STAFF & TRUSTEES
Meet our dedicated team who are making and teaching music in the city.
Lucy Revis - Director
Lucy studied music at Sheffield University and gained her Masters in Musical Performance in 2011 under the tutorship of Peter Cropper and Moray Welsh. Since graduating, Lucy has enjoyed a varied career in both playing and teaching the cello. Previous roles include: Strings Ensemble Director at North East Derbyshire Music Centre, cello coach for the City and County Derbyshire Youth Orchestra, Musical Director for Archordia Chamber Ensembles, cello tutor at a number of schools in Sheffield and Chesterfield, and freelance coaching and teaching up to university level.
As well as playing classical repertoire, Lucy has a particular interest in improvisation, pop and folk music. Lucy currently records and tours with many UK artists performing at venues such as Wembley arena, Shepherds Bush Empire, The Sage, The Leadmill, and at many music festivals. Recently Lucy has either performed with, or supported, bands including: Elbow, Reverend and the Makers, Britain’s Got Talent winner Tokio Myers, Jon Boden, Sam Sweeney, The Dunwells, Giggs and Bill Ryder Jones. Lucy has also played cello and sung live as a play listed artist on BBC radios 2, 3, 4, and 6 Music and performed on Sky Arts and BBC televison. Lucy's own band Before Breakfast recently supported The Beautiful South's Paul Heaton and have released their debut album.
Tessa Sawyer - General Manager
Originally from a small town in Manitoba, Canada, Tessa moved to England in 2002 with her husband. Having always enjoyed playing piano, Tessa decided to study for her BMus at Sheffield University as a mature student and mother to three budding musicians.
In 2019, Tessa gained her Masters in Music Psychology in Education and is now studying towards he PhD, also from Sheffield University. Besides undertaking some private piano teaching, Tessa’s main interest is research in music and arts education. Currently, Tessa is working on a research project mapping access to the arts and culture in Sheffield schools and communities on behalf of Create Sheffield.
Chris Noble
Chris Noble is from the Lake District originally, but has lived in Sheffield ever since he was a student here. He is a contemporary composer and jazz arranger, and he balances this with teaching the piano privately, working at Sheffield Music School, and working as an ABRSM examiner. He has written pieces for performance by such varied artists as Ensemble 360, contemporary pianist Phil Thomas and percussion duo Passepartout, and has collaborated across the arts with projects involving artists such as dance company Ffin Dance and metalwork sculptor Gill Brent with his composers’ collective Platform 4.
Graduating with a PhD from Sheffield University in 2009, Chris lists a number of diverse influences upon his work, including jazz pianists Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans, alongside contemporary composers such as Marc-Anthony Turnage and Richard Rodney Bennett.
Chris arranges for big band and jazz ensembles, and in 2017 he received a commission from the music hubs of South Yorkshire to compose an oratorio, Jazz Journeys, for 600 children to perform at the Albert Hall in the Music For Youth Prom series - many of the pupils at Music School were involved. This was a joint collaboration with the internationally renowned trombonist Dennis Rollins (who has won numerous national and international jazz awards).
Chris also runs the brand new Sheffield jazz super-group Straight 8s (a big band comprising former and current members of Renegade Brass Band, Flok, Bad Brew, Screaming Maldini, Hot Diamond Aces and Dr Fat Lip).
Franz Von
Following in the footsteps of other UK Afrofuturist rappers like Little Simz and Kojey Radical and with an unmistakable tone and flow reminiscent of UK hip hop pioneer Roots Manuva, Franz Von unleashes his message through a masterful use of spoken word, rap and social commentary that simultaneously honours his heritage whilst looking for ways of pushing boundaries. ‘Power Be You’ explores ongoing examples of systemic oppression, whilst reminding the listener of their own power as an individual and the importance of homegrown communities.
Franz works with students to develop their lyrics and create original tracks in our lyric and rap group.
