Masterclass

Melanie Ragge

Next year’s Masterclass will be for Woodwind and Brass instruments and led by Melanie Ragge.

The next in our series of celebrity masterclasses for Woodwind and Brass instruments, will be held on the afternoon of Sunday 21st March 2027 at Homefield Preparatory School, Western Road, Sutton
The Wind instruments’ Masterclass will provide an fantastic opportunity for some of our most talented woodwind and brass players from this year’s Sutton Music Festival to receive expert coaching from celebrated oboist Melanie Ragge.
Melanie has performed nationally and internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral player.
Originally a medical student at King’s College Cambridge, Melanie ultimately graduated with a Master of Philosophy degree in Musicology. She was subsequently awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship at the Royal College of Music where she studied oboe with Michael Winfield, contemporary oboe with Edwin Roxburgh and piano with Phyllis Sellick.
She regularly coaches and gives masterclasses; she has been a guest tutor for numerous projects, including Chamber Music International, the Aberystwyth Music Festival, Hamburg Hochschule für Musik und Theater and the Penderecki Musik Akademie, and was for many years Associate Director and woodwind tutor for the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. As well as her work at the Royal Academy, she teaches at the Purcell School of Music, and coaches for Cambridge University. Her scientific interest continues in the form of ongoing research into the use of Electromyography to help to reduce strain injuries in musical training.
Our series of Masterclasses, which began in 2015, has proved very popular with our talented performers. Originally funded by a bequest from the late Neil Heayes, it is now funded by Tony Kerslake MBE.
The date of the Masterclass will be confirmed as soon as possible.

Vivienne Cunningham & Participants at the 2026 Speech & Drama Masterclass

Celebrity Speech & Drama Masterclass 2026

Speech and Drama Masterclass brings drama and performance

Our Masterclass for Speech and Drama, led by drama teacher Vivienne Cunningham, brought a stimulating afternoon of drama on Sunday 8 March.  Ten talented performers from the 2025 Sutton Music Festival took part.  We enjoyed excepts from a variety of works from Roald Dahl to Shakespeare, with Vivienne providing expert coaching and feedback.

Vivienne Cunningham has worked in the theatre, television and the film industry, and taught speech and drama, public speaking and performance techniques to all ages.

It was fascinating to watch her working with such enthusiasm and encouragement on the works presented by the young participants. Vivienne offered a range of fresh ideas about stagecraft, movement and timing, eye line, voice projection and communication with the audience.

Said Vivienne, after the performances:  ‘The Masterclass was well organised and the young performers were confident and very attentive. It was a pleasure to watch them work.’

This year’s Sutton Music Festival will open on the weekend of 7/8 November with Vocal Classes at Homefield School.  See our website for details.

Heidi Pegler & Participants at the 2025 Vocal Masterclass

Celebrity Vocal Masterclass 2025

Vocal Masterclass brings us a wonderful afternoon of song

Our Masterclass for Vocalists, led by singer and teacher Heidi Pegler, brought a wonderful afternoon of singing on Sunday 12 May. Seven singers sung a variety of songs from classics by Handel, Fauré and Brahms to more modern pieces.
Said Heidi, after the performances: ‘I have had a most enjoyable afternoon working with a wide variety of ages and repertoire. The singing was of a very high standard and the singers were very responsive to my suggestions. We have had a good time working together.’

Vanessa Latarche FRCM & Participants in the 2024 Masterclass

SMF MASTERCLASS 24 MARCH 2024 – PRESS RELEASE

Masterclass for Piano given by Vanessa Latarche

Sutton Music Festival organised a very successful and enjoyable Piano Masterclass given by Vanessa Latarche on Sunday 24 March at Trinity School.  The masterclass gave an opportunity for some of the Festival’s most outstanding musicians to work with an internationally renowned pianist.  They played works by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Liszt and Kapustin.

Said Vanessa after the class had finished: ‘It has been a wonderful afternoon of music.  The students were all very well prepared and were responsive to the feedback.  It is such a joy to work with such talent.’

Professor Latarche has been Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music since 2005. Awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music in 2010 for outstanding services to music, an honour conferred on her by HRH Prince of Wales, in September 2011, she was granted a Personal Chair at the RCM, which gave her the title of Chair of International Keyboard Studies. As an extension to her keyboard faculty work, Vanessa was appointed as the Associate Director for Partnerships in Asia, which involves managing the RCM’s collaborative work in China and the RCM’s degree programmes at Nangyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.

The Masterclass is funded by the Neil Heayes bequest.  Sutton Music Festival is supported by Arts Network Sutton, the HR Taylor Charitable Trust, and is grateful to Trinity School for the use of their piano and recital room.

