Katy Bircher
Baroque Flute Tutor
Job Role: Percussion Tutor
Department: Percussion
Honours: BMus (Hons), ARAM
Since graduating from the Royal College of Music, Henry has performed at the highest level with many of the UK’s finest orchestras. Henry is now Co-Principal Percussion and a player director with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Before joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra he spent four and a half years in the percussion section of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the wing of the renowned percussionist, Graham C. Johns. Whilst in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Henry was lucky enough to perform the world premiere of Stewart Copeland’s percussion concerto Poltroons in Paradise with Vasily Petrenko in Liverpool and on tour in Europe and China at the Beijing NCPA International Percussion Festival.
Henry is also Principal Percussion with and a founding member of the critically acclaimed Aurora Orchestra, with whom he has performed a wide range of chamber repertoire. Highlights include Boulez’s Le Marteau sans Maitre as part of the International Chamber Music Series at Southbank Centre and Michael Gordon’s Timber for percussion sextet at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. More recently the orchestra has been exploring some of the great symphonic repertoire thrillingly performed entirely from memory at BBC Proms.
During his undergraduate degree Henry spent a year studying in New York with, among others, the acclaimed orchestral percussionist Christopher S. Lamb. Henry’s experiences in America have greatly influenced his teaching style and students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama can expect a detailed and rigorous education in orchestral technique to complement their studies in solo and contemporary percussion.