Shelagh Webb
Shelagh studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music with Howard Davis, winning the Winifred Small violin prize and obtaining her LRAM while she was there. During her playing career she worked with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
During 18 months living in Ireland, she played with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and RTE Concert Orchestra. She has also played for West End shows and on several film scores.
Shelagh has taught the violin and viola for East Sussex, Surrey and Berkshire Music Services, and was on the staff at Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls before moving to Sheffield in 2005. She now teaches privately as well as teaching at Barlborough Hall School and Mount St Mary’s College. She regularly coaches chamber ensembles in Derbyshire.
She spends a lot of her time driving her three children to many different activities and enjoys gardening with her husband.
Barney Miller-Latham
Bands Skills, Ukulele group
Barney studied Music and Music Production at the University of Huddersfield receiving first class
honours in BA Popular Music Studies - specialising in eclectic rock, pop and electronic music.
During their studies they also worked for a short time at The Funky Junkies music production
library as an assistant mix/master engineer.
After graduating they worked as a freelance voiceover editor at PitstopProductions. Working on
titles such as F1 2020 and Baldur’s Gate 3. They later read for an MA in Composition at the
University of Sheffield, composing for short films and animations during their studies - as well as
becoming a volunteer audio producer for media network Demographica UK in their spare time,
editing podcasts and creating original music for their productions.
Now, they write, produce and perform in their own project “chiibo” as well as carry out tutoring
work in performance, songwriting and music production.
Ben Eckersley
My name is Ben Eckersley, I play cello and piano and in my professional life work as a music teacher, performer, session musician, arranger, accompanist, sound engineer, promoter and fiendish quizmaster. Despite teenage dreams of being either a stand-up comedian or action film director, I’m actually quite glad I chose music, and in the eighteen years since I arrived in Sheffield I’m pleased to have crossed paths with pretty much every job the music industry offers, including brief spells as a theatrical composer, DJ, band manager, record label director and festival organiser.
I’ve always loved performing and after many years as a classical player and composer, I decided around a decade ago to take a sideways step into the worlds of folk and popular music. I’ve had long and fruitful collaborations with musicians including Jim Ghedi, Laura James and InFictions and contribute cello parts to an ever-changing roster of around a dozen local bands, whilst maintaining my own creative projects, Captives On The Carousel and Woolly Mammoth, both which have taken me to festivals and venues throughout the UK.
Also keeping me busy in 2019 are my jobs as Musical Director of the highly acclaimed Sheffield Beatles Project (a 30-piece band who perform live recreations of The Beatles’ greatest albums with an impractical level of detail) and Sheffield city leader for Sofar Sounds, an international organisation promoting intimate gigs for new and rising musicians; I’m a regular music writer for Now Then magazine, and I run Sheffield’s hardest quiz night at the Treehouse board game cafe. Aside from music I enjoy going to the cinema, quizzing, hiking, reading and board gaming.
Philippe Clegg
Phil is a highly experienced and versatile bass guitarist, performing regularly with a wide variety of artists. He has worked extensively on studio sessions (Abbey Road, SARM, Konk) and played live at many of Europe's biggest and most celebrated venues (Wembley Stadium, Berlin Olympic Stadium, Jazz Cafe). Phil is a keen tutor, with a degree in Commercial Music Performance and accreditation from Sheffield Music Hub.
Gina Walters
Gina has been teaching singing in and around Sheffield since graduating from the University of Sheffield in 2010 with a First Class degree in Music. Though she is classically trained, Gina has been a gigging pop/jazz singer since 2007. Her time fronting the indie-pop band Screaming Maldini saw her touring the UK, France and even Japan where the band’s album reached No.2 in the album charts. As well as singing, Gina has been song-writing for over a decade and is still writing and gigging with her most recent project, Before Breakfast.
As a professional singer, Gina has also supported Justin Bieber at Sheffield Arena with NYC outfit ‘The Knocks”, recorded a live session in Abbey Road Studios, played for BBC Introducing in Hyde Park, had radio play on BBC 6Music and has recently recorded original music for BBC 2.
