Polly Ives is one of the UK’s leading music educationalists with a varied portfolio as a concert presenter, narrator, promoter, workshop leader, trainer and cellist.

Polly believes that music should be accessible to everyone from birth and throughout people’s lives. Her career has focused on finding unique and creative ways to provide high-quality musical experiences for young children (particularly 0-8 year olds) and their wide and varied communities.

She regularly produces and presents children’s concerts alongside many highly renowned orchestras, ensembles and soloists (including London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players and Ensemble 360) and with the leading arts organisations and venues in the UK (including the Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Sheffield Theatres and Royal Opera House).  She has worked with CBeebies, BBC Radio 3 and Scala Radio.

Polly has won numerous national awards with her work with Concerteenies and Music in the Round, including PRS Foundation, Royal Philharmonic Society and the David Bedford Music education award. She has previously led ground-breaking projects funded by Arts Council England, Youth Music, Garfield Weston and numerous South Yorkshire Trusts and Foundations and more.

She has led innovative music projects focussing on developing children’s speech and language skills, building children’s creativity and providing inclusive and accessible opportunities for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Her work with families, childcare providers, teachers and local communities focusses on shared experiences and connecting through music.

Polly has a unique reputation for commissioning and producing new ground-breaking works linked to children’s literature, including a successful 13 year partnership with composer Paul Rissmann. She has premiered music by Richard Chew and Luke Bedford and has worked alongside authors and illustrators including Julia Donaldson, Jason Chapman and Giles Andreae. She has devised her own creative music pieces alongside professional musicians, combining established classical compositions, improvisation and creative story-telling.

Polly aims to inspire and support others by leading conferences, training and mentorships through Music Hubs, universities, early years music networks and arts organisations.

During the 2020 and 2021 Lockdowns, Polly has been motivated to support families and schools with home learning through music and encourage people to be creative for positive mental health and wellbeing.

She has created and presented online streamed concerts with Music in the Round and London Mozart Players, played garden gigs and concerts in residential care homes, and worked in partnership with the educational publishing house, Twinkl to produce musical learning resources. With her award-winning organisation Concerteenies, Polly has rapidly developed a new YouTube channel with Musical Activities to do at home, nursery or school. Polly has also produced Home Concerts and the pioneering 24-Hour Soundtrack, with the latter winning the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award for music-making that uplifted the nation during lockdown.

Read more about John’s previous positions here.

Douglas Tang is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. He is currently engaged as a conductor, keyboardist and coach – working with professional and amateur musicians of all ages and walks of life. He is the Choral Director of the Vielklang Festival in Tuebingen Germany, Artistic Director of ExCollegium, Music Director of ArchiCantiores and organ consultant to many of the premier churches in London. He is also associate conductor and keyboardist of the Choralies Festival in France, the Wimbledon Academy Choir, and the Thomas Tallis Society. Previously Assistant Director of Music of St Mary’s Cathedral Sydney and Chapel Organist of the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich, he has also most notably held the prestigious post of Organ Scholar of King’s College, Cambridge. He teaches and coaches at most of the London conservatoires and used to work within the opera department at the Royal Academy of Music.

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Born in Hong Kong, Douglas grew up in a Swiss-German international school before winning a scholarship to study in England. Attending Harrow School and Dulwich College, he was a proficient pianist and flautist – having attained diplomas in both instruments at a very young age. Originally set to attend conservatoire on both instruments, he took up the organ at a late stage. After winning an organ scholarship, he studied music at the University of Cambridge whilst being organ scholar for the world-famous choir of King’s College Cambridge. With a strong background in the English choral tradition, he worked for multiple world-class institutions before ultimately deciding to pursue a career as a freelance conductor and keyboardist. As a conductor his love is for English romantic repertoire. Through his work in many English institutions and for the Three Choir Festival, he feels privileged to have experienced deeply the core of English music. With a penchant for composers such as Stanford, Howells, Parry and Elgar, he has conducted many ensembles such as orchestras, opera companies, choral societies, chamber choirs and consorts, and cathedral choirs. He has also conducted and worked for many festivals such as the Brandenburg Choral Festival and the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. Highlights have included recording with ExCollegium a Marvel movie under Disney, relaunching Post-COVID choral efforts with the Vielklang Festival Chorus at the Tuebingen Early Music Festival via a much lauded programme of Schutz and Bach, conducting Monteverdi’s ‘L’incoronazione di Poppea’ with Ensemble OrQuesta, and conducting the choir of Exeter College Oxford at the Tower of London. Upcoming engagements include concerts and recordings of English music with ExCollegium, a production of Handel’s Acis & Galatea with Southern Opera, and two tours to Germany in early 2023.

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As a keyboardist, Douglas works as a collaborative pianist and repetiteur in art song and opera. He travels throughout the UK and abroad to coach singers in musicianship and interpretive skills with the most recent trip being to work for Opera Stage in Berlin. As an orchestral musician he has also worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the London Sinfonietta and the Aurora Orchestra. As a continuo player he has also worked with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra for the Age of Enlightenment and the London Mozart Players. As a performing artist, Douglas has toured extensively around the world in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Esplanade in Singapore, Sydney Opera House, Washington National Cathedral and Prague Cathedral to name but a few.  He has built up an extensive discography and has broadcasted to millions worldwide on TV and radio with his CD ‘The Hereford Experience’ having been released recently. In reviews, his ‘alert musicianship, swagger, glorious vitality, fluency and clarity’ were praised with his performance bringing the music “to life, the playing is articulate as ever, bringing character to the many and varied emotions” and his “expressive and exciting playing in this impressive CD showing a clear mastery of technique”. Douglas is also an advocate of contemporary music having premiered and performed many works by modern composers such as Robin Holloway, Graham Fitkin, Francis Pott and Cecilia McDowall. He is a multiple prize-winner of awards such as the Brian Runnett Prize and Musica Britannica’s Sir Anthony Lewis Memorial Prize. He also teaches the organ and piano and has previously taught on Eton Choral Courses, Oundle for Organists and on courses for the Royal College of Organists.