Hilary Dennis

Course director

Hilary Dennis is our course director and conductor of full orchestra and the wind band. An experienced director, she has conducted the concert band at the Greenbelt festival, led courses for Musicale Ltd and more recently for the British Double Reed Society, as well as being the founder and director of South London Double Reed days.

Principal oboist with the Camerata of London, Hilary also works as a freelance orchestral player and chamber musician. She has been an examiner for the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) since 2015, working throughout the UK and internationally in such places as Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Annmarie McDade

string tutor

Annmarie studied the violin and piano at the Royal College of Music. She works mainly as a freelance orchestral player performing with orchestras such as London Concert Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, London Musical Theatre Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Chineke and Southern Pro Musica and is the leader of both Surrey Mozart Players, Sutton Symphony Orchestra and Carshalton Opera.

As well as recording sessions Annmarie has played for many West End shows including eight years in the orchestra for Les Miserables in London. Annmarie is passionate about music education for young people. She has a thriving private violin teaching practice as well as teaching at St Philomena’s School and Woldingham School plus tutoring for National Schools Symphony Orchestra and Sutton Music Trust.

Vivienne French

choir director • string tutor

Vivienne teaches Singing at Nonsuch High School where she conducts the award-winning choir ‘Vox Celestes’, who have won multiple trophies at music festivals and recorded several albums. She also teaches violin and viola, and as a freelance viola player has performed at most major concert halls in the UK.

David French

woodwind tutor • accompanist

Freelance oboist, professional accompanist, and organist David French frequently performs in major concert halls across the UK and abroad, as well as for weddings and functions across England.

With over 30 years experience teaching, David enjoys inspiring pupils of all ages and abilities from beginners up to conservatoire entrance level, producing excellent results in exams and music festivals.

Helen Secker

musical explorers • hand bells

Helen is Head of Music as Cumnor House School in South Croydon, where she teaches music to children from 2 – 13 years old, leads a wide variety of choirs, instrumental ensembles and musical productions. A clarinettist and piano teacher, she also rings, conducts and teaches handbells throughout the South-East region of the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain, nationally and internationally.

Helen directs the Musical Explorers course, providing resources and personalizing activities so everyone can get the most from their time on the course.

Daniel Barnes

Conductor

Daniel studied Music at Bristol University before completing his Masters degree in performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He has extensive orchestral experience as a tubist, performing both as a concerto soloist and an orchestral player in major concert halls across the UK.

Daniel began conducting at university, directing a range of ensembles from smaller chamber groups to full size orchestras and fully staged opera performances. He has been working with Hilary and many of the SLMD team since 2009 on a range of summer music courses and thoroughly enjoys sourcing and arranging music for the wide range of musical offerings provided.

Sam Gee

woodwind tutor

Sam trained in music performance at Trinity College of Music and the University of Manchester, and in music production at Salford University and Media City. He now works with musicians across a wide range of genres and backgrounds, including classical, jazz, dixie, folk, klezmer, and balkan brass, and was recently a finalist for a Manchester Cultural Award for his project fusing traditional Irish and Jewish folk music.

As a multi-instrumentalist, Sam also performs regularly as a woodwind-doubler for theatre productions, playing saxophone, bassoon and clarinet, as well as in his regular spot as a jazz pianist in a 1920s dixie-inspired function band, where he writes and arranges a lot of their repertoire.

Hannah Roberts

brass tutor

Hannah is a graduate of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where she was a trombone scholar. During her studies she worked alongside members of the Welsh National Opera, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Juilliard trombone department in New York. She was a member of the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain and the Young Orchestra for London where she worked with orchestras such as the LSO, LPO and Berlin Philharmonic.

Hannah combines a busy freelance playing career with teaching for Sutton Music Trust including being the brass tutor for Sutton Youth Symphony Orchestra and Sutton Youth Training Band. She leads sessions as part of the Future Brass Project in conjunction with the Philharmonia Orchestra. 

Chris Avins

String Tutor

Chris has gained a wealth of experience from playing in ensembles throughout his education. From regularly attending holiday music courses to leading the Croydon Youth Orchestra. He continues to have a great passion for music but chose to follow an academic path, recently completing a PhD in computational chemistry.

Chris is also deeply dedicated to education; currently working as an Educational Technology content developer and learning designer at the University of Birmingham. He wants to highlight how much music has aided him in his educational development and wants to encourage playing music as an integral part of a well-rounded education.

Liam Roberts

Percussion Tutor

Liam started playing drums, percussion and trumpet in various bands and orchestras in Sutton Music Trust. He was Sutton Young Musician of the Year in 2021 resulting in performing a xylophone concerto with Sutton Youth Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music’s Junior Department , where he won the Percussion Prize, and then went on to continue his studies on the BMus course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

As a percussionist Liam has worked with many orchestras such as English National Ballet, Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra, Redhill Symphony Orchestra, Surrey Mozart Players,Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, Brixton Chamber Orchestra and Sutton Symphony Orchestra. As a drummer Liam has played for various shows and is the drummer for his band The Rackets. Liam has extensive experience in whole class instrumental teaching in schools as well as teaching one to one at Junior Music School in London.