Peter Esswood

Peter Esswood is renowned for his contribution to String Pedagogy. He served as the Chair of the Management Committee of the European String Teachers Association from 2000-2004 and is now a member of the Central Board. His performance career as a cellist has included membership of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Opera House, as well as numerous solo and chamber recordings for TV and radio. Peter was previously Professor of Orchestral Training at the Royal College of Music, Junior Department. His work as a conductor, chamber music coach and adjudicator has received wide acclaim both in the UK and internationally.

Eleanor Turner

Eleanor Turner won First Prize in the Cardiff European Harp Competition 2007, winning an outstanding £20,000 concert harp by Italian harp-makers 'Salvi'. She was also honoured with the William Mathias Prize for the best performance of Mathias' Santa Fé Suite in the contest.

Born in England in 1982, Eleanor started learning the harp at the age of five. In 1993 she began her formal musical education at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, studying harp with Daphne Boden. Eleanor has been a student of Alison Nicholls for the past five years and has participated in masterclasses abroad with Erika Waardenburg, Catherine Michel and Susann McDonald.

Eleanor was just fifteen when she made her concerto debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Daniel Harding. In 2002 Eleanor won the Royal Over-Seas League Award for Strings and Marisa Robles Harp Prize. She was chosen for a Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists in 2005 and won 2nd Prize in the Wales International Harp Competition 2006. Eleanor lives in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where she composes and teaches as well as giving performances in the UK and abroad.