TYO Staff

Thames Youth Orchestra has a permanent staff of nine professional musicians, an administrator and an intern.

Simon Ferris - musical director

Simon Ferris, founder director of the Thames Youth Orchestra, read music and was organ scholar at King's College London. As an undergraduate he pursued additional instrumental and musicianship studies with Bernard Oram at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and, after graduation, received composition tuition and encouragement from the composer and John Ireland pupil, Geoffrey Bush.

A skilled and experienced jazz pianist, Simon’s wide-ranging professional career now embraces an array of genres and disciplines, as performer, composer (published by ABRSM), arranger, writer (with programme note credits for, among others the Maggini Quartet and the Hanover Band), conductor and teacher, with duties including preparing children’s choirs for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Simon is currently Musician in Residence at Tiffin School, and Musician in Residence at Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston upon Thames, where in addition to his composing and performing duties he also teaches harmony.

Adrian Charlesworth - first violin coach

Adrian is a freelance violinist and works throughout Great Britain, but especially in London, playing for many orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, and in trios and small ensembles. He has played for Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras and Mark Elder and in the English National Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

Adrian regularly leads orchestras and has led and played solo with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He performed The Lark Ascending during Vaughan Williams' 50th anniversary year under the baton of Lev Parikian and leads the Brent Symphony Orchestra. He has recently played for The Queen and also one of the Queens of pop, Kylie Minogue; has perfomed on TV, gained various CD and film performance credits and played for the launch of makebelievethemusical.com

He is involved with string coaching for the I.A.P.S. Training Orchestra (as Principal string coach) and Surrey County Youth Orchestra and has coached the National Children's Orchestra.
Adrian supplements his playing by teaching at St. George's College, Woldingham and Reigate Grammar and is on the board of The Rehearsal Orchestra.

Sarah Hedley-Miller - cello coach

Alice Kent - bass coach

Alice has been playing the double bass since the age of 12, first playing with the local Dixieland Jazz band in school in her home county of East Sussex. She went on to study at the Royal College of Music.

Alice now enjoys a position as principal bass of The Belmont Ensemble and also pursues a career as a freelance musician working with top orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Alice is also involved in music education as a member of ‘Elastic Band’, ‘Albert’s Band’ and the innovative cello bass duo ‘twingtwang!’

Dominika Rosiek - second violin coach

Dominika Anna Rosiek was born in Poland and started her violin studies at the age of 4. Within a year she had already recorded pieces for Polish Radio, also taking part in national and international competitions and festivals, winning many prizes including a special prize in the Russian Music Festival, with an invitation to perform at the Castle in Warsaw. She twice won an award from the National Sponsorship Scheme for Talented Children and was invited to play at a special audience for Pope John Paul II. Later, she received a full scholarship to attend The Purcell School in London, after which she continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music where she was also awarded a full scholarship and at which she completed the BMus and PgDip with First Class Honours, recorded a chamber music CD with the Academy Soloists and won the J.Beare Bow Prize for outstanding player.

Throughout her studies Dominika was taught by Mateja Marinkovic but also participated in several masterclasses with Zenon Brzewski, Vladimir Spivakov, Detlef Hahn, Petru Munteanu, Eric Friedman, Marina Jaszwili, Dorothy DeLay, Ruggiero Ricci, Viktor Tryetiakov, Zahar Bron, Mauricio Fuks, Sylvia Rosenberg and Thomas Brandis.

Dominika is a winner of the Guivier prize for outstanding string player, the Alfred Brendel Prize, the Wilton Cole prize, various Martin Musical Scholarship awards, a Worshipful Company of Musicians award, the Craxton Prize, a Hattori Foundation award, and a Musician Benevolent Fund award. In addition she has been a finalist in many international competitions.

Her appearances as a soloist include performances at the Southbank Centre, St.Martin in the Fields, Wigmore Hall, St.John's Smith Square, St.James's Piccadilly and festivals such as Prussia Cove, Holland Music Sessions, Spitalfield Festival,Verbier Festival, Encuentro de Musica de Santander, Aspen Music Festival, Menuhin Festival, G.Kurtag Festival and the N.Paganini Festival.

Dominika has always enjoyed a varied musical life. She has lead several Symphony, Chamber, and Opera Orchestras, including the European Youth Orchestra (as the EYO's first Concertmaster from Poland), the London Chamber Players, Verdandi Camerata, City of London Sinfonia, and many others. She toured England as leader with the Philharmonia opera project Clockwork, including performances at the Royal Opera House. She performs regularlywith the Russian Virtuosi of Europe, is currently a member of the Arlequin Piano Trio and performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK, Switzerland, Poland, Holland and Germany. She is often invited to guest lead many UK orchestras.

Recently Dominika joined the Orchestra of Life founded by Nigel Kenndy in 2010 with whom she performs all over Europe. She is currently performing and making recordings with the London Schubert Players, working on the project Invitation to Composers which takes her around the UK, Romania, France and Norway. In Summer 2011 she has been invited to give masterclasses in France.

Ben Porter - percussion coach

Andrew Watson - woodwind coach

Originally from Aberdeenshire, Andrew Watson started playing the bassoon at the age of 12. He studied at the University of Glasgow with Alison Green, and at the Royal College of Music with Sarah Burnett, Andrea de Flammineis and Martin Field. He graduated from the RCM with an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction in 2007, after which he was awarded a further year long post at the College as Junior Fellow within the Woodwind Faculty.

In 2009 Andrew held the position of co-principal bassoon with the Southbank Sinfonia. As a freelance musician (playing both bassoon & contrabassoon) he has worked with several of the UK’s leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Britten Sinfonia. He has performed at the Cheltenham and Aldeburgh festivals, and has toured to Mumbai several times as principal bassoon with the Symphony Orchestra of India.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, Andrew works regularly with Ensemble 360 and he is a member of Etesian Winds and the Mosaic Ensemble. As a concerto soloist, performances include Weber’s Bassoon Concerto with the Aberdeen Chamber Orchestra, Weber’s Andante & Hungarian Rondo with the RCM Chamber Orchestra and Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Jersey Chamber Orchestra.

Andrew joined the TYO as Woodwind Coach in 2008.

David Whitson - brass coach

David started playing the trombone at the age of 9 when given his grandfather's old instrument. He very quickly learned to cope with making a sound and joined a local brass band near Swindon.
On the advice of the composer David Gow, he auditioned successfully
at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he went on to study the trombone with Sidney Langston and Harold Nash. 

On leaving the Academy in 1976 David freelanced in London, playing with all the major orchestras, performing on film soundtracks and recording for radio and TV including, recently, for the the latest Wallace and Gromit adventure.

As well as working with the English Brass Ensemble, his chamber music experience has included playing with Lontano,the London Sinfonietta, Matrix Ensemble, Music Projects-London and many others.

David has worked in over 47 different countries, including the USA, India, Malaysia, Korea and even Burma!

Solo work has included recording the David Gow Concertino for Trombone & Orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra for BBC Radio 3. The Concertino was originally written for him with Concert Band accompaniment.

David is currently Principal Trombone with English National Opera working at the London Coliseum.

Along with his playing career David also teaches for the Junior Department at the Royal Academy of Music, the University of Surrey, Charterhouse School, Reigate Grammar and is a coach for various courses including the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain and, since 2011, Thames Youth Orchestra.