Open Ears - Open Minds

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About Bristol Pre-Conservatoire

Founded by Dr Jonathan James in 2012, we are an evening school for young classical and jazz musicians, providing weekly ensemble training in Bristol. Our talented students come together in a fun yet challenging environment to develop ensemble skills and complete musicianship.

It’s a community of like minds, drawn from all over the city. We encourage curiosity, creativity and versatility, building the skill-set required for today’s professional musician.

Image of people playing the flute at a Bristol Pre-Con session

Our approach to theory is to learn through doing, applying concepts and ideas on the instrument and voice, complementing what is taught on the school curriculum and taking it to the next level.

people singing at a Bristol Pre-Con session

In the opening sessions for the whole group, we work on ear skills and on appreciating music in its widest expression, deliberately blurring boundaries. 

Bristol pre con session

Students will learn about and create music from all sorts of styles, from Congolese rhythms through to Stravinsky ballets. Artists and professionals from the industry visit regularly to enrich these sessions.

Afterwards, students will have two hours of small ensemble training with experienced and inspiring tutors.

people playing the violins at a Bristol Pre-Con

For more details and how to apply, read here.

Meet the Team

Jonathan Rees Artistic Director Bristol Pre-Conservatoire

Jonathan Rees

Artistic Director

Cello

Alex Goodyear

Assistant Artistic Director

Jazz (Drums)

Chris Green

Chris Green

Programme Manager

Elizabeth Hamilton

Assistant Programme Manager

photo of John Bacon

John Bacon

Voice
Nick Malcolm Jazz trumpet

Nick Malcolm

Jazz (Trumpet)

Imogen Triner portrait

Imogen Triner

Oboe

Neve Humphreys Intern at Bristol Pre-Con

Neve Humphreys

Intern

photo of Luke Gilbert

Luke Gilbert

Trombone

Founder

Dr Jonathan James BEM

Creative music workshop leader, speaker and writer

Jonathan founded the Bristol Pre-Conservatoire in 2012 to address a gap for advanced musical training in the city, particularly around chamber music and creative skills. His playful opening sessions with the students led him to develop a specialism and an eventual PhD in collaborative creativity and its connection to building musicianship. He now consults on these areas in specialist music schools and leads workshops at RAM, RCM and GSMD every year. He is a creative lead for the National Children’s Orchestra and musicianship tutor for Aldeburgh Young Musicians. 
 
An equally important strand over the past decade has been Jonathan’s commitment to community music-making. Having led the Bristol Recovery Orchestra, he is the founder and artistic director of Dovetail Orchestra, which runs music groups for asylum-seeking musicians in England and Wales. Jonathan was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2024 for services to music.

Advisory body

Dr Jonathan James BEM – founder of Bristol Pre-Conservatoire, creative workshop leader, speaker and writer

Dr Ashley John Long – bassist, composer and lecturer at Cardiff University

Helen Reid ARCM – former BBC Young Musician piano finalist, professional studies course lead at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, and piano teacher at Bristol University

Dr Simon Jones – Head of String Performance, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

 

 

Challenge Yourself

bristolpreconservatoire@gmail.com

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Photo credits: Evan Dawson

Jonathan Rees Artistic Director Bristol Pre-Conservatoire

Jonathan Rees Artistic Director

A highly versatile musician, Bristol-born Jonathan Rees has performed across the globe with the UK's leading chamber and historical performance ensembles and orchestras.​  As a chamber musician he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Musiekgebouw, Innsbrucker Festwochen and on BBC Radio 3. ​A member of the renowned viol consort Fretwork, he has also performed as continuo / principal cellist and gamba soloist with the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Arcangelo, Florilegium, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen, ENO, Britten Sinfonia, RLPO, Manchester Camerata, La Nuova Musica and the Wigmore Hall resident ensemble Solomon's Knot. With acclaimed pianist Helen Reid, Jonathan is one half of a piano-cello duo focussing on 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, in particular the music and influence of Nadia Boulanger. An Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, Jonathan has taught undergraduate and postgraduate historical cello students at the Royal College of Music, given historical performance classes at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music, Juilliard School, Birmingham Conservatoire, Cambridge University and the Royal Northern College of Music. He is Artistic Director of Bristol Pre-Conservatoire and teaches privately in the Bristol area. He has devised and led music workshops and children's concerts for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Brighton Early Music Festival and others. From 2013 to 2018 he directed and performed at Bristol's acclaimed annual festival, Really Classical Relay.  Outside of the world of music, he spends a lot of his time making compost and growing vegetables for his family and other local wildlife.

