Meet the Musicians
Abigail Brierley
Brass Tutor
Abigail began playing brass at the age of six in her local brass band in Lancashire. She eventually came to Newcastle to study music at Newcastle University and spent one of those years studying abroad in Hong Kong. Abigail began working for In Harmony in 2018 and also teaches privately, in schools and for music centres in and around Newcastle. When not teaching Abigail is involved in numerous different projects around Newcastle in which she writes, records and performs music on the trumpet. She enjoys playing a wide range of genres and settings which include musicals, session musician work and jazz. She will usually say yes to playing anything!
Katrina Buzzard
Woodwind Tutor
Born in the North East, Katrina completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in clarinet at Newcastle University, and has since established a busy teaching and performing career in the region. Aside from her instrumental teaching, she has also founded a number of ensembles for young musicians in Newcastle and North Tyneside.
Katrina has been working with In Harmony since the project began in 2012. At Bridgewater School, she currently works with the KS2 Woodwind Ensemble, as well as working with Reception and after school groups.
Charlotte Kennedy
Violin Tutor
Charlotte grew up in Northumberland and began learning the violin at school before joining Sage Gateshead’s Centre for Advanced Training. From a young age, she knew she wanted a career in which she could help others enrich their lives through music, so she went on to study music at the University of Durham. Since graduating with First Class Honours in 2015, she has enjoyed a varied career as a musical educator and performer, and joined the In Harmony team in 2018.
Jo Montgomery
Violin Tutor
Northumberland born, Jo Montgomery started playing the violin at the age of 4 and studied at Chetham’s School of Music from the age of 13. She went on to study in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she performed in string quartets and on West End shows whilst still a student.
Jo has a varied musical life combining teaching with string quartet playing and orchestral work, having performed and recorded with the BBC Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia. She has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company touring company playing an on stage role in the Taming of the Shrew.
Jo has been teaching at In Harmony for the past 6 years, highlights have been…. team teaching with Andrew Lloyd Webber, taking the children to perform at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool and working with the reception children, who are so fabulous.
Peter Richardson
Cello Tutor
Born in Corbridge, Peter began Cello lessons aged 8 at his local school in Ashington. He studied under Alexander Baillie at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
He enjoys a varied career performing and recording all sorts of music on the Cello and Electric Guitar. He especially enjoys arranging music for the many ensembles he directs as well as conducting Youth Orchestras. His favourite band is Radiohead and adores the composers Shostakovich, J.S.Bach, Thomas Newman and Debussy.
As well as enjoying teaching at for In Harmony, Peter teaches at The Royal Grammar School and Kings Priory, Tynemouth. He is a keen Mountain Biker, loves renovating property and has two Cocker Spaniels called Milly and Maya.
Hannah Tattersfield
Viola Tutor
After growing up near Sheffield, Hannah studied music in Newcastle and then travelled to Sweden to train to be an orchestral violinist at the Swedish National Orchestral Academy. She loved living in Sweden but was happy to move back to Newcastle, where it’s much warmer! Hannah started working for the In Harmony programme in 2017 and also teaches at Sage Gateshead and in other schools and music centres in the area. She performs regularly as a freelance violinist and violist, and likes to play music from lots of different genres including classical music, Scandinavian folk music and British folk music.
Imogen Bose-Ward
Viola / Violin Tutor
A graduate of Newcastle University’s Folk and Traditional music degree, Imogen has been teaching since the age of 14 when she set up a local violin school. Since then, she has taught at schools, music centres and summer schools in Scotland and England. As well as teaching and composing, Imogen has gigged across the UK and in Europe in her different band outfits.
At Sage Gateshead, Imogen teaches on the Folkworks courses, the Foundation and Step Up Strings Programme and is part of the Early Years team. She also teaches in several schools across North Tyneside.
