Teachers

Christian Forshaw studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he was made Professor of Saxophone whilst still in his twenties. He is the founder of The Sanctuary Ensemble for whom he has written and arranged all of the music. The Sanctuary Ensemble have released four CDs which have reached number one positions both in the UK and internationally.

Christian has enjoyed a varied career as performer, composer and teacher. He has made concerto appearances with the Scottish Ensemble, RLPO's 10/10, the Brno Philharmonic and the Docklands Sinfonia. He has toured worldwide to venues including Carnegie Hall and The Lincoln Centre in New York, the Royal Albert Hall, and London’s Southbank and Barbican Centres. He has performed with orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and with conductors including Vladamir Ashkenazy and Riccardo Muti. He has also appeared with smaller groups including Icebreaker, the Michael Nyman Band and the Graham Fitkin Ensemble.

Film credits include Ravenous, Ordinary Decent Criminal, Hart's War, The End of the Affair and How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire. He has recorded with Fightstar, London Saxophonic, Icebreaker and Marcella Puppini and recently worked on the groundbreaking show London Road at the National Theatre.

In July 2009 Christian was commissioned to write and perform a piece at the unveiling of the Hyde Park memorial to the London bombing victims of 7 July, 2005. The ceremony was attended by HRH The Prince of Wales and the British Prime Minister and was broadcast internationally.

Mick Foster studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He has since worked extensively in the fields of jazz, commercial and classical music as a saxophonist, clarinettist and composer. He has played and recorded with a wide range of ensembles which include the Stan Sulzmann Big Band, the Michael Garrick Big Band, The London Jazz Orchestra, Frank Griffith’s Nonet, Issie Barratt, La Banda Europa, Ute Lemper, Digby Fairweather and the Back To Basie Orchestra.

He has also worked with John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Jacqui Dankworth, Trudy Kerr, Mark Lockheart, Guy Barker, Mark Nightingale, The Philharmonia Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. Mick has recorded three albums under his own name and is in demand as a session musician; recent work has included BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Downton Abbey.

As a composer, in addition to writing for his own groups, Mick has written for various ensembles, which include the London Jazz Orchestra, Quartz Saxophone Quartet, Docklands Sinfonia and Onyx Brass. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and has been played in many parts of the world including Europe, America, Asia and Australia.

Mick is active as an educator; in addition to teaching at the UK’s major conservatoires he is a tutor for the National Youth Jazz Collective.

Lucille graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2014 with BMus (Hons) in Saxophone performance and then in 2017 was awarded her MMus Masters in Performance and Pedagogy.

Growing up, Lucille was part of the Gwent Music Support Service, participating in 9 bands that gave her the opportunity to play in prestigious venues, such as; the Royal Albert Hall, Symphony Hall and St. David's Hall in Cardiff. Lucille has also played with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales (three times), National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain and National Youth Jazz Reserve Orchestra of Wales (twice). At the age of sixteen she won Caerphilly Young Musician of the Year and was twice a finalist at the South Wales Rotary Club Competition.

At the end of April 2016 Lucille made her London debut by performing The Fuzzy Bird Sonata as part of the Birmingham Conservatoire Showcase at one of London's major concert halls, St John's Smith Square. During her time at the Conservatoire she has won many competitions, such as; the Birmingham Conservatoire Saxophone Prize, The Rollanson Prize and the prestigious Town Hall Symphony Hall Recital Prize, which allowed Lucille to perform a solo recital in the Birmingham Town Hall in November 2016.

Lucille has also received a Postgraduate Grant from EMI Music Sound Foundation, she is a Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award Holder (2 years running) and this year received a Postgraduate Award from the Tillett and Colin Keer Trusts.