Ian is Head of Music Education Sheffield and leads Sheffield Music Hub. He is an experienced music educator and conductor who believes that all young people should be given the opportunity to excel as musicians. He is a founding partner of the Harmony Works Project – an ambitious plan to develop a purpose built Music Education Centre in Canada House – a beautiful heritage building in the centre of Sheffield.
Before becoming Head of Music Education his portfolio career included working extensively as a cello teacher, head of Sheffield music school, freelance cellist and orchestral director. Ian is a multi-award winning director of orchestras. With the City of Sheffield Senior Orchestra and the Peak District String Orchestra he has won the Classic FM String and Chamber Orchestra award (2009), the ABRSM Youth Orchestra of the Year award (2011) and the Innovation Awards at the National Festival of Music for Youth in 2014 and 2015. In November 2016 Ian made his conducting début at the Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Ian has also conducted Symphony, Chamber and Strings orchestras at the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield and worked with The Sheffield Orchestral Collective, Yorkestra, Hallam Sinfonia, Music in the Round, Derbyshire County Youth Orchestra and many others and his work has included multiple performances across the UK and Europe.