Tickets for this concert
now only available
to Members of
Newport Music Club
The Programme
will include a canter through popular light-hearted and familiar classics such as the Gallop of the William Tell Overture to Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.
All the Players in the Little Big Time Band are members or ex-members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra:
Kirsty Lovie- Violin
Jon Quirk- Trumpet and Flugel horn
Mark O’Brien - Clarinet and Saxophone
Wendy Quirk- Piano/Keyboard
Peter Hill - Percussion -Bells and Whistles
Julian Walters- Double Bass
Biographies
Kirsty Lovie
Tutti First Violin
Kirsty was brought up near Huntly in the North East of Scotland. She attended Aberdeen City Music School where she studied with Angus Anderson, and then completed her undergraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music studying with the wonderful Richard Deakin. Whilst at the Academy she was a founder member of the award winning Delmege Quartet who have performed throughout the UK including Wigmore Hall. Since graduating in 2014 Kirsty has enjoyed a diverse schedule as a freelance violinist working with several major Orchestras including CBSO, The Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, and Scottish Ballet. Kirsty has also worked with Britten Sinfonia after being the first recipient of their apprenticeship scheme. For the past year she was principal second violin of Sinfonia Cymru and also a member of Engines Orchestra, a cross-genre jazz/classical collective.
Jonathan Quirk
Principal Trumpet
Jon was born in Peel, Isle of Man – later moving to Bedford and then Yorkshire. Growing up in a family with a long history in the Salvation Army he was given his first cornet to play in the brass band aged just 5 years old!
He went on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music under John Gracie and Howard Snell, before joining the CBSO almost 30 years ago. Jon has had many highlights in his time with the orchestra, including playing 1st trumpet in Dvořák`s New World Symphony under Andris Nelsons at the Proms in 2010, and a Little Big Time Band tour of the Isle of Man in 2005, culminating in a memorable concert in his home town. It was on a CBSO/ Simon Rattle tour of the Far East in 1991 that Jon met his future wife, Wendy, then a member of the 1st Violin section.
Outside of the CBSO, Jon is a member of the ”Little Big Time Band”, who play a wide raging repertoire of Classical, Jazz and Pop music in schools and community venues. Away from music Jon likes to play golf, and has the highest number of appearances for the CBSO cricket team, even though he still feels “very confused by the game!”
Peter Hill
Percussion, Bells and Whistles.
Peter grew up in Birmingham and from an early age regularly attended CBSO concerts. He began lessons at 14 with Ernest Parsons, a former timpanist with the orchestra, and was further rewarded with a place at the Royal Academy of Music studying with James Blades.
In his third year he was appointed Principal Timpanist with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1989 when Simon Rattle invited him to join the CBSO.
He devised and presented the first Family Concerts at Symphony Hall and along with the Little Big Time Band took part in a great deal of educational work.
Peter retired from the orchestra in 2014 and spends his time playing golf, contributing volunteer work with a heritage railway and the odd bit of DIY (very odd!).
Mark O’Brien
Principal Bass Clarinet
Born in Poole, Dorset, Mark became interested in music at a very young age and went on to study the alto saxophone aged 16, before taking up the clarinet. Mark studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Keith Pearson, Richard Addison, Michael Whight and Acker Bilk. He left in his third year of RAM to join Simon Rattle’s CBSO as Principal Bass Clarinet.
Mark is a founder member of the “Little Big Time Band”, and also performs with other groups including the BCMG, El Ultimo Tango and the Berkley Salon Ensemble.
Wendy Quirk
Wendy was born in Birmingham to a musical family and played piano and violin from an early age. She led the Birmingham Schools Symphony orchestra and Academy of St Philips Chamber orchestra and trained at the Junior Conservatoire before studying in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
In 1990 she joined the CBSO first violin section under Sir Simon Rattle and during this time joined the Little Big Time Band as their resident pianist. She continues to enjoy accompanying her colleagues and teaches piano at Warwick Independent School alongside her orchestral freelancing.
This programme is kindly sponsored by
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
and the Newport Music Coach
