People

The KCO is an amateur orchestra of high standard. Our conductor and artistic director is Andy Meyers, who has held that position since its formation.  Our leader is Emily Earl, a freelance violinist and City Music Foundation artist.  Playing membership is around 50 and comprises a mixture of professionals, teachers, semi-professionals and keen amateurs.

Conductor: Andy Meyers

Andy Meyers

Andy Meyers

Andy Meyers studied conducting at Trinity College of Music with Bernard Keeffe. He has worked in master classes with Diego Masson and Sir Charles Groves and in 1983 he was awarded the Ricordi Prize for conducting.

He was a prize-winner in the 1985 Stroud International Composers Competition with his Sonata for Oboe and Piano and he was a runner up in the 2005 BBC Radio 4 Christmas Carol Competition. He has written orchestral works including concertos for horn, flute, bassoon, recorder and bass clarinet and he has educational music published by OUP, Peacock Press & Bellmusic.

He was Head of Music at Finton House School for twenty years and Director of Music at Homefield Preparatory School, Sutton, until December 2021. In 1997 he gained an MA (Music Education) at Roehampton Institute.

Andy has conducted groups ranging from the Enfield String Players to the London Festival Ballet and he is presently Musical Director of the Kingston Chamber Orchestra and the Mid-Sussex Sinfonia.

Leader: Emily Earl

Emily Earl

Emily Earl is a freelance violinist and City Music Foundation artist. A founding member of the Echéa Quartet, she has performed at the Banff Centre and the Wigmore Hall, and was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

As an orchestral player, Emily has played with the Oslo Camerata and Oslo Philharmonic, and is a regular member and leader of Orchestra for the Earth. She has worked closely with Mark Elder and Marin Alsop, including a performance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in 2019.

Emily has a particular love for contemporary music and enjoys working with composers on new works and experimental techniques. She is a member of the Deluge Collective, who create multimedia performance art with artists from the UK, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Emily was awarded the J&A Beare Bow Prize for outstanding achievements at the Royal Academy in 2019 and plays a violin by Andrea Postacchini, kindly loaned to her through the Beare’s International Violin Society.

Performers

The following soloists have performed with the KCO. (Click on an arrow symbol → to go to the performer's website.)

  • Leanne Alexander, violin

  • Jamal Aliyev, cello →

  • Emma Baldock, cello

  • Simon Callaghan, piano →

  • Margaret Cameron, mezzo-soprano

  • Daniel De-Fry, harp →

  • Sadie Fields, violin →

  • Yume Fujise, violin

  • Karen Gibbard, oboe

  • Rebecca Herman, cello →

  • Clare Howick, violin →

  • Fenella Humphreys, violin →

  • Alasdair Macaskill, piano

  • Enika Magyar, viola

  • Tom McLauchlan, guitar →

  • Sally MacTaggart, saxophone →

  • Mathilde Milwidsky, violin →

  • Andrew Nicholson, flute →

  • Helen Oughtibridge, clarinet →

  • Kathryn Parry, violin

  • Lorna Perry, mezzo-soprano

  • Mary Reid, harp →

  • Daniel Shao, flute →

  • Lesley Shrigley Jones, cello →

  • Findlay Spence, cello →

  • Robbie Stanley-Smith, cello →

  • Jonathan Strange, violin →

  • Roy Stratford, piano

  • Hiroaki Takenouchi, piano →

  • Simone Tavone, piano →

  • Jeanine Thorpe, violin

  • Lisa Ueda, violin →

  • Samantha Ward, piano →

  • Jane Wilkinson, soprano →

  • Andrew Zolinsky, piano →