MUSIC FOR EVERYONE
Live music, both as listener and performer, is not always easy to access and a large part of Mark's work aims to address this need. Social circumstances, disability and illness need not be barriers to making music.
Mark has directed music and opera projects in prisons in both England and France. Projects include film scores with members of the Hallé Orchestra and a study of rites and rituals in The Magic Flute with Glyndebourne. Compositions developed by inmates at the Centre Pénitentiaire de Meaux were performed by Douglas Boyd and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
Since the group was founded in 2006, Mark has directed LSO Create, made up of adults with disabilities, their carers and members of the London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly leads projects for children in special education with the London Symphony Orchestra, Jessie's Fund and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. These programmes frequently take children away from their school settings to perform in major venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, the Festival Hall and the Barbican.
Mark first started working with children in hospitals in 1998. From 2000-2004 he was Musician in Residence at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. He currently leads programmes of hospital visits in London with the LSO and for the Chelsea Community Hospital School. He is advisor to LSO Discovery's community programme, aiming to provide access to music making throughout society in London and beyond.
Mark has also been the facilitator of a collaboration that began in 2021 between the the residency for youg string quartets at the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale and Koninklijke Visio. This work led to a first performance of Trust at the 2024 Bienalle. The work went on to be performed across the Netherlands.
​
"Witnessing the music group can give an insight to the young person's level of functioning and form part of a clinical assessment. What I admire the most is that young people have an opportunity to be transported to another place outside of the hospital for a short but significant time." - Amanda Thompson, Assistant Head Teacher, Chelsea Community Hospital School.
​
​
LSO CREATE
LSO Create meets at LSO St. Luke's in central London. It is the LSO's inclusive ensemble where adults with a wide range of needs can become a part of the LSO family. Regular members, newcomers and LSO musicians all combine to make new musical discoveries together. Additional sessions are provided through the year to allow for more specialized work, such as using accessible music technology or playing music in a more intimate context for group members with severe disabilities.
Members of LSO Create Perfrom work together to develop 3 performances a year, leading to concerts at the Barbican Hall or LSO St. Luke's. LSO Create Perform has recently completed its first film soundtrack and is developing an ongoing collaboration with the Oska Bright Film Festival.
During 2025, LSO St. Luke's was closed for renovations so LSO Create spent this time on tour, working with the Barbican Gallery, the Barbican Cinema and the National Gallery. This film is the story of our year.
TRUST WITH THE AMSTERDAM STRING QUARTET BIENNALE
Trust was developed over 3 years and combined amateur singers who had been involved in rehabilitiation programmes at Koninklijke Visio with the Belinfante and Karski string quartets. An initial phase of improvisation developed into 2 strands of work: a commission from composer Matijs de Roo and a set of songs devised and performed by individual singers alongside the Karski Quartet. From the initial stages to the performance at the Amsterdam String Quartet Biennale was a period of 3 years of musical and personal development. Trust went on to further performances at Festival Classique and the Wonderfeel Festival during the summer of 2024.
JESSIE'S FUND
Since its inception in 2009, Mark has been a lead musician on Jessie's Fund's programme of work for special schools. The programme aims to provide unique musical experiences for participating pupils as well as developing staff skills to equip schools for a future of music.
​
"Again and again I have seen Mark make the most remarkable difference with children with special educational needs. It is joyful to see children engage and work together with a musician to create and appreciate a piece of music. To see a child with severe social, emotional or communication difficulties forget everything and join in playing and performing music is an absolute delight, as is seeing teachers and parents witness this transformation." - Cindy O'Sullivan, Head Teacher, Gosden House School.
​