Meet the family
Sam Sutton
Sam was a student at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, playing clarinet and piano. She went on to Cambridge University and then the National Film and Television School where she gained a diploma in screen composition. She has worked as a freelance composer and arranger writing scores for film, TV, theatre and the concert hall. She has over thirty years’ experience as an instrumental teacher and director of choirs and ensembles.
Sam started Fantasia Music School in 1990. She wanted to create a place in the summer where young musicians could play and sing a range of styles in small and large groups with a relaxed but focused approach. Over the years Fantasia has nurtured students who return annually until reaching the upper age limit — many come back to do work experience and some eventually become teachers.
Nikki Ridley
Nikki’s association with Fantasia stretches back to 1991, when, aged 10, she joined the course last minute after other plans fell through: how marvellous and wonderful this twist of fate! Nikki attended the course for the following seven years, took a break whilst studying for a music degree at University College, Durham and then rejoined Fantasia as a member of staff in the early 00s.
Nikki is currently a boarding housemistress at The King’s School, Canterbury where she is also a music teacher. In addition to these pastoral and academic responsibilities, she runs the school’s innovative music outreach programme, Sounding Out. Nikki is a very keen singer, plays the oboe, cello and piano (a little bit) and is delighted to now have children of her own enjoying Fantasia.
Caroline Welsh
Caroline is a musician with a wide-ranging portfolio of work. Alongside performing as a flautist, she is a facilitator of musical workshops, devising and leading creative projects and engaging people of all ages in the enjoyment of high-quality music making.
She leads creative work in partnership with the Wigmore Hall, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Academy of Music, Sinfonia Viva and City of London Sinfonia, among others and guides many young musicians in the development of their individual musical presence, on the concert platform as well as beyond it.
Picture credit: Niamh Collins
Sean Gilde
Sean graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a BA (Hons) Degree and ABSM Performance and ABSM Recital Diplomas. He was a founding member of the Astaria and Almira String Quartets which have performed at Festivals, for Music Societies and broadcast live for Classic FM and BBC Radio 4.
As part of the Astaria String Quartet, Sean has presented workshops and lecture-recitals for Arts Alive, Birmingham University, the City of Edinburgh Music School and the Education Department at Symphony Hall Birmingham. Since 2016 Sean has been Head of Strings at the Dragon School in Oxford. He has also taught at King’s Hawford prep school in Worcester and has coached strings at Fantasia Summer Music School for over twenty years.
Picture credit: ASQ / www.astariastringquartet.com
