Felicity Lennard
Recorder
Recorder
Felicity Lennard is currently in her fourth year of undergraduate studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, studying Recorder with Annabel Knight and Chris Orton. Felicity performs regularly in concerts as both a soloist and as part of ensembles, mostly notably performing as a soloist with both the Allington and Wessex string orchestras and with the Conservatoire Historical Performance department at the London International Festival of Early Music. Felicity has also performed at a number of venues including recently at Aston Hall, Cheltenham Festival and as part of a residency at Shakespeare’s birthplace. With great ardour for performing, Felicity has taken part in many masterclasses with leading names such as Andreas Böhlen, Tabea Debus, Susanna Borsch and Sarah Jeffery to name a few. Felicity has also competed in many competitions and festivals around the UK such as the Two Moors Festival, Procorda and the Midsomerset Festival gaining “outstanding” commendations, and also further afield at ORDA Amsterdam. She has won first prize in the Corton-Hyde Early Music competition with two different ensembles consecutively over the past two years showing her enthusiasm for both the genre and instrument. Felicity is very passionate in furthering her career in the Recorder, advocating awareness for the instrument and the beautiful sound it can make. She hopes to be able to contribute to the growth and recognition of the Recorder as more than just a beginner’s instrument and to promote the instrument to new and wider audiences.
Liam graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with first-class honours in 2024, where he studied historical and modern bassoon with Andrew Watts and Nikolaj Henriques respectively. During this time, he also pursued studies in contrabassoon with Gareth Twigg, historical oboe with Gail Hennessy, modern oboe with Jenni Phillips and recorder with Annabel Knight. He also studied at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Wouter Verschuren, Donna Agrell and Bram van Sambeek as part of the Erasmus+ programme in 2022. As a freelance performer, Liam has played with some of the country’s leading period instrument ensembles including the Musical and Amicable Society, Instruments of Time and Truth and Ensemble La Notte. He now offers tuition on bassoon, oboe and recorder, covering a variety of instruments and musical styles and actively takes part in outreach with the British Double Reed Society, of which he is a committee member. Liam is also a founding member of both the English Wind Consort and the Perula Collective, chamber ensembles specialising in the historically-informed performance of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire respectively.
Hailing from Neath, South Wales, Thomas Howell is currently studying organ performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, made possible through a generous academic scholarship from the Macdonald foundation. Subsequent to holding the Organ Scholarship at Birmingham Anglican Cathedral, Tom is presently director of music at English Martyrs’ RC Church, Birmingham. Tom couples this with other freelance church music, accompaniment and recital work. Tom served as Organ Scholar of Chichester Cathedral for two years, where he accompanied the choir through the weekly canon of eight choral services. A highlight was recording organ solos alongside the Cathedral Choir on ‘What joy so true’; a CD to celebrate Thomas Weelkes’ compositions, which is available on the Regent label. Recent successes have included winner of the Corton Hyde Early Music Prize ’24 (ensemble), finalist of the Dame Gillian Weir Messiaen Prize in Beverly Minster ’24 and finalist (2nd place) of the Royal College of Organists organ playing competition in York Minster ’24. Michaelmas term ’24 performance venues have included Eymet (Dordogne), Covent Garden RC Church, Brangwyn Hall, Worksop priory and St. Andrews University.
Will is from Stratford-upon-Avon, and attended Shakespeare's school there, where in addition to having oboe and saxophone lessons, he sang in the chapel choir, and played in the wind quintet, orchestra, concert band, and baroque trio. He was also an active participant in ensembles run by Warwickshire Music Hub, playing in the county wind orchestra, and in the Waits group, which is where he gained interest in early music and historical performance. In 2018 he was accepted into the Junior Department of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, studying oboe, piano, and composition, as well as playing in the wind and symphony orchestras. Since starting his studies full-time at RBC in 2022 he has played in the Baroque Orchestra, Recorder Consort, and other early music ensembles, with which he has played at events such as LIFEM and Cheltenham Music Festival. At RBC, he studies baroque oboe with Gail Hennessy. In 2024, he studied for a semester with Chris Palameta at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels. Will has also played in a number of ensembles such as RBC's Symphony and Wind Orchestras on modern oboe, which he studies with Jenni Phillips, Emmet Byrne, and George Caird. Will has been kindly supported by Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra and the Denne Gilkes Memorial Fund, which allowed him to purchase his baroque oboe in 2020.
Zinnia Smart is a violinist from south Suffolk. She is currently in her 4th year of undergraduate education at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire studying both modern and Baroque violin under the tutelage of Roman Mints and Kate Fawcett respectively. Zinnia performs regularly in concerts as both a soloist and as part of ensembles such as string trios, string quartets, string quartet with tabla, as well as string and symphony orchestras. She has peformed on both violin and viola in orchestras including the Eroica Camerata, South Birmingham Sinfonia and Kimichi Symphony Orchestra. Zinnia was also a member of the first violins in the CBSO Youth Orchestra from 2021-2024. During her time at conservatoire, Zinnia has had the privilege to perform as principal violin for multiple orchestral projects including RBC’s Final Projects Orchestra in 2024 and Baroque Orchestra in 2023 and 2024. She has also played the role of second violin section leader in the conservatoire’s Repertoire Orchestra in 2023 and Symphony Orchestra in 2024. Zinnia is a core member of the Birmingham Game Music Ensemble and the Zaska Quartet, both founded in 2024. Zinnia was awarded the Birmingham Royal Ballet Sinfonia Training Scheme 2024-2025. She won first prize in the Corton-Hyde Early music prize as part of a four-piece Baroque ensemble in 2024. Zinnia is also an avid folk musician and is part of a folk trio named Triptych, Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, and the 14 piece orchestral folk group Filkins Ensemble. With these ensembles, she has performed at a range of folk festivals including Sidmouth, Purbeck Valley, Folk East and Green Man.