Meet our team

Suzanne studied violin and viola at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. She has over twenty years’ experience teaching string players of all ages, from young beginners to adults, in a wide variety of settings in three different countries. Past pupils have gone on to receive music scholarships from Eton College, Harrow School, and Charterhouse School, and have secured places in the National Children’s Orchestra and Junior Guildhall. Suzanne is also a certified children’s yoga teacher and trained with YogaBeez Children’s Yoga School.

Described as a Swiss-Army muso, Suzanne’s versatility has led to an enormously varied performing career. She has performed with artists including Katie Melua, Rick Astley, Barry Manilow, Emeli Sandé, and Jarvis Cocker, toured with Tim Minchin, Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, and recorded with Little Mix, One Direction and JP Cooper, among others. Suzanne’s extensive classical experience includes the BBC Concert Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Catherine won a scholarship to study at the Purcell School of Music with Mateja Marinkovic. She also received coaching from Emmanuel Hurvitz and the Borodin Quartet.

Then she followed Marinkovic to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she also studied with John Glickman. She received coaching from Sylvia Rosenberg and the Takacs Quartet when her love of chamber music was fully ignited.

Since then, as well as teaching and coaching, she has toured with Pressburg Chamber Soloists and has performed with Nigel Kennedy, Simon Rattle, Colin Davies , Rostropovich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra .

She has played concertos with Belmont Ensemble of London and more locally the Waverley Ensemble and performed with chamber groups at St Martin in the Fields, the Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Catherine enjoys exploring the rich string quartet repertoire with the Artington String Quartet and performing with them around the country as well as undertaking workshops in an educational setting.

She teaches violin at Bedales School and has a private teaching practice numbering around 40 students for whom she organizes chamber music experiences and concerts in the area.

Last year she formed The Three Counties String Ensemble which was initially a chance for her own pupils to rehearse and perform together regularly but has since expanded to include other children and adults! They recently performed Jeff Moore’s The Comet Stone at St Christopher’s Church Haslemere with the Waverley Ensemble.

She has played many recitals with Angela including Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata and other concerts show casing female composers.

Aaliyah Booker is an award-winning violinist and music educator from McLean, Virginia. Booker made her solo debut with the McLean Philharmonic Orchestra in 2015performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 26. She has since performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Washington Monument and Sheldonian Theatre. Booker graduated summa cum laude from The Hartt School, University of Hartford in 2019. That year, Booker was awarded the John G. Martin Scholarship in recognition of her outstanding academic achievement and went on to pursue further study at the University of Oxford. She completed an MPhil in Music Performance with a distinction from the Oxford in 2021. She teaches the violin as a Strings Fellow at The Royal Academy of Music’s First Strings Experience programme. In addition, Booker actively performs with orchestras in the UK and participates in the London Symphony Orchestra‘s Pathways scheme.

Niamh studied for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Brighton and since graduating has had a varied career. She has a passion for performance and narrative storytelling, with a background in theatre and client services. Niamh enjoys working with children of all ages and is excited to see young children make their first foray in the world of musical expression.