Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Tutors and Staff (A to Z)

Christopher Bucknall

Conductor and harpsichordist Christopher Bucknall, is at home both on the concert platform and in the opera house, sharing his passion for bringing music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries alive. Christopher has conducted critically acclaimed productions of Handel, Alcina (Den Norske Opera), Handel, Agrippina,...

Dr Joanna Bullivant

Lecturer in Music

Joanna joined RBC in September 2023, having previously worked at the University of Oxford, the University of Nottingham, and King’s College London. Joanna’s research centres on nineteenth- and twentieth-century British music, particularly musical and cultural histories of minority groups. She has published widely on British...

Sarah Burnett

Bassoon Consultant

Sarah is an active freelance orchestral player working with a wide variety of orchestras nationwide. She is currently Principal Bassoon of Glyndebourne Touring Opera and Britten Sinfonia, having joined the latter in 2002. Amongst others, she has played as guest principal for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National...

Cormac Byrne

Percussion Tutor (Rhythm & World Percussion)

Cormac Byrne is a bodhrán player and percussionist from Waterford, Ireland and is now based in the UK. He has received many awards for his work including The BBC Young Folk Award and was winner of the BBC Fame Academy Education Bursary in 2006. Cormac has appeared at numerous festivals around the world and has toured...

Emmet Byrne

Oboe Tutor

Emmet Byrne is from Waterford, Ireland and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. After graduating in 2003, he gained a scholarship from the German Government (DAAD), enabling him to pursue postgraduate studies at the Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne. Emmet has been Principal Second Oboe with the City of...

Professor George Caird

Oboe Tutor

Following study in London and Cambridge, George Caird pursued a freelance career as an oboist which included orchestral playing, chamber music and solo engagements. He has worked with many of London’s major orchestras including the London Philharmonic , BBC Symphony and City of London Sinfonia and particularly as a member of...

Peter Campbell-Kelly

Violin Tutor

Violinist Peter Campbell-Kelly has enjoyed a varied career as both a prominent orchestral, solo and chamber musician and an enthusiastic and respected teacher. An ABRSM scholar, he studied the violin at the RNCM with Yossi Zivoni and György Pauk, and chamber music with Eli Goren. He also performed in masterclasses with the...

Jiafeng Chen

Violin Tutor

Violinist Jiafeng Chen was hailed in the English press who is "not only technically brilliant but also subtle, deeply felt and astonishingly mature" (Nottingham Evening Post). He has been heard as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera National de Nancy,...

Dr Carrie Churnside

Associate Professor in Music & Research Degrees Coordinator

Carrie Churnside is  Associate Professor in Music and Research Degrees Coordinator. She is also Director of the Forum for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Music ,  and Chair of the Programme Committee for the 19 th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music. Carrie specialises in Italian Baroque music,...