Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Tutors and Staff (A to Z)

Mike Williams

Jazz Saxophone Tutor (Jazz Musicianship, Ensemble Coaching, Repertoire classes)

Emerging from the Leeds College and Guildhall jazz programmes in 1990, Mike enjoyed over a dozen years working on the London scene, highlights including extended stints with the various bands of Simon Purcell, Ricardo Dos Santos, Kjell Berglund and Hans Koller to name a few amongst many in addition to leading his own bands. ...

Paul Wingfield

Head of Vocal and Operatic studies

British conductor, Paul Wingfield took up the post as Head of Vocal and Operatic Studies in September 2017, having previously worked in the department as a Visiting Lecturer. He has worked as a conductor and assistant conductor at the Royal Opera House, where he was a Jette Parker Young Artist from 2012 to 2014. He has worked...

Sara Wolstenholme

Strings/Violin Tutor

Sara Wolstenholme has gained reputation as a dynamic chamber musician on the international music scene. Her performances with The Heath Quartet take her to the world’s most important music venues, and their recordings have won several awards including a Gramophone award and Limelight Magazine Recording of the Year award. ...

Dr Michael Wolters

Professor in Composition

Michael Wolters (born 1971 in Mönchengladbach, Germany) has maintained the position of an “other” in the world of contemporary music with works that queer traditional concert and performance situations. He has written music for traditional ensembles like Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and prefers to challenge conventional...

Professor Ronald Woodley

Emeritus Professor of Music

After graduating with first-class honours from the University of Manchester, specializing in Musical Palaeography and Performance, and with Distinction in clarinet from the Royal Northern College of Music, Professor Ronald Woodley completed his DPhil in 15th-century music theory from Keble College, Oxford. After...

Alex Woods

Visiting Tutor

Alex Woods is an accomplished and multi award winning saxophonist, composer and arranger from the United Kingdom. As a performer, he has collaborated with multiple Grammy award winning artists such as Jamie Cullum and Charlotte Church. Alex has toured extensively throughout Europe and has performed in some of the world's top...

Elizabeth Wrighton

Flute Tutor

Liz is a flautist and educator based in the Midlands. She studied at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she won the Conservatoire Woodwind Prize, and received funding from the Royal Philharmonic Society Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Foundation. She was also a National Finalist in the Lyons European Young Musician Competition...

Peter Wynne-Willson

Early Years Specialist Tutor

Peter is a highly experienced Applied Theatre practitioner, who before taking up his current post has had more than thirty years experience as a writer, director and performer in Young People’s Theatre, Theatre-in-Education and Community Theatre.

Di Xiao

Piano Tutor

Described as “a pianist of awesome gifts" and compared to Clara Schumann by the press, the Chinese pianist Di Xiao recently concluded a major international recital tour representing the UK as part of the universally acclaimed European Concert Halls Organisation (ECHO) 'Rising Stars' series. The tour included sell out concerts...

Helen Yorke

Vocal Coach

Critically acclaimed as both a recitalist and a vocal coach, Helen Yorke performed with Renée Fleming throughout America as well as Europe for more than a decade. In 1991 she arrived in New York to take up the position of German Lyric Diction and opera/song coach at the Julliard School . Thereafter, she co-ordinated the...