The Trustees of Isleworth Baroque are

Laurence Slater Chairman; Caroline Slater Secretary; Chris Hobson Treasurer; Bernard Stevenson Publicity; Tom Beaton Membership Secretary; Philip Johnson Member

Musical Director: Helena Brown

Assistant Musical Director: Janet Oates

Patron: Catherine Bott

Helena Brown (Musical Director) left school at the first available opportunity after winning a scholarship to study music at Dartington College of Arts. Subsequently she studied at the Royal College of Music where her professor was Hubert Dawkes, and ,after leaving college, she worked for the Royal Ballet for some years. She continues to be interested in this field and works from time to time with English National Ballet and with the European Ballet company. Helena’s work is very varied; she is mainly occupied with continuo playing for ensembles both large, and on a smaller scale. She plays with the London Chamber Orchestra, and with the other London-based chamber orchesatras too. Last year she played the Shudi harpsichord at Kew Palace, for the Queen, on her eightieth birthday. As well as these activities she is Musical Director for the Isleworth Actors’ Company and with them has performed the Canterbury Tales , the Arabian Nights and Twelfth Night, and, in their latest production: “Happy as a Sandbag”. With Isleworth Baroque she has directed the music of each of the annual operas: Acis and Galatea, The Fairy Queen, King Arthur, Venus and Adonis, Dido and Aeneas, Bastien and Bastienne. Contact Helena

Janet Oates (Assistant Musical Director). Having gained a BA in English (Oxford) and a BSc in psychology (Hull), then taught English and various other things for 5 years, Janet realised that music is what she really wants to do. D’oh! Having achieved a distinction in her MMus (2003) at Royal Holloway, University of London under the supervision of Simon Holt, Janet is now undertaking a part-time PhD in composition there, with Phil Cashian. She studies singing with Charmaine Ahmed, and has given solo and duet recitals at RHUL, local venues, and in London. After many leads in G&S, she was glad to sing ‘proper’ music when invited into Isleworth Baroque at its very birth. She sang the lead in Bach’s Coffee Cantata, then in Purcell’s Fairy Queen. She directed for 2 years (Venus and Adonis and King Arthur) then gladly went back to singing, playing the eponymous shepherdess in Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne last year. Janet dusts off the old flute occasionally and bashes the harpsichord whenever given the chance. Contact Janet