More about Vanessa Latarche

A renowned pedagogue, with many international piano competition prize-winners amongst her students, Vanessa has been Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music since 2005. Vanessa was previously a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music for 14 years, where she was made an Honorary Associate in 1997.

After studying at the Royal College of Music with Kendall Taylor and completing her training in the USA and Paris with Claude Franck and Vlado Perlemuter,  Vanessa was awarded many scholarships and prizes from international competitions. Her concert career has taken her to Europe, the USA and Asia, as well as many festivals within the UK. Vanessa’s interest in Bach led to a performance of the complete 48 Preludes and Fugues at the Lichfield International Festival in 1992, the performances being given over four consecutive evenings. She has performed as a soloist with international orchestras and those in the UK including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, working with many leading conductors. She is a Steinway Artist and has broadcast for over 30 years for BBC Radio 3 and has also broadcast extensively on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4. To celebrate Queen Victoria’s 200th birthday in 2018, Vanessa appeared on BBC 2’s documentary on the Queen, Prince Albert and Felix Mendelssohn with Lucy Worsley, which was filmed in Buckingham Palace.

 Vanessa is Artistic Director of Hastings International Piano in which capacity she chairs the jury for HIPCC and oversees the artistic programme for HIP concerts.  She has been a juror and jury chair  for numerous international competitions in China, Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Italy, New Zealand, USA, Singapore, and Hong Kong and has adjudicated the national keyboard final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year. In 2007 she was an advisor to the BBC TV programme ‘Classical Star’.

 Vanessa frequently travels to give masterclasses, to such institutions as Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Beijing Central Conservatory, Tokyo College of Music, Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, Seoul National University, Piano Texas, Oxford Piano Festival, as well as to other UK conservatoires and specialist music schools, and international summer schools.  She is an advisor to Lang Lang’s music school, Lang Lang Music World, in Shenzhen, China and has recently been appointed as Artistic Advisor to the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.

 Representing the professoriate, Vanessa  has served four terms of office on the Council, the RCM’s Governing body. As a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, in January 2023 she was elected to the WCoM Court as a Court Assistant. She is a member of the editorial board of Classical Music Magazine, Director of the Eileen Rowe Musical Trust, and sits on the Athenaeum Music Committee. She has contributed to the RCM’s publication, Inside the Conservatoire, to be published in 2023

SMF MASTERCLASS 5 MARCH 2023 – PRESS RELEASE

Masterclass for strings given by Ruth Rogers

Sutton Music Festival organised a very successful and enjoyable Masterclass given by Ruth Rogers on Sunday 5 March in Wallington Library.  The masterclass included participants from the 2022 Festival, playing violin and cello.  They played works by Bach, Sarasate, Paganini, Rachmaninov and others.

Said Ruth after the class had finished: ‘It was an honour to work with these incredibly talented young musicians. They responded so well to ideas and suggestions, and I think that it was a lovely opportunity for them to perform to an audience and interact with a professional musician. Huge thanks to the Sutton Music Festival for giving young people this opportunity.’

Ruth Rogers is currently one of the Leaders of the London Mozart Players, and regularly guest leads other major orchestras. She studied at the Royal College of Music, has won many prestigious awards including the Tagore Gold Medal and the Manoug Parikian Award. She now performs both at home and abroad both as a soloist and in various chamber music ensembles including the Iuventus String Quartet and the Aquinas Piano Trio.

The Masterclass is funded by the Neil Heayes bequest.  Sutton Music Festival is supported by Arts Network Sutton, the HR Taylor Charitable Trust, and is grateful to the London Borough of Sutton for the use of the library.

SMF MASTERCLASS 6 MARCH 2022 – PRESS RELEASE

Masterclass for wind players given by Gill Johnston

Sutton Music Festival organised a very successful Masterclass given by Gill Johnston on Sunday 6 March in Wallington Library.  The masterclass included participants from the 2021 Festival, playing trumpet, oboe, French horn and clarinet.  They played works by Mozart, Britten, Arnold and others.

Said Gill after the class had finished:  ‘I have had an enjoyable afternoon in Sutton.  The performers were enthusiastic and of a very high standard, with ages ranging from 5 to 16.  It is quite something for them to get up here before an audience.  They are all talented, and I hope I have given them some helpful feedback so they take away something positive.’

Gill is an accomplished bassoonist, founder of Harpenden Musicale, now one of the country’s largest private music centres, and musical director of the National Children’s Wind and Chamber Orchestras.  She is passionately interested in encouraging children to ‘make music’ and thoroughly enjoys music festivals all over the country.

The Masterclass is funded by the Neil Heayes bequest.  Sutton Music Festival is supported by Arts Network Sutton, the HR Taylor Charitable Trust, and is grateful to the London Borough of Sutton for the use of the library.