BETH HIGHAM -EDWARDS
London based percussionist, educator and founder of Gender and the Large and Shiny Instruments
Current percussion chair holder of the BFG for RSC / Chichester Festival Theatre
Theatre work
Come From Away (west end tour)
For The Royal Shakespeare Company
BFG
The Mirror and the Light (recording artist)
Pericles (deputy)
For the National Theatre
Amadeus
Common
Twelfth Night (deputy)
Other selected performance work
For Shakespeare's Globe
The Crucible
The Tempest (musical director)
King Lear (deputy musical director)
Measure for Measure
Macbeth (deputy musical director)
Othello (deputy musical director)
Henry V (deputy)
Other
Inala
The Great Christmas Feast (cover band leader)
The Blue Hour weimar cabaret
Mother Courage and Her Children for BBC radio 4
Paraorchestra
Orchestral Tools (session artist)
Alt J (session artist)
La Boheme for Finite Films
BBC Singers (featured artist)
Beth is the founder of Gender and the Large and Shiny Instruments (GALSI), an initiative surrounding gender inclusivity for instrumentalists. GALSI runs instrument specific courses for girls and non-binary young people on instruments in which they are a minority, such as percussion, brass and double bass. GALSI also runs a mentoring programme for students, conducts data collection, curates concerts, and engages in industry facing advocacy work.
Selected education work
Junior Trinity - percussion tutor
Masterclasses at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Trinity Laban
Panellist for Help Musicians UK and Future Talent
Careers talks at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the University of Birmingham
Workshop leader with the Wigmore Hall, London Symphony Orchestra and The Roundhouse
Mentor for Aldeburgh Young Musicians and the Benedetti Foundation
Percussion coach for Royal Academy of Music (widening participation), BBC Proms Youth Ensemble, LSO Next Generation, and with Barbican Learning.
Other
Trustee with the National Children's Orchestra
Delivered training sessions for the National Youth Orchestra, Young Sounds UK, BBC Orchestras, Britten Sinfonia, UK Music Masters and Creative Futures
Trained in coaching to practitioner level (EMCC)
Mentoring / coaching for Music Mark and UK Music Masters
Panellist at the ABO conference
Contributed a chapter to Voices for Change in the Classical Music Profession