Alex Goodyear
Assistant Artistic Director / Drums

Alex Goodyear is a Reading based Drummer, Bandleader and Composer. Since graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2019, he has become a regular of the UK and International Jazz scenes, working with artists including Joss Stone, Seamus Blake, John Law, Simon Spillett, Iain Ballamy, Joe Webb, Sam Crockatt, Alex Merritt, Steve Fishwick, Greg Abate, Jake McMurchie, Denny Ilett, Alan Barnes, Huw Warren, Rebecca Nash, Libor Smoldas, and Henrik Jensen. "Alex Goodyear is one of the finest young drummers to emerge for many years..." - The Bebop Club "Swinging, tasteful, and his contribution is sublime. He’s a musician's drummer. There are drummers with the chops flying everywhere but getting in the way of the music... here we have a player who could do all of this but chooses to play the music. Enhancing those around him. Adding colours and being a voice in the perfect conversation." - Jazz in South Wales Alex’s current projects include: • John Law’s “Re-Creations” Quartet • “Yetii”, a Classical-Jazz fusion project co-led by Alex Veitch and Ashley John Long • “Energizer” Trio, co-led by Alex Merritt on sax and Ashley John Long on bass. • “Bluprint”, a funk trio led by Daniel Newberry, featuring Guy Shotton on Organ. Other regular collaborators include Dave Jones, Jonny Bruce, Dave Cottle, Greg Sterland, Craig Crofton, Victoria Klewin, Adam Stokes, Jack Mac, Gareth Roberts, Nick Kacal, Guy Shotton and Sarah Meek.

Chris Green

Chris Green
Programme Manager

Chris is an experienced Production Manager with a strong background in local and national event planning, particularly within the Education and Creative Sectors. Her work has focused on supporting and enabling children and young people to access high-quality musical experiences, and she is passionate about widening participation in music-making and ensemble playing for young musicians.

As Planning & Production Director for the National Children’s Orchestras, Chris led the Operations Team to facilitate exceptional performances in some of the UK’s most renowned venues, including the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Lighthouse in Poole, Portsmouth Guildhall, and The Anvil in Basingstoke, creating unforgettable musical experiences for young performers.

Previously, as Education Manager at Bristol Music Hub, Chris played a pivotal role in coordinating music education initiatives across the city. From organising individual music lessons in schools to producing large-scale concerts at Bristol Beacon, she was instrumental in creating opportunities for young people to engage with music and develop their talents.

A dedicated pianist, Chris finds joy in accompanying musicians of all ages. Whether supporting young performers in music exams, playing for Rangeworthy Community Choir, or celebrating the fun and passion of lifelong singers at The Filtones Choir, she values the power of music to bring people together and enrich lives.

Neve Humphreys Intern

Neve Humphreys is a third year music student at the University of Bristol.

At UOB, Neve is a passionate cellist leading multiple orchestras including the University of Bristol Symphony Orchestra. She has also taken a keen interested in student society committee’s, being the welfare officer for the Bristol University Music Society (BUMS) and she is also the president of Symphonia, a student orchestral society.

Previously, Neve was a member of the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, conducted the BUMS string orchestra and was an intern at the Buxton International Festival over the summer.

Outside of music, Neve enjoys sewing, knitting as well as changing her hair every 6 months.

photo of John Bacon

John Bacon
Voice

John is a professional tenor and voice teacher, and is recognised as a singer of exceptional musicianship, warmth, style and character. Having performed throughout Europe and North America, he has also been praised for his dramatic intensity, vocal beauty, clarity and agility. John’s singing career has taken him as far as New Zealand, Japan, Mexico and Canada on both the operatic stage and concert platform. He has sung leading roles in works ranging from Monteverdi to Jonathan Dove and major oratorio and recital works from Bach to Britten. Throughout his career he has also been fortunate to work with such distinguished artists as Graham Johnson, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sian Edwards and Ronald Corp. Through the generous support of the Koerner Foundation Artist Award, and the COB Foundation of Canada, he completed a Master Degree on the postgraduate Opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Rudolf Piernay. While at the Guildhall, Mr. Bacon was a prize winner in the English Song Competition, represented the college in an LSO Discovery Lunchtime Concert, and worked with the likes of Philip Langridge, Martin Katz, and Malcolm Martineau. Prior to this, John sang with the Juno award-nominated vocal ensemble musica intima, was a winner of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Two Début Series for Young Performers, and completed a Bachelor of Music at the University British Columbia. Having grown up in Vancouver, Canada then spent seven years based in London, John moved to Bristol to take singing teaching positions at both Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School and Taunton School. John is currently a resident artist of Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now performing regularly with pianist Helen Mills.

