Bernie Docherty – First Violin Tutor

Bernard Docherty is an internationally renowned violinist, conductor, and orchestra strings coach. With a career spanning five decades, Bernard has travelled extensively at home and abroad with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles.

A prize-winning violin graduate of the RSAMD, (now RCS), Bernard's career has seen him hold positions with the orchestras of Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, before being appointed Co-Leader of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, where he remained for 25 years.

In tandem, Bernard was also in demand as the invited guest leader of various orchestras, which included, the Scottish Ballet orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Ulster Orchestra. During his tenure with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bernard was principal violinist in their string quartet "Quartz", formed to pioneer their innovative school's education program, and was also solo violinist with the light music trio, "Csardas"

His vast experience has led to significant contributions to the technical and musical development of many young musicians.

Sarah Ewins – Second Violin Tutor

Sarah has held the position of Associate Leader of the Halle Orchestra since 2002 and is very involved with the education work of the Halle. She is a violin tutor for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and also teaches violin and chamber music at Chethams school of music.

Passionate about chamber music, Sarah has a rich musical life with the Pleyel Ensemble in Manchester with whom she has performed all the Mozart Sonatas for Piano and Violin, all Haydn Piano Trios, and all Beethoven Violin Sonatas and Chamber music for Piano and Strings.

Lourenço Macedo Sampaio – Viola Tutor

After completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music and ESMAE as well as winning Portuguese Young Musician of the Year in 2015, Lourenço embarked onto a busy career in both chamber music, solo and orchestra having performed in all major UK venues with some of the best ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and Opera North, where he currently holds the Co-Principal Viola position.

Chamber music highlights include a performance of the Rachmaninov Sonata with Leeds Piano Competition Winner Sunwook Kim as well as comprehensive string quartet experience with the Antonio Fragoso Quartet.

As a solo player, Lourenço has recently performed and recorded live the Vaughan Williams Suite for viola and orchestra with Leeds College of Music. Previous highlights include the Bartók Concerto and Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Gulbenkian Orchestra and the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra.

Elias Rooney - Cello Tutor

Elias studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Robert Irvine and then in Copenhagen with Andreas Brantelid. He has also studied privately with Alban Gerhardt and Natalie Clein. Elias enjoys a busy freelance career working as a guest cellist at the Ulster Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, English National Opera, Scottish Ballet, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Camerata Ireland and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Recent highlights have included premiering a new work by Hans Zimmer as well as recording feature film soundtracks for Warner Brothers and Netflix.

Elias has played the solo cello part in West End and touring productions of Hamilton: An American Musical, The King and I, Les Misérables and My Fair Lady. He is a member of The Belfast Ensemble, a collective of artists from or living in Belfast. Since its inception, the Ensemble has gained critical acclaim for its groundbreaking performances, blending music, theatre and multimedia to challenge traditional boundaries of performance art.

When not playing the cello, Elias enjoys playing squash and baking all the things he shouldn’t be eating.

Aura Stone - Double Bass Tutor

A scholarship student with Thomas Martin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Aura joined the National Symphony Orchestra as sub-principal double bass, a position she held until 2016.

A sought after freelance performer, she now enjoys the variety and diversity of a freelance career, touring the world and performing concerts with all of Ireland’s premier ensembles. Equally at home in symphony or chamber orchestra, as principal bass of the Orchestra of St Cecilia, she performed the entire series of Bach church cantatas, over a period of 10 years. An experienced recording artist, Aura has participated in hundreds of live broadcasts, film sessions, CD and TV recordings.

With a keen interest in chamber music, Aura has performed all of the best known chamber works that include the double bass. Constantly seeking to expand the repertoire, a recent research project focused on discovering lesser known 18th and early 20th century pieces including the double bass.

An enthusiastic teacher and educator, in 2013 Aura co-founded classicalkids.ie, a chamber music concert series for babies and adults. Classicalkids' mission is to make chamber music accessible to young children and adults.

Appointed to the RIAM string faculty in 2021, Aura draws on her professional coaching experience, utilising coaching tools and techniques to fuse student led experiential learning, independent critical thinking and a solid technical knowledge of the instrument.

Aura is active as an examiner for the Cork School of Music and RIAM. She regularly tutors the DYO and NYOI bass sections and is involved in the National Concert Hall's Learning and Participation programme; delivering a third level masterclass for students from Cork and Dublin.

Aura plays a double bass made for her by Thomas Martin.

Meyrick Alexander – Woodwind Tutor

For thirty years Meyrick held the position of Principal Bassoon of the Philharmonia Orchestra and has worked with nearly every other ensemble in the UK. He was Head of Woodwind at RWCMD for seven years and currently teaches there and at RAM, having previously been on the staff at GSMD, RNCM and RBC.

He has been a coach at UYO, NYOW, NYOGB, JONC (Catalonia) and I-Culture (Poland).

Bob Ashworth - Horn Tutor

Robert (Bob) Ashworth studied the horn at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with the renowned teacher Sydney Coulston, gaining a 1st class diploma and the award of Laureate. After freelancing with most of the regional orchestras he was appointed Principal Horn with the Orchestra of Opera North in 1978. He made several appearances as a soloist and was a regular member of the chamber group The Music Serenade.

