Stuart Mallen

Director of Music

 

Stuart began his musical education at the age of 7 with organ lessons on an organ his uncle had built from a flat pack. Aged 9 Stuart joined the local church choir and sang with them for a total of 13 years. 
Throughout primary school it became apparent that music was a subject that Stuart excelled in and as he moved into secondary education he began learning the euphonium with the Wolverhampton Music School. Stuart then bought a cheap second hand trombone from a local junk shop with money he had saved and began the task of teaching himself to play it, since then he has taught himself a number of instruments. 
At the age of 12 Stuart began learning to conduct by asking every conductor that he met within school, the Wolverhampton Music School, local orchestras and bands for lessons and tips. Within the year he had put together a small band of wind players to play at some of the local pubs and churches and his love of conducting has continued to grow. At university Stuart studied conducting as his main subject, specialising in symphonic wind orchestra, Jazz ensembles and choirs. He took lessons from Neil Aston  who was Orchestral Manager at the Birmingham Conservatoire at the time. 

Stuart spent 6 years play Tuba with the renown All Souls Orchestra, London where he performed at many prestigious venues such as: The Royal Albert Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Manchester Bridgewater Hall and Dublin Helix to name only a few. He conducted the English National Concert Band, Central England Concert Band and the West Midlands Concert Band. In 2014 Stuart took on the role of Director of Music at St Peter's Church and has introduced a great variety of music into the church.

Stuart has recently published his first anthology of church music entitled Sacred Choral. 

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Jane Wright

Leader

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Jane’s father played violin in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, so she spent her early years in Liverpool before moving to Leeds. Her first violin lessons were at the age of five with her mum, who was at one time first violin with the CBSO, but she moved to a different teacher for her Grade 3 examinations as she says there were ‘too many arguments!’

Jane studied for six years at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). Whilst in Scotland, Jane overlapped college and a job in the Orchestra of Scottish Opera.

Jane is currently Sub-Principal Violin in the internationally renown City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO)

Jane is kept busy outside of her orchestral wok by her six year old son and she and her family enjoy walks along Birmingham’s canals and the River Severn.

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