About
Jen has returned to the world of flute performance with a flurry of competition wins, dazzling performances and offers to teach her from some of the highest regarded names in the flute world. In the last year, she has been offered a scholarship to study at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music, become a fellow of Trinity College London (FTCL), won and been placed in 8 national and international competitions – including the Inspirational Story Award from the 2025 Global Flute Excellence Awards, been asked to return to the venues she has performed at, and had her playing described as ‘beautiful’, ‘breath-taking’, ‘enchanting’, ‘fantastic’, ‘exceptional’, ‘remarkable’, ‘sparkling’, ‘incredible’, ‘brilliant’, and ‘inspirational’.
Jen is currently touring the UK as a soloist, performing at venues such as St James (Picadilly), St. Brides (Fleet Street), St Mary le Strand (Covent Garden), and St Pancras (Euston) churches in London, Lincoln, Wakefield and Ripon Cathedrals, the Universities of York and Leeds, and Otley Courthouse. She has upcoming concerts booked at Waltham Abbey, the University of Leeds, Tickhill Music Society, and Boston Spa Methodist Church.
Jen’s numerous awards and scholarship wins also include being a finalist of the Andrew Downes Performance Prize 2025, winning the LUUMS String Orchestra Concerto Competition 2025, 2nd prize in the Royal Maas International Competition 2025, being shortlisted as a finalist in the Vienna International Music Competition 2025, semi-finalist in the London Concerto Competition 2025, 2nd place in the Purmerade International Solo Competition, and winning the John Sheerer Prize for Woodwind, The Robert Tebb Trophy for Outstanding Performance, the Arnold and Marjorie Ziff Concerto Award, the Friends Scholarship, and the Rotary Scholarship.
Underpinning Jen’s performance ability is the education she received at Leeds College of Music (Leeds Conservatoire), the University of Leeds and the flute teachers she has studied with. These include Alena Walentin (international soloist, orchestral player and teacher at conservatoires around the world), Carla Rees (recording artist, director of Rarescale and Professor at the Royal Academy of Music), and Luke O’Toole (Principal Flute at Opera North). Jen will continue her studies in September 2026 with Kevin Gowland, Head of Woodwind at the Royal Northern College of Music. Previously Jen studied with Rachel Holt, Clare Southworth and Elisabeth Parry, and has undertaken masterclasses with Trevor Wye, Wissam Boustany, Helen Vidovich and Peter Lloyd.
Since her return to music, Jen has enjoyed collaborating with acclaimed pianists, Dominic Degavino, Joanna Garcia, and Director of Music at Waltham Abbey, Jonathan Lilley. She also enjoys playing with the LUUMS Symphony Orchestra as Principal Flute in addition to many chamber groups. Her recent performance of ‘Suite Antique’ by Rutter with the LUUMS String Orchestra was met with acclaim and described as ‘incredibly beautiful’, and in December last year she performed the Khachaturian Flute Concerto with the LUUMS Symphony Orchestra. She has been invited to perform this work again in 2028 with the Camden Philharmonia.
Previously, Jen has performed as a soloist in Israel and Holland and was privileged to perform the Ibert Flute Concerto with orchestral backing at Buxton Opera House and Leeds Grammar School. As a chamber and orchestral musician, she has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and Chatsworth and Harewood Houses. She has also played extensively in pit orchestras for ballets, operas and musicals.
Jen is passionate about promoting composers who have succeeded despite the barriers in their lives. She hopes to serve as a role model to other musicians facing adversity, inspiring them to realise their potential through hard work and determination. Her programmes showcase composers such as Jonathan Slade (a gay British composer), Angela Morley (a transgender composer from the early 20thcentury), and Clara Schumann (a female composer with caring responsibilities for many children and grandchildren). These composers reflect aspects of both Jen’s own life and that of her children; Jen is a carer to 5 disabled children, is a member of the LBGTQ+ community, and is a mature student.
Jen has risen to every challenge that she has faced and is now being invited to take part in concert series’ that are filled with musicians of a national and international standing. Her outstanding talent and remarkable ability to connect with audiences is being recognised, and Jen is using social media platforms to bring her music to wider audiences. Jen has achieved a great deal in a very short time, showing that her level of determination and self-direction match her ability to enchant audiences with playing.