Trustees

Chairman Richard Stilgoe at the Destroy Rankin auction - November 2009

Trustees are professional musicians or are involved in music education or the commercial music industry.

Richard Stilgoe OBE, Chairman

Richard is well known as a singer/songwriter, lyricist and broadcaster. In 1985 he founded and continues to run the Orpheus Trust which devises and runs music programmes designed to help people with physical disabilities. He played an instrumental role in enabling the Trust to open a purpose built centre, part-funded by lottery funds and opened in 1998 to enhance and develop further the Trust's work. He also presents the Stilgoe Saturday Concerts at the Royal Festival Hall. He was High Sheriff of Surrey in 1998-99.

Download Richard Stilgoe Chairman's Review - March 2009
Download Richard Stilgoe Chairman's Review - March 2008

The board meets four times a year and is responsible for corporate policy as well as approving funding applications. They are advocates and ambassadors for the work of Youth Music and take a keen interest in seeing the work of Youth Music at first hand.

George Caird

George Caird pursued a freelance career as an oboist after studying at the Royal Academy of Music and Cambridge University. He was a member of The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and is a founder-member of The Albion Ensemble. George has adjudicated for BBC Young Musician of the Year, the YCAT awards and the Chamber Music Competition for Schools. He is a board member of Performances Birmingham and Youth Music; and since November 2005 has been Chair of the National Association of Youth Orchestras. He was the President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians for 2004/5; and was elected Secretary-General of the Association of European Conservatoires in 2004. In January 2006 he joined the Advisory Group for the Department of Education and Skills Music and Dance Scheme; and in June 2007 he became a Trustee of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.
George has been involved in many areas of music education, and is a founding member of the British Double Reed Society. He was Head of Woodwind at the Royal Academy of Music, before becoming Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire in 1993.

Nicholas Cleobury

Nicholas Cleobury has an international reputation in the concert hall, opera house and recording studio, and as a lecturer and teacher.  He is Founder and Conductor Laureate of the Britten Sinfonia, Principal Conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir and Founder and Principal Conductor of Sounds New. He has conducted most of the leading symphony and chamber orchestras of Great Britain, including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, while further afield he has worked with orchestras in Europe, Melbourne, Singapore and South Africa. He was Principal Conductor of the Royal Academy of Music Opera and Musical Director of Broomhill and is a regular guest at Zurich Opera.  He has worked with numerous leading directors, including Peter Hall, Nicholas Hytner and Jonathan Miller and countless leading singers. From 2009 he will be Artistic Director of Mid Wales Opera. He is an expert choral director, having been Assistant Director of the BBC Singers and worked with choirs from the Swedish and Danish Radio Choirs to the Melbourne Chorale, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Royal and Huddersfield Choral Societies.  He has given over 100 premieres, is a fervent champion of new music and has worked closely with many notable contemporary composers, such as Bennett, Boulez, Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, Henze, Ligeti, Macmillan, Patterson, Ruders, Tavener and Turnage and collaborated extensively with the late Sir Michael Tippett. He has conducted many leading specialist new music ensembles including Aquarius, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, London Sinfonietta, Die Reihe (Vienna) and Opera Nova (Zurich) and contemporary groups at most of the major Music Colleges. In 1997 he founded Sounds New to bring contemporary music to a wider public. Actively involved in creative projects with student composers of all ages, he has also worked widely with young musicians and students, notably at the Royal Academy of Music, and also the Birmingham Conservatoire, GSMD, RCM, RSAMD and Trinity Laban, as well as conducting a number of youth orchestra, including the London Schools Symphony and Northern Junior Philharmonic. He is a vibrant and persuasive speaker and lecturer, in demand as a communicator both on and off the rostrum, and as a teacher of conducting.  A regular broadcaster with the BBC, Classicfm and on European radio, his discography includes highly regarded recordings of Mozart Concertos with the Britten Sinfonia and RPO, an award-winning CD of the music of Richard Strauss for EMI, Bridge, Headington, Maw and English Music with the Britten Sinfonia, and many others including the Chopin Piano Concertos and a Spanish Fiesta with the RPO.

Kathleen Duncan OBE

Kathleen Duncan was Director General of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales (formerly the TSB Foundation for England and Wales) from 1990 – 2005.  During this time the Foundation made grants totalling £140million to over 30000 charitable organisations. Previous roles include working in Hong Kong for seven years, setting up the independent copyright society (CASH) and running a travel business; followed by appointments as International Marketing Director for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd and Marketing Director/Centenary Appeal Director for St John Ambulance.   From 1995 to 2000 she was Vice Chair of Crime Concern and a member of the Executive Board of the Association of Charitable Foundations from 1994 until 2000 including Vice Chair 1999-2000. Kathleen was a Trustee of the National Family and Parenting Institute from 1999- 2006 and chaired the DfES Parenting Fund Advisory Panel. She was a member of the Commission for the Future of Volunteering 2005 -08 and is a trustee of the Hosking Houses Trust, New Philanthropy Capital and the Sue Thomson Foundation.  She is also a Governor of Christ’s Hospital School and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and gave the Allen Lane Foundation Lecture in 2009.

