Conductor and Artistic Director
Tom Fetherstonhaugh
✉ tom@fantasiaorchestra.com
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Collaborators
Conductor
Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Tom’s musical journey began aged four, when his grandmother introduced him to an inspiring violin teacher. At eight, he became a Westminster Abbey chorister, describing the experience as “transformative”, and later attended Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School.
Alongside violin, singing and organ, Tom discovered conducting and a love of bringing musicians together. In 2016, during his final year at school, he founded Fantasia Orchestra.
Today, Tom works with major orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra Ireland. Away from music, he enjoys running, jazz and cooking, a process he likens to conducting through balance, pacing and collaboration.
Percussion
Dame Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Glennie, who was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours List, is one of the best-known figures in contemporary British Music. An extraordinary virtuosic percussionist as well as an engaging personality, she has long been subject to considerable media interest.
Touring internationally as the world's first full-time percussion soloist she has played with all the world's major orchestras, consistently winning massive critical acclaim. Her twenty-five solo albums (including twelve on the RCA/BMG label) have reached a remarkably diverse public, as have her numerous collaborations with musicians from the non-classical world.
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Cello
Guy Johnston
Guy Johnston is a renowned British cellist, celebrated for his exceptional skill and artistry. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award.
Performances and recordings with eminent conductors have included collaborations with Alexander Dmitriev, Andrew Manze, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniele Gatti, Ilan Volkov, Leonard Slatkin, Mark Wigglesworth, Robin Ticciati, Sir Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, Vassily Sinaisky, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Yuri Simonov.
Speaker
Dame Sheila Hancock
Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed on stage in both plays and musicals in London theatres, and is also known for her roles in films and on television.
“There’s one (teacher) that sticks in my mind. One of the joys at my age is music – classical music, and there was a teacher called Miss Tudor-Craig who did musical appreciation. One day she played the Romeo and Juliet overture by Tchaikovsky and I was blown away.”
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Piano
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
Pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is already captivating audiences with her “maturity in performance and interpretation […], the former an uncanny phenomenon” (Fraser). The third of the Kanneh-Mason clan to establish herself as a soloist, Jeneba recently made her BBC Proms debut with the Chineke! Orchestra, performing the Florence Price Concerto and was heralded by the press as “demonstrating musical insight, technical acuity, and an engaging performing persona” (Music OMH).
Jeneba was a Keyboard Category Finalist in BBC Young Musician 2018, winner of the Murs du Son Prize at the Lagny-Sur-Marne International Piano Competition in France, 2014, and The Nottingham Young Musician 2013.
Jeneba was named one of Classic FM’s ‘Rising Stars’ and appeared on Julian Lloyd Webber’s radio series in 2021. She has also been featured on several television and radio programmes, including Radio 3, In Tune, The BAFTAs, The Royal Variety Performance, the documentary for BBC4, Young, Gifted and Classical, and the Imagine documentary for BBC1, This House is Full of Music.
Concert highlights
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Violin
Elena Urioste
Elena Urioste is a violinist, yogi, writer and entrepreneur, with a love of nature, food, animals and connecting with people. As a soloist, she has performed with leading orchestras across the United States and internationally, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Hallé, BBC Symphony and Chineke! Orchestra.
Away from the concert stage, Elena enjoys hiking, swimming, vegetarian and southern Italian cooking, literature and knitting the occasional scarf while travelling. She is also a firm believer in spending less time looking at screens — and that audiences should clap whenever they feel moved during concerts.