Robert is an active member of both the British Horn Society and the International Horn Society, performing at many of the former's local seminars. In 1997, with his Opera North colleagues, he founded the Opera North Horn Club (now the Northern Horn Club) - providing a forum for professional, amateur and student horn players. Having taught for several years at the RNCM he now concentrates more on private teaching and working on books of exercises to promote good playing habits.

In addition to his Opera North commitments Robert has made guest appearances over the years with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the LSO, RPO, RLPO, BBC Philharmonic, SCO, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra . He also plays the hand horn and baroque horn appearing with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Hanover Band, The Sixteen, The English Concert and the Cambridge Baroque Camerata. In addition to private teaching Robert has coached for years on several chamber music courses, and taken sectional rehearsals for wind and brass with various amateur orchestras.

In the summer of 2022 he relinquished his post at Opera North after 43 seasons but intends to continue playing, practicing, publishing, coaching and teaching for the foreseeable future.

Andy Stone-Fewings – Brass Tutor

Andrew studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire, formally called The Birmingham School of Music. During his study period he became the first recipient of the Alfred Corfield Trumpet prize and regularly performed alongside his principal teacher Alan Whitehead in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Following his graduation Andrew continued a successful freelance career based in Birmingham. In 1988 he was a semi-finalist in the Maurice Andre International Trumpet Competition in Paris.

Andrew has performed with most of the major orchestras in the UK, covering much of the opera, ballet and orchestral repertoire. In 1996 he was offered the position of Principal Trumpet with the Royal Shakespeare Company, a position he continued to hold until his retirement from performing in 2021.

Andrew is in great demand as an adjudicator and brass clinician. He has taken part in many workshops and master classes worldwide for musicians of all ages. He has been a trumpet coach for the National Youth Wind Orchestra and has led several master classes at Wells Cathedral School. As well as being a trumpet tutor at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for over thirty years until present, he also held a similar position at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for over twenty years.

In 2015 Andrew was offered the role of Associate Head of Brass at RBC, a role he continued for five years, when, due to increasing commitments, he regretfully resigned the position. He continues to teach, conduct and sit on examination panels at RBC.

Kate Openshaw – Percussion Tutor

Originally from Belfast, Kate left to study Timpani and Percussion at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she won the Governor’s prize recital and graduated with first class honours. She next gained a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she won the James Blades prize for Timpani.

Following her studies, Kate returned to Glasgow and enjoys a busy and varied career as a timpanist and percussionist performing as guest principal with many orchestras around the UK and Ireland, including the RLPO BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra and Camerata Ireland. She regularly works with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Opera.
She has also been lucky enough to perform with several Rock and Pop artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton and Queen.

Kate is a passionate music educator and regularly coaches the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland and has taught at Douglas Academy music school for 20 years.

Sharron Griffiths– Harp Tutor

Sharron started playing the harp at the age of ten in her native Wales, she has pursued a diverse and varied career as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in recitals both on the concert platform, recording and radio broadcast.

Sharron is currently Guest Principal Harp with Scottish Opera and works regularly with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra,Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

Sharron is in great demand as soloist and chamber musician. She is a member of the innovative Bardic Trio [with Tenor Jamie MacDougall & Guitarist Matthew McAllister] Flute.Viola.Harp. Trio [with flautist Ruth Morley and Violist Scott Dickinson] and the Clyde Duo [with flautist Aisling Agnew] Sharron has appeared as Concerto soloist with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and in recitals across the country, including at the St Magnus Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Lammermuir Festival, Sound festival, T in the Park and Celtic Connections.

Sharron teaches the harp for the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, St Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, St Mary’s Music School and the Music School at Douglas Academy. She is a regular harp tutor for the National Youth Orchestra’s of Scotlan, West Scotland Schools Symphony Orchetra and leads the harp course for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s Training Ensembles.

Tristan Russcher- Piano Tutor

Tristan is one of the leading keyboard musicians on the island of Ireland. Born in Australia, he moved to England to read music as organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford.
He moved to Dublin in 2003 as organ scholar at Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals. Now living in Belfast, he enjoys a freelance career working regularly with all the major orchestras, opera companies and choral ensembles on the island.

As an organist Tristan has worked extensively in the Anglican cathedrals in Dublin and Belfast and was Assistant Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin from 2007 to 2010. He has performed as organ soloist in major orchestral works by Duruflé, Handel, Leighton, Poulenc, Rheinberger, Saint-Saens and Widor. In 2012 he became only the seventh person to perform Francis Pott's epic two-hour organ symphony Christus, considered by many to be the 'Everest' of the organ repertoire, and gave the Northern Ireland premiere on the Mulholland organ in the Ulster Hall in the presence of the composer.

He is fortunate to work closely with both NI Opera and the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin as a regular accompanist, répétiteur and vocal coach. Tristan was Director of Music at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Dublin from 2011 to 2021, leading a choir of over fifty singers at services and concerts and on national and international tours.
He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and RTE Lyric FM and has recorded with numerous CD labels including Hyperion, Oxrecs, Priory and Signum.