Music alumni: Where are they now?

Graduates from Music at Southampton enjoy successful careers in both musical and non-musical professions, including performance, composition, education, arts management, media, engineering, public service, IT and computing.

Southampton PhD graduates have an excellent track record of obtaining academic posts in the UK and abroad: university musicologists and composers with Southampton doctorates include Sarah Hibberd (Nottingham), Michael Spitzer (Durham), Bjoern Heile (Sussex), Bethany Lowe (Newcastle), Allan Moore (Surrey), Edward Hughes (Sussex), Antonio Cascelli (Maynooth), Lee Tsang (Hull), Melanie Marshall (Cork), Victoria Vaughan (Oberlin), Peter Elsdon (Hull), Geoffrey Poole (Bristol) and Alan Marsden (Lancaster).

Read on for profiles of some of our recent graduates in a diverse range of fields:

Broadcasting and Journalism: Tom Service (PhD 2004)
Tom Service is presenter of Music Matters on BBC Radio 3, writes regularly for The Guardian, and has appeared on BBC2 Proms and BBC3. In addition Tom lectures at Trinity College of Music, and in 2005 was Guest Artistic Director of the Huddersfield Contempoary Music Festival.

Secondary Education: Helen Comley (PGCE 2003; MA 2002; BA 2001)
Helen Comley began her teaching career at Bay House School in Gosport, and in 2006 became Head of Performing Arts at Bicester Community College, Oxfordshire. As well as class teaching from 11-18 and coordinating PGCE placements from Oxford University, she MDs and produces shows (Grease, Sound of Music, High School Musical), and has organised tours to Germany, China and the United States.

Freelance Composition: Fung Lam (BA 2003)
With the premiere of his orchestral work Unlocking in 2008, Fung Lam became the youngest Chinese composer ever to have received a commission from the BBC. Fung's output ranges from original concert and media works to arrangements, and his music has been played around the world by performers such as the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Festival Wind Orchestra, and Carducci Quartet.

Performance/ Jazz: Joe Stilgoe (BA 2002)
Singer and pianist Joe Stilgoe released his first album, I Like This One on Candid Records in 2008. Joe has been resident at The Groucho Club, The Bluebird, The Dorchester and The Melia White House, and has played in the most prestigious jazz venues in London and New York as a solo artist and with the Joe Stilgoe Trio.
Listen to the title track from Joe's new disc "I Like This One", available from Joe's website or from Candid Records.

Media and Management: Nicola DiFrancesco (BA 2007)
Nicola works as a marketing and editorial assistant for Classical Music Homepage an online resource for musicians including a publishing service and the first automated, online musicians' diary service. Her editorial role includes responsibility for comprehensive jobs listings and news pages as well as creating video materials for the site.

Music Therapy: Sarah Hodkinson (BA 2002)
After her Southampton degree, Sarah attended music therapy programs in New York and Boston, then completed postgraduate training in music therapy leading to her state-registration with the UK Health Professions Council. Sarah has worked within the NHS, independent health-care bodies (The Priory), the education sector and in her own private clinical practice in London. She leads Music Therapy at Shooting Star Children's Hospice in London, and teaches Southampton's Music Therapy and Community Music module.

Performance/ Opera: Emily Rowley Jones (BA 2002) After her studies at Southampton, up-and-coming soprano Emily Rowley Jones completed the MMus at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Winner of the 2007 Hampshire Singer of the Year Award, Emily has performed major roles for the GSMD and British Youth Opera, including a highly-acclaimed Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, and in opera choruses at the Salzburg Festival, Covent Garden, and the Barbican.

Marketing: David Smith (MA 2004; BA 2001)
David Smith works in the Marketing team for ABRSM, the world's leading provider of music exams. Prior to this he spent over two years in the Promotion department at international publishing houses Chester Music/Novello & Co., and two seasons as Marketing Manager for the world-renowned English Chamber Orchestra. David is also Music Director of 4strings and Barnes Concert Band, and often conducts other London-based ensembles.

Broadcasting: Tom Nelson (BA 2004)
After his degree Tom worked in concert management at the BBC Proms for three seasons, interspersed with work at the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra. A highlight was concert-managing the Last Night of the Proms in 2006. Later that year, he joined BBC Radio 3 as a broadcast assistant on Afternoon on 3 and now works as the researcher for In Tune, booking artists from across the classical, jazz and world music spectrum to perform live on the show every weekday.

Performance/ Musical Theatre: Rhona McGregor (BA 2002, MA 2004)
After her studies at Southampton, Rhona took a Postgraduate Diploma in Musical Theatre at GSA Conservatoire. Since then, she has taught singing (including at Southampton) as well as appearing in major productions of Chess, The Pirates of Penzance, and Beauty and the Beast. From December 2008, she appears in the award-winning West End production of Billy Elliot.

Orchestral Education and Outreach: Natalie Chivers (BA 2006)
After graduating, Natalie worked with Autistic children at a special needs school before working as Education Officer at the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. There she assists in the planning and managing of the education programme and helps with creative workshops involving composition and performance based on the Orchestra’s repertoire. She works with primary and secondary school aged children, college students and undergraduates and often collaborates on projects with organisations such as the Southbank Centre, Glyndebourne and the Royal Academy of Music.