Our Team
Our highly experienced team of professional musician tutors inspire and guide the students throughout the week with sectional and full orchestral rehearsals. Their expertise and friendly approach create an environment in which our members can thrive. NSSO provides children with the opportunity to experience the joy and fun of orchestras, often opening a lifelong connection to performing, whilst also encouraging creativity and boosting a child’s learning.
Pete Harrison – Philharmonic Conductor
We are delighted to welcome Pete back for the 2025 season to direct the NSSO Philharmonic Orchestra!
Pete is a regular guest conductor with many orchestras including Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, The Ulster Orchestra, The Philharmonia, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra (Novaya Rossiya) and for Raymond Gubbay Ltd with the London Concert Orchestra, the Manchester Concert Orchestra & the Scottish Concert Orchestra.
He has recently been appointed as the Musical Director of the Klassik Radio Pops Orchestra for their annual tour throughout Germany and Austria for the German based classical radio station, Klassik Radio.
Pete studied at the Royal College of Music going on to be a busy freelance player, including work in the West End where he started his conducting career.
Pete is also the Musical Director for the BSO Voices Choir in Southampton partnered with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra who give 3 main concerts a year, all sung from memory. He is also the Musical Director of the Brent Youth Concert Pops Orchestra in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
James Topp – Sinfonia Conductor
James was born in the Orkney Islands and educated in north-east Scotland. His musical training took place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied horn with Hugh Seenan and Jeff Bryant, and conducting with Alan Hazeldine. Since leaving the GSMD he has developed a highly varied freelance career including work with several major UK orchestras, West End shows, corporate team-building projects and even an ABBA tribute band! He has been ESO’s Principal Horn since 2004 and has worked as a soloist and chamber musician with groups such as Fine Arts Brass and the Allegri Quartet.
James is heavily involved with ESO’s education programme, in particular in managing the very popular ESO Youth orchestral courses. He has also coached the brass section of the English Schools Orchestra, held horn classes at Dartington and at Instrumenta Oaxaca in Mexico, and is Visiting Teacher of Horn at Malvern College and University College School in London.
Academy conductor – to be confirmed
Instrumental Tutors
The strength of any youth orchestra is the quality of coaching offered, both at an individual level and in sectional rehearsals. Our Heads of Section are the backbone of the course team. Highly experienced and respected performers and teachers themselves, they lead a team of individual instrumental coaches which ensures that our orchestras are well prepared and musically engaged throughout the course. Our 2024 Heads of Section included:
Simon de Souza and Dave Oxley (brass)
Susie Hodder-Williams and Catriona Scott (woodwind)
Steve McDade (strings)
Mike “Ozzie” Osborn (percussion)
The office team
Noriko Tsuzaki – Orchestra Manager
Noriko was born in Japan and started learning the violin at the age of three and the piano a year later. She relocated to the UK at the age of nine and attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department.
Her undergraduate studies took place at the University of Manchester where she studied the violin with Leland Chen and gained her BMus (Hons). She continued her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music studying violin with Thomas Kemp and achieving a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance and an MPhil in Performance which also included an academic research on Beethoven’s works for violin and orchestra.
Noriko is passionate about teaching and currently teaches violin, viola, piano and runs ensembles at Malvern College and Malvern St James. She is also the Head of School at The Elgar School of Music – a community music school for people of all ages. Her strong interest also lies in teaching people with additional needs and she is a Founder Director of Special Virtuosi; a community-interest company providing music opportunities for children and adults with special needs. She is the Education & Development Officer at the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) and organises courses and coaches young musicians aged 5-19 on courses during school holidays.
She performs with various orchestras around the country and holds the position of Sub-Principal First Violin in the ESO. Her other freelance work includes session recordings for films, appearing on TV and radio such as Songs of Praise and Classic FM. Her performing career has also taken her to various European countries and the Far East, including Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore.
Allan Walker – Operations Director
Allan was brought up in Cambridge where he sang as a chorister under Dr George Guest at St John’s College. He won a music scholarship to Harrow School, where he studied the organ, piano, violin and viola, before returning to St John’s, Cambridge in 1993 as Organ Scholar. He studied the organ with Andrew Nethsingha, Christopher Robinson and David Sanger and as Organ Scholar toured Australia, South Africa, North America and Europe, as well as performing in broadcasts and recordings for the BBC and foreign broadcasters. Allan has worked as Organist and Director of Music for several churches both in the UK and overseas. He has performed nationally and internationally as a solo organist, accompanist and conductor. He is employed by Malvern College as Director of International Schools but retains a keen interest in all things musical!