Nick Malcolm Jazz trumpet

Nick Malcolm
Jazz (Trumpet)

Nick Malcolm is an original and heartfelt improviser, known for his rich sound and sense of improvisational and compositional daring. He led the acclaimed Nick Malcolm Quartet, releasing three albums, touring nationally several times and performing at the London Jazz Festival and on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz On 3. Their final album 'Real Isn't Real', added a quartet of four female vocalists. He also co-led the trio 'Alphabets' (with Hannah Marshall and Lauren Kinsella), the electro-acoustic quartet jade and, in 2021, released 'Chat’ an album of improvised duets with Corey Mwamba. Currently, Nick leads the quintet Out Front, with Jason Yarde, Jake McMurchie, Olie Brice and Dave Smith. They play original music inspired by years of playing music by masters Andrew Hill and Booker Little. Their debut album,‘Buried Web’s, will be released in October 2025. He also heads Knotted Kernel, a multimedia collaboration blending music, spoken word and taste. A member of Dee Byrne's Outlines and Rebecca Nash's Redefining Element 78, he's also played with George Cooper’s Jazz Defenders and Eliza Carthy's 'Wayward Daughter'. Nick has collaborated with a wide range of musicians and is a sought-after session artist, chosen for Take Five Edition IX in 2014. He teaches jazz trumpet privately and at Wells Cathedral School.

Imogen Triner portrait

Imogen Triner
Oboe

Imogen Triner studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she won many of the major prizes, including the Paddy Purcell Prize for all wind instruments.  She was awarded a Countess of Munster Scholarship and then a Winston Churchill Fellowship to continue her studies with the Berlin Philharmonic’s solo oboist, Lothar Koch.
 
Imogen’s performances have included major concertos with the Tivoli Festival Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra,  the Turku Philharmonic and Kuopio Symphony Orchestras – both in Finland, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway,   the Kansas Chamber Orchestra,  the National Italian Symphony Orchestra,  the Belgian National Radio and Television Orchestra,  the Norkoping Chamber Orchestra in Sweden  and many chamber orchestras in the UK, with whom she has played numerous concertos and recorded many of them for  CD.   Many of these performances have been recorded for the radio. 
 
As a chamber musician Imogen has performed highly acclaimed recitals in major London venues and in festivals throughout the UK.  She has toured all over Scandinavia, America and Japan both as a recitalist, giving master classes and with her Oboe Quartet – oboeworks. Various composers have written quartets especially for Imogen, notably Peter McGarr,  and some of these are included on the 2 CDs oboeworks has  recorded.
 
Imogen has plays with the Bristol Ensemble for many years and has enjoyed many wonderful and varied performances. From Bach concerti through large orchestral works to more recently  – Pink Floyd and The Beatles! She  now lives in Bristol and loves the city. Imogen continues her busy playing career, coaching and teaching here.
 
When Imogen is not playing she is most likely to be walking in the hills and mountains with her husband, gardening, or training on Bristol Downs with Clifton Bootcamp!
Neve Humphreys Intern at Bristol Pre-Con

Neve Humphreys Intern

Neve Humphreys is a third year music student at the University of Bristol.

At UOB, Neve is a passionate cellist leading multiple orchestras including the University of Bristol Symphony Orchestra. She has also taken a keen interested in student society committee’s, being the welfare officer for the Bristol University Music Society (BUMS) and she is also the president of Symphonia, a student orchestral society.

Previously, Neve was a member of the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, conducted the BUMS string orchestra and was an intern at the Buxton International Festival over the summer.

Outside of music, Neve enjoys sewing, knitting as well as changing her hair every 6 months.

photo of Luke Gilbert

Luke Gilbert
Trombone

Luke Gilbert began learning the trombone at an early age having been inspired by his late grandfather, the renowned musician Dennis Chalk BEM. It was this inspiration that led him to achieve a place to study at the Junior Royal College of Music with David Whitson and then subsequently at the Royal Northern College of Music with Chris Houlding, Les Storey and Adrian Morris. Following this he returned to the Royal College of Music as a postgraduate student to complete his studies with the eminent bass trombonist Bob Hughes. Since embarking on a successful and productive freelance career, Luke has performed with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC NOW, BBC Philharmonic and English National Ballet. He has made recordings for radio and film and has worked with well known artists such as Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson and has also played for Her Majesty the Queen. Luke is currently trombone tutor at Millfield, Dean Close, Clifton College and Wellington School.