MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Simon Ferris, founder director of the Thames Youth Orchestra and Jazz Orchestra, read music and was organ scholar at King's College London.

A versatile musician, Simon works as a pianist, composer, arranger, writer, conductor, and teacher. His professional experience ranges from appearing as a classical piano recitalist, to working as a jazz pianist playing at the Cork International Jazz Festival and onstage in London's West End; from preparing children's choirs for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to conducting symphonies by Mahler and Shostakovich. He is the composer of an extensive catalogue of choral and educational music, the author of a biography of Beethoven (published by Omnibus Press in 2018), and an educational specialist working on the specification and exam setting panel for Cambridge Assessment.

Simon is currently Director of Music at The Henrietta Barnett School, having been for many years Composer in Residence at Tiffin School, and Musician in Residence at The Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston upon Thames.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Dae Lee is a drummer, percussionist and educator. He has worked with musicians and entertainers such as George Fenton, Melody Thornton (Pussycat Dolls), Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Brian Blessed, Leslie Garrett, the London Swing Orchestra, National Youth Jazz Orchestra (ambassador), Thomas Adès, Don Broco, Nico Muhly, Pete Firman, Malory Torr, Byron Wallen, Thierry Pécou, and has also performed for Queen Elizabeth II. His contributions to various albums has seen individual tracks rank no. 1 on the UK Jazz charts on numerous occasions.

Venues and studio work include Abbey Road Studios, Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Love Supreme Jazz Festival (Yamaha Tent), Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, O2 Indigo, Pizza Express Jazz Club (Dean Street, Pheasantry, Birmingham, Maidenhead), Beijing Concert Hall, Budapest Jazz Club, BBC Hyde Park Festival, Livingston Studios, and Metropolis Studios. Dae has also worked for labels such as Universal Music Group (Earth Orchestra) and Decca Records (The Boy Downstairs: Netflix). Dae has also toured countries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Dae has been fortunate to have played alongside UK jazz greats such as Barry Forgie, Bill Geldard, and Ronnie Hughes. Dae has also led the award winning Bristol Hornstars, Thames Youth Jazz Orchestra and Reading University Big Band.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Carys Evans is an Oxford music graduate working in arts programme management.

As well as being Executive Director for Thames Youth Orchestra, she is the Music Programme Manager for Ark Schools. In addition, she has worked for numerous arts organisations including the Spitalfields Music, Youth Music, Lambeth Sounds, Mandinga Arts, Pan Intercultural Arts and The Voice Festival UK. Passionate about music and arts education, Carys has taught oboe and double bass at Kampala Music School in Uganda, and continues to work with various organisations on educational outreach programmes in the UK, and working with a range of vulnerable groups.

In addition to her career in arts management, her performance credits include performing as a dancer for Jax Jones and other carnival performances, a singer with the Oxford Belles a cappella group, and as a gigging DJ who plays regularly on the London club circuit as well as at a number of UK festivals including Boomtown Fair, Wilderness Festival and London Remixed.

TYJO BAND SSISTANT

Ed Driver is a composer, arranger and trombonist currently studying for a master’s degree in composition with Kenneth Hesketh and Dai Fujikura at the Royal College of Music, where he is an H R Taylor Charitable Trust Scholar and has held a Vaughan Williams Bursary.

He won his first composition prize, the Howard Greenwood Composition Award, in 2017, and in 2021 was awarded the COMPASS Composition Prize in association with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He has worked with numerous world-class ensembles, having written music for Britten Sinfonia, The Hermes Experiment and the Fidelio Trio. Fascinated by aesthetics, his recent music often aims to imbue the logic of social-philosophical ideas with a vibrant sense of humour.

He has a keen interest in music education, having held a role in the music department at Mill Hill School, as well as working as a freelance trombone and composition teacher. He was recently appointed as a composer-mentor for Music in the Round’s WeCompose scheme, to be delivered in collaboration with the Ligeti Quartet. He is keen to continue to share his excitement for music-making with young people of all backgrounds and to promote its accessibility.