Christine Quince

I learnt to play the Bassoon in senior school as no one else wanted to learn, and thoroughly enjoying playing it, a peripatetic teacher used to come into school every week.
I worked for The West Midlands Fire Service as Supplies Officer.
I teach recorder (descant, tenor, and treble) at the local junior school, (voluntarily), and assist with the Junior School Orchestra, every Friday after school.
For 3 years I had Bassoon Lessons with Neil Chapman, and we set up The Birmingham Bassoon Choir two years ago. Following Neil’s departure to the R.A.F. I now have lessons with Maria Mealey working to taking my Grade 8 in Bassoon.
I play in two Amateur Orchestras the South Birmingham Sinfonia and Harborne Orchestra once a week, and I am cofounder of The Birmingham Bassoon Choir which meets to rehearse monthly.

Neil Chapman

I am a cofounder of the Birmingham Bassoon Choir along with Chris Quince.
I studied the Bassoon with Ian Cuthill at Anglia Polytechnic University. As a post-graduate I studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Martin Gatt and John Schroeder. I am now a Bassoonist with the Central Band of the Royal Air Force.

Joanna Coombes

My graduate studies took place at Birmingham Conservatoire and Royal College of Music.

Teachers: Bassoon: Sarah Burnett, Maria Mealey, And Martin Gatt; Contrabassoon: Martin Field, Margaret Cookhorn

My orchestral work includes, Hampstead Garden Opera, Queens Park Sinfonia, Midland Sinfonia, Boston Sinfonia(Bassoon/Contra), Norfolk Symphony Orchestra (Bassoon/Contra), Goldsmiths Sinfonia, Spires Orchestra, Opera De Bauge, Leicester Bach Choir, English Philharmonic, Harrow Opera, English Camerata, Thursford Christmas Spectacular, 2004-2006 (Bassoon/Contra). Orchestras and ensembles at Birmingham Conservatoire and RCM.
I am a founder member of Trio Capriccio, formed in 2000, regularly playing for weddings, corporate functions, education projects, and recital throughout the UK. I also perform with Ariosa Winds, Elliot Trio, Unfaggotable Bassoon Quartet and I lead/conduct The Birmingham Bassoon Choir.

Sue Peters

Having spent most of my working life in bookselling and teaching, I am now a reflexologist. In the 1960’s I was Principal Oboe of the Midland Youth Orchestra and 2nd Oboe in the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO). After having my children I was offered the loan of a Bassoon and taught myself to play – it was a great relief to find that there weren’t the serious reed problems associated with oboes! I am now 2nd Bassoon in the BPO and Sinfonia of Birmingham as well as a member of the Forest Bassoon Trio. I still play the oboe from time to time and also the recorder in the Arden Consort and the Lachrimae Consort.

Dominic Cain

I am a retired Music Teacher, Playing French horn in the South Birmingham Sinfonia.
I also play Tuba in Meridian Winds, and Harmonie Concert Band. I play second Bassoon in Fircone Wind Chamber Ensemble, and play Bassoon in the Birmingham Bassoon Choir.

Michael Lloyd

I play Bassoon in the South Birmingham Sinfonia, which meets once a week, and also play Bassoon in the Birmingham Bassoon Choir.

David Silvera

I’m not a bassoonist, but a sax player, and have been playing Saxes for 35 years, and I’ve learned a little on the way. I taught myself to play as I couldn’t afford lessons and I didn’t like teachers except for the whiskey of course. I taught saxophone to budding players in Wigan, Merseyside, North Wales and Shropshire in the last two decades of the twentieth century. I have played saxophone all over the place, but now as a bassoonist I am, metaphorically speaking, merely a ‘fresh faced’ youth.

I got into bassooning quite by chance, after seeing a bassoon for sale in the Manchester Evening News for £242.00 and thought it might be a bargain which I could buy, overhaul, and flog on to an enthusiast and make a few bob. I knew it was a fine instrument because it had ‘made in China’ stamped on its body. After the initial enthusiasm for cleaning it up I just left it under the bed for several years until one day a chap asked me if I could play bassoon in a local amateur dramatic society production. I told him I had a bassoon but hadn’t even tried to play it; I became a “bassoonist”, for that week anyway. I remember the struggle of learning some note before the show week began; I was the only “player” with two music stands, one for the show music, and one for the list of finger positions to play the basic notes on the instrument.
I now know most of the notes, and play regularly with Telford and South Cheshire Orchestras and occasionally with Worcester Philharmonic and Redditch Symphony Orchestras.

Natasha Wilson

I have been a member of the Birmingham Bassoon Choir for almost three years.
I am originally from Hampshire, and studied Oboe and Cor Anglais at the Birmingham Conservatoire where I was awarded the BSM and BCA scholarships, graduating in 1998 with an MA. Since then I have cultivated a busy freelance career and perform regularly with the Serenata Winds Quintet. In an orchestral capacity I play for the Southern Sinfonia, the Heart of England Philharmonic, Queen’s Park Sinfonia, and I have enjoyed tours with Il Divo, Johnny Mathis, Chris de Burgh and Roger Daltry and have taken part in a number of live radio and television broadcasts. I am also a very busy double reed teacher working mainly in Warwick and Birmingham.

Sue Batten

I played Bassoon at school and university, then had a ten year break, before taking it up again as a diversion when my children were small. In addition to the bassoon choir I also play in the Birmingham Concert Orchestra.