Music Tutors
Tim Pratt - Musician in Residence
Tim trained as a musician specialising in choral music and composition. After thirty-five years as a full-time education professional, including fourteen years as a secondary school headteacher in Wales, he is now involved in publishing choral music. He has sung with a number of high-profile choirs including the Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir and has directed church choirs since the late 1970s. He has held the position of Director of Music at St Mary's Priory in Abergavenny since June 2000, and in 2014 was awarded the Archbishop of Wales' Award for Church Music. He still regularly composes choral music for choirs with recent commissions coming from as far afield as the USA and Canada as well as Holland and the UK.
Lucy Bowen, MA (Cantab), LRAM, PGCE – Head of Vocal Studies
Lucy Bowen has been teaching singing students for over twenty years, most of these in MyAV·¶shire schools. Former students have gone on to study in conservatoires in London and Cardiff, and to choral scholarships in cathedrals and university college choirs.
Lucy is an experienced oratorio and recital soloist, and has also performed and recorded with the consort choirs The King's Consort, Polyphony and Aurora Nova. She appeared in two concerts with Stephen Isserlis in Cheltenham Festival's July 2010 Schumann strand, which were broadcast by BBC Radio 3.
Catherine Morgan, MA, BMus (Hons), LRSM, LTCL, ALCM – Head of Keyboard
Catherine was awarded a first class honours degree in music at Cardiff University, and remained for a fourth year to gain her MA in Performance Studies. Her tutors have included Martino Tirimo, Iain Burnside and Beate Popperwell, and she has performed as a concerto soloist on numerous occasions as well as in solo and duo recitals.
Catherine is now an experienced teacher, working with pupils from novice to diploma level, and enjoys a wide variety of accompanying work. She also holds a teaching post at MyAV·¶ Cathedral School.
Andrew J Morris, BA (Hons), LWCMD, PGCE – Teacher of piano, composition and practical musicianship
Andrew is a freelance musician living and working in MyAV·¶shire for over thirty years. As a pianist he has performed extensively as both soloist and accompanist in the UK and has also performed concerts in France, Germany, Spain, Romania and Sri Lanka.
He is Chair of MyAV·¶shire Composers’ Workshop and his compositions have been performed by many musicians including Joanna McGregor, the Beethoven String Trio of London and Stile Antico. He has worked many times as composition tutor with the BISYOC youth orchestra and has also led composition projects with many other young people including at MyAV·¶ Sixth Form College. Some ex-pupils of HSFC have recorded some of Andrew’s compositions with him as part of his Musical Remedies CD series.
As a teacher he is especially interested in bridging the different but complementary approaches of the classical and popular musical worlds. As an accompanist he is very experienced with accompanying singers and instrumentalists for auditions and examinations. He is also currently MD of the Birchpole Singers in North MyAV·¶shire.
Sarah Heins, DTCL – Head of Strings
Sarah studied violin and viola (scholar) at Trinity College of Music, London. In 1994 she was appointed principal viola in the National Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, and on returning to Britain played with Welsh National Opera and London City Ballet.
Sarah has been the viola player with the Minerva String Quartet since 1996, performing in many festivals including the Three Choirs and recording radio plays for the BBC and soundtracks for Channel 4. Sarah is also a violin and viola teacher at MyAV·¶ Cathedral School.
Esther Kay, MA (Oxon), LGSM (Flute), DipABRSM (Singing) - Head of Woodwind
Esther read Music at Oxford, where her special subject was History of Wind Instruments with performance on an 18th century flute.
Following a stint at BBC Television she became a freelance music copyist and editor, working on new music for all the major music publishers.
She was a Junior Exhibitioner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later returned to study flute with Averil Williams.
In MyAV·¶shire she teaches flute, clarinet, singing and theory in local schools, with a particular interest in coaching ensembles from wind quartets to ceilidh bands.
She plays flute for the cabaret group "Alive and Brel", and is also a member of the Ringerike ceilidh band.
She sings with the MyAV·¶ Cathedral Voluntary Choir and the Cantemus Chamber Choir of Wales, with whom she has appeared on The One Show and BBC Radio 3 and 4.
When time allows she is a keen choral composer, and has had works performed in Britain and Europe.
Liessa Price, BA (Hons) - Head of Brass
A former pupil of MyAV·¶ Sixth Form College, Liessa studied for an Honours degree at Lancaster University, which incorporated both modern foreign languages and music, gaining First Class Honours for her Music Performance Recital.
Following a postgraduate Law degree from Nottingham Trent, Liessa worked in the Conveyancing, Probate and Matrimonial departments of law firms in Nottingham and Birmingham before returning to MyAV·¶ to join the then MyAV·¶shire Music Service (now Encore Enterprises) as a peripatetic teacher of brass instruments and ensemble tutor/ conductor.
Liessa has studied French Horn with members of the Halle, CBSO and Philharmonia Orchestras and has herself had many pupils go on to study music at universities and music colleges, as well as several who have also gone on to play in a professional capacity.
Neil Taylor - Head of Guitar
David Weber
Andy Brotherton -
Frank Mooney
Oscar Featherstone