Kevin plays: Vandoren B40 Lyre Mouthpiece, Optimum Ligature with V•12 Strength 3 reeds.
Despite shunning the limelight and choosing several non-musical careers along the way, such as civil servant in Whitehall, computer programmer for a high-street bank in London, and qualified coach to adult tennis groups and young chess players in Yorkshire, Kevin has still managed to achieve a level of clarinet playing that has been described by Wenzel Fuchs, principal clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, as 'great, totally natural, full of ideas with great sound' when they met up at the Berlin Philharmonie to play duets together; by celebrated pianist John Lenehan as 'highly compelling' after performing with him; and by the 'International Clarinet Journal' as of 'beautiful tone and technical authority' after a particularly well-received recital in Vancouver.
Kevin's clarinet playing has taken him all over the UK and abroad, including the Canada, France, Germany and the USA. One highlight was his highly-acclaimed recital at the International Clarinet Association's Annual Conference in 2007. He has played in all the major London concert halls at one time or another. His repertoire is vast, particularly in the clarinet and piano sphere, and he has particularly enjoyed performing numerous times the concerti and solo pieces with orchestra of Mozart, Weber, Krommer, Crusell, Stamitz, Rossini, Bernstein, Copland, Debussy, Stanford, Spohr, Finzi and Nielsen, amongst others. (The chance to perform the Francaix concerto has, though, eluded him to date - it remains an ambition, given the need for symbiosis with a suitably accomplished orchestra for this most difficult of works for all concerned!)
Kevin has held numerous instrumental teaching posts at one time or another, including the College of Ripon and York St John (the teacher-training arm of the University of Leeds), the Mount School York, Pocklington Grammar School, York College for Girls, Harrogate Ladies College, Gilling Castle Prep School, Bootham School, Lyndhurst Prep School and Ampleforth College, and was guest tutor on the Buckinghamshire County Youth Wind Band residential courses, amongst others. He also taught at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School whilst still a pupil there. Scores of his students have passed their diplomas and their grades with distinction. He has also coached tennis and chess at sports centres and junior chess clubs in Yorkshire holding numerous posts in these fields as well.
Kevin himself won prestigious performance prizes at both the University of York and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), where he studied after gaining an ALCM Diploma with Distinction at age just fifteen, adding to his Grade VIII gained only two years after the first lesson. He also won a coveted Countess of Munster Scholarship which funded his post-graduate studies at the RNCM by performing in front of a panel headed by Dame Janet Baker OBE and the doyen of British clarinettists Jack Brymer OBE.
After over a decade of being a civil servant in Whitehall, Kevin relocated to Budleigh Salterton where he presently enjoys giving regular recitals with accomplished pianist Frances Waters in the vicinity, as well as helping local clarinettists, pianists and chess players achieve their potential. He is a highly graded chess player and plays a massive amount of tennis with much passion and vigour despite being the wrong side of forty (so winning Wimbledon is a little off the radar, so admits Kevin, more's the pity!)
Clarinettistes - Classique 
