Clarinet and Saxophone Course at Barkham, Exmoor 2024

The course will run from the evening of Friday 19th July to the early evening of Sunday 21st July. It will be for adults from around Grade Three/Four up to and beyond Grade Eight. It will consist of a mixture of ensemble playing, masterclasses/performance workshops, a jazz improvisation workshop (for improvisers of all standards including first-timers!) and concerts from both staff and participants. It should be a lot of fun and a rewarding experience!

We are aiming to keep the numbers limited to a maximum of twenty. The course fee will be £190 and will include all meals and snacks including supper on the Friday and Saturday. There will be accommodation available for a modest extra charge for those coming from further afield. We are aiming to open the booking within the next few days and further details will be available then. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email peternichols@blueyonder.co.uk

Details of the two main tutors are below:

Peter Nichols is a clarinettist and saxophonist. He studied at Oxford University and Trinity College of Music, London. As a soloist and chamber musician he has given live broadcasts on Radio Three and Classic FM, performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and the South Bank as well as in Japan, the USA and throughout Europe. He was a member of the Northern Saxophone Quartet for eight years, performing with them at three World Saxophone Congresses, and is also the clarinettist with The Holywell Ensemble. His various CD recordings have received critical acclaim - his recording of the Herbert Howells Clarinet Sonata, for example, was a BBC Music Magazine CD of the Year - and are featured frequently on national radio. He has also worked with many of Britain’s leading orchestras and in several West End shows, including being a full-time member of the orchestra of The Phantom of the Opera for twenty years.

He has wide experience of teaching all styles of music and at all levels, including posts at The Royal College of Music Junior Department and at The University of Surrey. He has also been a Woodwind and Diploma Examiner for the Guildhall School of Music and a director of the British Saxophone Congress. He is much in demand for his masterclassesand as an adjudicator both in the UK and abroad.

Juliet Bucknall was born and brought up in Monmouth. She studied the clarinet at The Purcell School and The Royal College of Music. While at the RCM (where her teachers were Thea King, Colin Bradbury, Stephen Trier) she won the clarinet prize and performed the Nielsen Concerto. She has played with a wide variety of orchestras including The London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Opera House, The Birmingham Royal Ballet and The National Orchestra of Wales. She has also been a regular performer in London’s West End, particularly with The Phantom of the Opera. She is a highlyexperienced teacher, including twenty-one years at Alleyn’s School in Dulwich.