Academic Music Department

Fiona Hudson

Subjects Taught

Theory / GCSE / Composition / Oboe / Cor Anglais /Piano

Qualifications

BA, LTCL, PGCE

Fiona studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, followed by a Post Graduate year at Trinity College of Music, London. She worked as a freelance oboist and session musician, before ending up as a recording engineer for EMI Music at Abbey Road. Since completing her PGCE, she taught in Worcestershire for 16 years and has especially enjoyed bringing her academic and practical skills to the classroom. She plays regularly with various orchestras, chamber groups and continues to enjoy specialist wind teaching/coaching and delights in the challenges of organising new musical adventures. Fiona is currently Director of Music at Sibford School in Oxfordshire.

Jonathan Heron

Subjects taught

Vocal Studies (All styles) / Trumpet / Composition / Theory

Jonathan was born in the small town of Olney, home of the hymn Amazing Grace. With a varied musical background he has enjoyed county level orchestras on the trumpet and Championship Brass banding on his cornet, alongside his love for piano and composition. While attending the Purcell School for Young Musicians as a Composer, he discovered his passion for recording and producing music.

Jonathan is a Graduate of The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where he studied Music Technology. From the age of 18, alongside his degree, he worked as a Bass Lay Clerk at St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham and enjoyed his time as a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, notably performing in the Christmas Carol Concerts at the Albert Hall.

Following graduation, he spent a year as a Bass Choral Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral before moving to Rochester Cathedral where alongside his Lay Clerkship, he enjoyed a busy freelance career: teaching, recording, composing and singing.

In his spare time, he enjoys exploring different musical genres through his trumpet and piano playing, and enjoys bouldering. (though mostly inside)

In September 2025, he moved to Worcester Cathedral to sing in the choir as a Principal Lay Clerk.

Chris Long

Subjects Taught

Composition / Piano / Jazz Piano

Chris has had a diverse musical career, enabling him to bring an open-minded approach to his teaching and to draw on a broad knowledge of repertoire across many styles. He has worked as a performing musician in areas ranging from classical & contemporary music to rock, jazz, musical theatre & experimental music.

After gaining his degree at Kingston University he undertook an MA in Composition with Gavin Bryars at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Over the years he has written music for choirs, orchestra, dance and TV, and his song 'Mr Capability' (commissioned by the National Trust for the 300th anniversary of the birth of Capability Brown) was recently performed at Croome Court by over 800 singers.

As well as having worked with (among others) members of folk-punksters The Pogues and psychedelic rockers Kula Shaker, in 2007-8 Chris worked with Damon Albarn (of pop band Blur) playing keyboards in the world premiere run of "Monkey: Journey to the West", an opera in Mandarin which ran at Covent Garden and theatres in the UK and abroad. He has taught all aspects of music (theory, aural, history, technology, composition, performance etc) as a fulltime lecturer in Further and Higher Education contexts, and he now works as a freelance musician. As well as accompanying choirs and teaching, Chris also performs as a soloist and in the early Music duo 'Aphelion' with singer Paula Evans. His compositions and other work can be found at www.chrislongmusic.co.uk.

Fergus Mowbray

Subjects Taught

Electric Bass Guitar / Acoustic Guitar (beginners) / Theory & A-Level Support

Fergus studied Modern Languages and Music at the University of Birmingham, gaining a BA honours degree in 2020. He then completed an MA degree in German translation at the University of Birmingham, completing his studies in 2023.

During his undergrad, Fergus studied jazz bass and received tuition from some of the UK’s top jazz bassists, including Arnie Somogyi and Fred T Baker at the Birmingham Conservatoire. He performed in the Birmingham

jazz scene, collaborating with top jazz drummer Jonathan Silk and rapper Juice Aleem, as well as performing internationally in the German jazz scene in Freiburg, Germany.

As a freelance bassist, Fergus performs across the West Midlands in musical pit theatres, including Pershore as part of the PODS theatre group, as well as playing professionally for a leading chain of hotels. He has performed at Malvern Theatres, collaborating with top West End professionals who are part of the UK’s longest-running musical theatre touring group, ‘Beyond the Barricade’, as well as playing with members of the Neil Coley big band, a band with a reputation as one of the finest swing bands in the West Midlands.

In addition to his freelance work, Fergus works at Hereford Sixth Form College, supporting students on an individual basis to help them succeed in their A levels and GCSEs.

Having studied German and having lived and studied abroad in Germany, Fergus is a fluent speaker of German. In his spare time, he enjoys visiting Germany and hiking in the Gloucestershire countryside.