Music is in my veins.

I’ve been playing the violin for 41 years, and a professional musician for over thirty. I’ve never quite fitted into one box — which turns out to be one of the most useful things about me.

I trained classically from an early age, earning ABRSM Grade 8 Distinction in violin at fifteen, ABRSM Grade 8 Merit in piano, and RSL Grade 8 Merit in vocals. I went on to complete a BA in Arts and Humanities at the Open University, specialising in Music and Creative Writing. But alongside all of that, I was also playing folk sessions, gigging in barns, fiddling at ceilidhs, and learning that the music people actually feel — the music that makes a room move — doesn’t always live in a concert hall.

That’s the thread that runs through everything I do. Classical rigour, folk soul, and a genuine belief that music is at its best when it brings people together — whether that’s a wedding congregation holding their breath as someone walks down the aisle, a ceilidh room full of strangers becoming a community for an evening, or a creative collaboration with an artist or producer where something new gets made that neither of you could have made alone. That sense of connection is why I do this, and it’s what I bring to every project.

My main violin is around 300 years old — made in Germany long before the country as we know it existed.

I also play a Yamaha YEV Pro electric violin for more contemporary contexts — running through a chain of effects including reverb, overdrive, echo, and shimmer, which gives it a sound that’s a long way from the concert hall but very much its own thing. It’s how you end up with an instrument older than the American Declaration of Independence sharing a stage with a pedalboard and a Roland keyboard stack.