Orchfest Eastbourne

History of course

Orchfest was founded in the mid 90's by Peter Mayes with the intention of providing a late summer music course in his home town of Eastbourne using some of the magnificent sea front facilities.

Peter Mayes also envisaged using conductors from abroad who can bring the unique styles and music of their own countries. Each year we have been able to assemble a full size symphony orchestra with professional support and have enjoyed playing well known and sometimes less well known orchestral pieces.

Much of the success of this course is due to our ever popular conductor Georg Ludvik from Austria and our team of professional tutors and leaders

Conductor Sam Scheer

Sam Scheer is a postgraduate conductor at the Royal College of Music where he has a scholarship to study with Toby Purser, Peter Stark and Howard Williams. Whilst at the RCM Sam has had master-classes with Sir Andrew Davis, Martyn Brabbins and Colin Metters as well as being Assistant Conductor for both the RCM Symphony and Philharmonic orchestras

Sam is the founder and Music Director of The Campanella Orchestra, comprising London's Conservatoires' top musicians. With Campanella Sam has conducted major symphonic works, which include Shostakovich’s 9th symphony, Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony and Stravinsky’s Firebird. With Campanella he has performed concertos with some of the country’s most exciting young soloists.

Recently Sam has enjoyed close relationships with non-professional orchestras, being a regular conductor for both Benslow Music’s chamber orchestra course and Sue Hadley’s orchestral playdays. Experience with student ensembles include the University of London Symphony Orchestra and Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra.

Sam completed his undergraduate at the RCM on viola with a first class degree under the tutelage of Jonathan Barritt. As an orchestral violist, Sam has performed at the BBC Proms and with many world leading conductors with examples being Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Mark Elder and Vasily Petrenko.

Cathy Fox (leader)

Cathy divides her time between teaching and performing as an orchestral violinist. She has performed regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski at the Royal Festival Hall. She has recorded CDs with Orchestra of the Swan and was violinist and soprano for a six month production of Titus Andronicus with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has toured cathedrals across the UK with the Karl Jenkins Orchestra and arenas in the UK and Europe with Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, ABBA the Show and the 80’s rock band James. She is solo violinist for the Moth, performing in the Union Chapel and the Bridge Theatre. Cathy has led and tutored NLMS Music Summer School’s Sinfonietta since 1999 and taught violin and viola at the London Oratory School for fourteen years. She has been teaching young beginners through to diploma students at Centre for Young Musicians since 2016.

Katie Mazur (lead violin 2 and tutor)

Details to follow

Jo Radomski (lead viola and tutor)

Jo Radomski studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London for 4 years under Jim Sleigh. Since then she has divided her time between orchestras, chamber music, string teaching and the demanding role of Mum to four wonderful children(!) These days she mainly uses teaching as her ‘get out of jail free’ card when the kids are about to wreck the joint.

Josh Salter

Josh studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he held a scholarship and was awarded prizes for cello and chamber music, and as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music, receiving the Sylvia Simpson Fellowship and graduating MA with Distinction in 2016. Josh freelances with the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of London Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and the Hanover Band.

Recent solo engagements include a recital at the Barnes Music Festival and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. He performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the London Medical Orchestra In 2019.

He maintains a busy roster of students, who go on to win music scholarships at several major independent schools, is a faculty member for London Cello Society's annual Cello Day, and has devised two highly successful workshops for the Society.

He plays on a cello made in 2015 by Kai-Thomas Roth.

Martin Bunce AGSM wind tutor/trumpet

Martin studied Trumpet under Howard Snell, at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, winning various music prizes and achieving an Associateship Diploma for performance & teaching in 1974.

Throughout his successful career, he has been able to switch musical styles with ease, performing Classical music one day, Jazz the next, then Pop music with his own function band Brass Farthings.

He first achieved fame as principal trumpet with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra appearing as a featured artiste on the BBC 2 television programme ‘In Concert’.

As a freelance trumpet player, he has performed and recorded with many UK orchestras and famous artistes, most notably the London Symphony Orchestra, The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Led Zeppelin and Bryan Adams. He has appeared in a Monty Python film, toured with The Petula Clark Orchestra, The London Tijuana Showband, The Drifters, The London Fanfare Trumpets, and The British State Trumpeters which took him around the world. Until recently (he is officially retired!) he was employed as a music tutor for the London Borough of Bromley and the Royal Russell School, Croydon.

He was also principal trumpet with Bromley Symphony Orchestra, and musical director for the Merton Concert Band and Eltham Park PSA Orchestra.

He is currently deputy conductor and principal cornet with the Eastbourne Silver Band, musical director for the Royal British Legion Concert Band at Bexhill on Sea, and occasionally can be found leading a function band on European river cruises.

Martin is also a skilled arranger and composer; his most popular composition ‘Marianne’ a feature for flugelhorn, appears on ‘The Very Best of NYJO’ a 4 CD set (PBX CD 458).

His Trumpet playing can be heard on ‘The London Trumpet Sound’ CD from Cala Records (Vol’s 1 & 2 CACD0113/4).

The admin team

From left to right
June Rowe - Treasurer and librarian
Ankie Postma - Committee Chairperson and recruitment.
Adrian Garfoot - Web site, minutes taker and other practical jobs eg Taxi service, mending broken lamps and occasional food testing duties.
We are all in the orchestra and might be able to help if problems arise.