As well as ensuring technically strong lessons, often using the Estill method, Gina encourages each student to discover the colours, tones and expression in their voices to communicate with audiences and develop a performance style. She leads pop choir ‘Neighbourhood Voices’ at Union St, a community choir in Walkley and works with Carney Academy on a regular basis.
Antigoni Anastasiadou
Antigoni is a musician originally from Cyprus, but now living and working in Sheffield as a performer and educator since completing her Music degree at The University of Sheffield in June of 2021. Antigoni has 18 years of playing experience behind the piano and throughout this journey she had the opportunity to do solo performances, accompany choirs, play in orchestras and generally perform in venues in both Cyprus and the UK.
Though Antigoni is a classically trained musician, during her time at the University she chose to explore and experiment with other genres of music such as: Traditional Folk music, Jazz, Indian Classical music and Contemporary music. Most notably, Antigoni has been awarded with the "Stewart Blake Recital Prize" in June 2021, for having the best piano recital performance in the Music Department’s final-year examinations.
Dominic Heslop
I am a facilitator of performing, creative and written arts with extensive experience and knowledge.
I manage events and workshops which encourage youth to find more safe and constructive ways to express themselves and I deliver this through a creative environment.
We utilise their interests to essentially give them a platform to feel purposeful, challenge their way of thinking, enhance self esteem and aid them on the road to become fulfilled individuals.
Jemma Freese
Jemma Freese is a full-time musician and composer who plays keyboards/synth/piano and vocals. She is a graduate of Leeds Conservatoire where she studied Pop Composition and Jazz vocals and graduated with First BA Honours and received The Directors Prize. Jemma is a piano and vocal teacher at Dronfield Music Tuition and Make Noise Academy in Sheffield.
Jemma plays keyboard and backing vocals for Maximo Park since 2019 and has done several UK and Europe tours with them, along with festivals such as Latitude and Isle of Wight. She also played on their most recent album Nature Always Wins, which became Number 2 on the UK Album Charts in 2021.
Jemma is in numerous original projects where she plays keyboards and vocals and composes; J Frisco (avant-garde/electronic/punk/experimental/jazz trio) who has been played on BBC Radio 6 and BBC Radio 3 and performed at EFG London Jazz Festival; J2oh (hybrid-jazz duo); and her own band under her own name, currently on Jazz North’s northern line scheme and featured in Jazzwise. She has been awarded a place on several other schemes; Jazz North Introduces; Brighter Sounds Both Sides Now; Music: Leeds Launchpad; Manchester Jazz Festival Hothouse; Serious Take Five and Arts Council’s DYCP fund.
Kin Louie
Kin Louie is a producer, music facilitator and community musician based in Manchester. His work is centred around providing people with access to positive and purposeful experiences through using music as a tool for expression, collaboration and personal development. Louie’s music is an ongoing expression of his influences, from Hip-Hop, Gospel, Jazz, Grime, Garage - & anything with a bit of Soul in it.
Louie delivers workshops around music production, lyric writing, vocal delivery and developing musicality.
Paul Sparshott
Paul is an instrument tutor for guitar, bass, ukulele and drums. He is also a sound and lighting technician in addition to being a function DJ and performing musician.
Originally from Essex, Paul came to Sheffield for university having already spent many years performing in bands as well as in amateur musical theatre. During his studies, he learnt technical skills across sound and lighting in both live music and theatre environments. Having since settled in Sheffield, he has a number of ongoing musical pursuits including instrument lessons, DJing at events and functions as well as performing his own music and playing for others as a session or dep musician.
Paul works with the children both in one-on-one lessons and group sessions. He also provides technical support for live performances and band rehearsals.
Trustees
We have a dedicated team of trustees who volunteer their time to help with the running of Sheffield Music School. We thank them immensely for their time and support.
Rose Wilcox | Chair of Trustees
Tessa Sawyer | Treasurer
Sam Olley
Kate Grigsby
John Revis
If you are a parent of one of our pupils and would like to join the board, please contact us.