Tolga Kashif

Tolga Kashif is a London born composer, conductor and producer.  He worked for twelve years on sound-to-picture, which included winning awards such as the British Academy of Film and Television Award, a Royal Television Award and a Prix Jeunesse.  Tolga also created and composed the Queen Symphony which was commissioned by EMI Classics.  This had an incredibly successful tour and is often featured in international Classical Top 10’s.  Tolga musically directed the BBC Children in Need's Platinum-selling single, 'Perfect Day' and has worked with artists such as Vanessa Mae and Lesley Garrett.   Recently Tolga collaborated with South-Korean pop icon, Seo Tai-ji, for the ‘Great 2008 Seo Tai-ji Symphony’ with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Seoul World Cup Stadium.  Tolga was the arranger and producer on the debut album for Tyler Rix, winner of the 2008 BBC2’s ‘Classical Star’ talent show.  The album, ‘Ascent’, reached number 1 in the UK Classical chart this year.  Tolga has a special interest in music education and making sure that children from all different backgrounds have the opportunity to have access to music.  He is patron of ‘Future Talent’, a charity that works to encourage young children who have the potential but not the opportunity to develop their musical talent.  Tolga is now CEO of Lightsong Media Group Ltd which is a new music company focused on promoting fair deals for artists, innovation in technologies and facilitating Music as an instrument for positive change

Menna McGregor

Born in Cardiff and brought up in Aberystwyth, Menna has combined her professional role as a lawyer and Company Secretary with her love of the arts.  She qualified as a barrister and was Company Secretary at the Royal National Theatre from 1993 until early 2007.  She is now The Clerk at The Mercers' Company.  Earlier in her career she worked as a journalist in South Africa and later for a commercial property development company.

Caragh Merrick MA FCA FRSA

Caragh is an independent leadership and strategy consultant working principally with Chairmen and Chief Executives in developing the effectiveness of the Board. She was an assurance partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1990 to 2002 during which time she fulfilled a wide number of practice leadership roles, including membership of the UK Assurance Board with specific responsibility for strategy development and implementation. She is a trustee/non executive director for a number of organisations primarily in the Arts sector

---

Sally Osman

Sally is an integrated marketing and communications consultant specialising in corporate and brand storytelling with clients including Unilever, GSK, Novartis Pharma, ENO, Sky and the NFU.  An award-winning magazine editor and former journalist, Sally is the former Head of Communications for the BBC, leading strategic corporate as well as numerous crisis communications and consumer PR campaigns. She was part of the Channel 5 launch team and also ran BSkyB’s communications operation.  Music has been a constant source of inspiration, comfort and energy in her life and she hopes, through Youth Music, to help kids who might otherwise not get the chance to discover how it can make their lives better too.

David Poole

David Poole is a Managing Director of Citi Private Bank, UK and has recently been appointed as Global Market Manager for the UK Market Region. Since joining Citi in May 2006 David has been responsible for Business Development for Citi Private Bank Europe.  David trained in corporate finance at Lazard Brothers in 1987. He subsequently became a senior portfolio manager at N M Rothschild where he was an analyst for the electronics and media sectors and managed pension funds, charities and private client accounts. More recently, David served as a Director and Head of Business Development at Merrill Lynch Investment Management (previously MAM) where he worked on the amalgamation Merrill's two UK businesses in 2004. David graduated from Bristol University in 1986 with an honours degree in English and Theology. He also holds a City Diploma in Finance & Accountancy, is a Registered Representative of the Stock Exchange and a member of the Institute of Investment Management and Research.

Reports by former Youth Music Chairman, Gavin Henderson - retired June 2007

Gavin is the Artistic Director of the Dartington International Summer School and Chair of Arts Council of England Music Advisory Panel. He has wide experience of working with the arts and is Chairman of a number of arts associations. Gavin has also held positions as Principal of Trinity Laben, Director of the Brighton Festival, the South Hill Park Arts Centre at Bracknell, as well as Chief Executive of the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Download Gavin Henderson Chairman's Review 2007 (32KB)
Download Gavin Henderson Chairman's Review 2006 (167KB Word)
Download Gavin Henderson Chairman's Review 2006 (39KB PDF)