and real commitment to the group’s performances. He always aims for heart-felt music making, and fondly recalls the transcendent spirituality of a 2004 Emerald Messiah.

Although his favourite journey is Bergen to Oslo by road, he loves Bristol’s Downs, and describes the tip of Worms Head at Rhossili in Gower as his favourite place in the world.

Simon Kodurand

Equally at home on both the modern and baroque violin Simon pursues a varied career as violinist, presenter, and teacher.  Simon was appointed Artistic Director of the Bristol Ensemble in 2021 and has directed a number of projects with them since joining the ensemble in 2011.

Starting the violin at the age of thirteen Simon went on to study at both the Royal College and Royal Academy of Music with the assistance of the Rowsby Woof scholarship.  Since his London debut at the Purcell Room in 2004 Simon has performed and recorded with most of the orchestras and period ensembles in the UK, and has made numerous live broadcasts on the BBC, as well as American, Mexican, Polish, and French radio.

As a soloist and director Simon has guest-led ensembles throughout the UK, recorded numerous commercial soundtracks for film and television, and performed as recitalist and concerto soloist at a number of diverse venues from St. John’s Smith Square, London and St. George’s, Bristol to a funeral parlour in New York.

As co-founder of the Florentine Arts Ensemble Simon has curated and presented events at the National Gallery in London on the relationship between music and art, as well as the Holburne Museum in Bath and at galleries across the UK.

Simon is also Artistic Director of the Somerset International Festival of the Arts, an organisation which promotes live music making in rural communities along with a musical education programme for schools throughout the year.

Simon lives in Somerset with his wife and two children, and when not playing with the Bristol Ensemble can be found exploring the local countryside or restoring a classic car…

Carl Hill

Carl studied viola at the Guildhall School of Music with Mark Knight and Paul Silverthorne. After leaving college, he moved to Athens, and then Spain, where he was principal viola of the Real Philharmonia de Galicia. He returned to the UK in 1999, joining the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as sub-principal viola. 

Carl is now living in Penarth, enjoying the diversity of freelancing. He has performed as guest principal viola with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, English Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Swan, along with performing concertos and chamber music with various ensembles.

Jub Davis

Jub’s career has covered a wide range of musical styles. He’s worked in avant-garde theatre with Station House Opera, been a member the Indie pop group The Band of Holy Joy, as well as working with more conventional groups like English National Opera, London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the London Chamber Orchestra. He also co-founded the prize winning Kreisler String Orchestra which went on to win the 1986 Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Belgrade. Jub has been a longstanding member of the well known Carnival Band whose unintentional aim has been to subvert the notion of authentic performance when it comes to their repertoire of Medieval, Renaissance, folk/world music, music hall, bluegrass, cajun and soul music. He can often be seen playing and singing with them and their long-time collaborator Maddy Prior. Over the years he has worked with many notable artists including Youssou N’Dour, Tanita Tikaram, Abdullah Ibrahim, Brian Eno, Sting, Joss Pook, DJ Krust, Zero 7,the Brodsky and Duke string quartets. He gets a great deal of pleasure playing small ensemble works with the Adderbury Ensemble and the Bristol Ensemble, with which he has been featured as a soloist in performances of Bottesini’s Grand Duo for Violin, Bass and orchestra. He has taken up the challenge of contemporary music with groups such as Opus 20, Lontano and Ixion. However, to take time out he really enjoys a good 40 mile bike ride!

Donald Clist

Donald spent ten years touring with the European Union Chamber Orchestra and more recently with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Switzerland and Spain. At present he is a member of the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. His playing features in the Wild Boar programme of the Wildlife on One TV series and alSo in The Madness of King George III’. He is a regular soloist with the Bristol Ensemble.

Roger Armstrong

Roger was born in Northern Ireland and emigrated to Australia at the age of 11. He began his flute studies at 15, and after graduating from the Sydney Conservatoire of Music with first class honours spent two years freelancing in Sydney before joining the West Australian SymphonyOrchestra in 1971. Shortly after returning to Britain, he took up the post of sub-principal flute with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra in 1974, a position he held until 1991.

Roger now pursues a varied freelance career, both as a performer and as a teacher. He is principal flute with the National Chamber Orchestra of Wales and teaches at Cardiff University and the Welsh College of Music and Drama. He enjoys musical challenges which are ‘off the beaten track’. He has built his own harpsichord, and is currently engaged in a study of music by an autistic composer.

Roger plays a wooden Powell flute made in 1998.