Studied: The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Royal Academy of Music.

Joined: 2025

Career before Royal Ballet Sinfonia: I joined the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra in Osaka, Japan, in 2012. Since returning to the UK, I have freelanced and was the bass trombonist for the Les Misérables UK and international tours from 2019 to 2023. I am also a regular deputy on various West End shows and enjoy historical instrument performance with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Favourite piece of music: It’s a tough choice between three, and they’re all operas! Richard Strauss’s Salome, Puccini’s Turandot and Korngold’s Die tote Stadt. I get goosebumps throughout playing these incredible pieces.

First show you watched: The original production of Starlight Express in the West End. I was captivated by how amazing the onstage performers were and how everyone had their role to make the show.

First album: Rock Therapy. I used to listen to Wind of Change by the Scorpions over and over. At some point after that I switched to a love of Heavy Metal!

Why the bass trombone? Our local music service did a demonstration of instruments in primary school. I loved that an instrument could be so sonorous one moment, but comical the next. I also thought being in control of a cool looking brass instrument with a slide might help curb my clumsiness. (It hasn’t).

What do you love about playing it? To know that within a split second a bass trombone can obliterate an entire orchestra, but having the control to resist doing so! Quietly played chords on trombones are one of life’s great pleasures to listen to, such as those found in Brahms’s or Bruckner’s motets, and to be the bottom voice supporting that sound gives me such a buzz.

Most challenging piece you have played? I had to learn an extract from Glenn Buhr’s fiendish Beauty and the Beast ballet for my BRB audition. The loud semi quaver passage was absolutely relentless for about 30 bars and required a lot of muscle memory.

Alternative career: Driver of a goods train, or a bee keeper.

Interesting fact about you: After graduating I decided to obtain an HGV licence to supplement my income, and amongst driving for supermarkets I also drove the truck for BRB, where I subsequently met a number of current members!