Chris Turnbull
Brass Tutor
Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, Chris has been playing the Tenor Horn from the age of 10. Following in the footsteps of his dad, Chris joined the NASUWT Riverside Concert Band. He then became a member of the Young Musicians Programme at Sage Gateshead and joined the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. In 2016 Chris moved to Wales to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he studied with Owen Farr and Dr Robert Childs. Whilst studying at the college Chris played solo Horn with the college brass band and was involved with numerous chamber ensembles, qualifying for the Phillip Jones Brass ensemble final, held at the college in 2020. In 2018 he competed at the National Brass Band finals of Great Britain with the City of Cardiff Band; since then he has held the position of Musical Director with the organisation’s training band.
Arranging music is a great passion of Chris’, his first work was premiered in 2015 at Sage Gateshead for the North East Learning Alliance Orchestra. Since then he has arranged music for the International Tenor Horn and Flugelhorn festival, various brass ensembles and more recently for orchestras. Whilst studying, Chris set up the Prestige 6 Orchestra with renowned composer Daniel Hall, a progressive hybrid orchestra that fuses the world of pop and classical together.
Now back in the North East, Chris is working with Sage Gateshead and Durham Music Service as a brass tutor.
Anna Hughes
Violin / Viola Tutor
Anna studied Folk and Traditional Music at Newcastle University, with a year abroad at The Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. She started playing the violin at a very young age and later took up learning the oboe and piano. She has been teaching privately and at music centres since graduating, and in September 2021 became one of Sage Gateshead’s Musical Inclusion Trainees. This introduced her to the work of In Harmony, where she observed and led sessions in nursery, reception, and strings across both Hawthorn and Bridgewater schools, amongst other community music initiatives with Sage Gateshead. She joined In Harmony staff in September, and now teaches year 2, 3 and 4 strings At Bridgewater.
Alongside teaching, Anna is a performer and composer, and is studying a MA in Music Production at York University. She writes for theatre and storytelling projects and loves linking the natural world with folklore, lyrics, poetry and music. She is currently one of Sage Gateshead’s Artists in Residence, and will showcase her new writing for this in June.
Annie Francomb
Woodwind Tutor
Originally from Bristol, Annie took up the clarinet at the age of eight and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After graduating, she worked for BBC Radio 3 before moving to Newcastle. She has played in many orchestras including Royal Northern Sinfonia and has taught woodwind and Clarinet throughout the region. Annie’s positions include Programme Leader for wind and brass on Sage Gateshead’s Young Musicians Programme and she has been involved with In Harmony Newcastle Gateshead since it’s inception. Annie enjoys travelling and cooking and going to visit her two grown-up children.
Clare Crinson
Flute Tutor
Clare trained as an orchestral flute player at Birmingham Conservatoire and completed her Masters Degree at Durham University in 2011. Since graduating she has enjoyed a varied portfolio as a performer and educator. She returns to In Harmony having started teaching on the project at its outset in 2012 and subsequently taking a break to teach classroom music. A singer as well as a flautist, she co-leads the Durham Cathedral Young Singers and is Assistant Director of Newcastle Cathedral’s Schools Singing Programme as well as being a Lay Clerk in Newcastle Cathedral Choir. She has taught both as an instrumental and classroom teacher for many schools in the region, including as Director of Instrumental and Pre- Prep Music at The Chorister School, Durham. Clare performs regularly as a flautist and, as well as orchestral concerts, she has been involved in numerous projects celebrating creativity in the North East such as Miracle! an opera about Sunderland Football Club, The North Sea project with singer-songwriter Ditte Elly and the Borealis Orchestra. She teaches flute students of all ages, including undergraduates at Durham University.
Brione Jackson
Cello Tutor
Brione has been playing the cello since she was 8 years old. She graduated from the University of Chichester with a BMus in Performance in 2016. After finishing her degree, Brione went on to teach for various music services across the country including West Sussex Music Trust and Opera North.
When she is not teaching on the In Harmony programme, she’s a part-time masters student training to be a music therapist with Nordoff and Robbins Music Therapy.
Brione has enjoyed a wonderful professional playing career and had the opportunity to play with orchestra all across the world. She still loves to play the cello and sharing this with all her students.
