Biography

Gillian was born in Cambridge and introduced to music, old and new, from a tender age. She started composing music at the age of thirteen and studied cello with Christopher Bunting as well as having the good fortune to join many Cambridge student orchestras and ensembles while still at school. Rather than stay in Cambridge she chose to read Music at York University, benefiting from its strong emphasis on composition. It was here she took up the viola da gamba. Her musical career has subsequently been equally in the fields of early and new music.

Bringing up five children, and also fostering several others, has had as great an influence on her life and thinking, as musical experiences have, and in 1989 she qualified as a music therapist. This brought together an interest in human development and psychology with a passion for improvisation and creative uses of music.  She has extensive experience of teaching and facilitating improvisational music workshops at every level from toddlers through postgraduate medics to music students and members of professional orchestras! In 2009 she retired from her post as Head of Arts therapies for Gwent NHS Trust and is now concentrating on performance, composing and teaching. Over the last few years much of her creativity has been directed towards teaching and the communicative and improvisational aspect of this.