Our Trustees

Emma Johnson

Emma Johnson MBE is one of the few clarinettists to have established a career as a solo performer. She has made 30 recordings, including English Fantasy with the BBC Concert Orchestra (tracks from which have been streamed over 5 million times).
 

Emma’s career took off when she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 17 in front of a TV audience of 12 million viewers. She has given concerts and broadcasts all over the world, including the premiere of her own composition, Songs of Celebration at Gloucester Cathedral in 2021 and her clarinet concerto, Tree of Life which will tour in 2024.

She has taught at the Royal College of Music in London and is also passionate about increasing access to music in primary schools. She has performed her Pied Piper project with school children throughout the UK and more recently has devised Instrument Stories to introduce children to the instruments of the orchestra.

Johnson is an honorary Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge University and in 2020 was awarded the Cobbett Medal for services to chamber music by the Musicians’ Company Guild in the City of London.

Kim Causer

Kim was born and received part of her education in Malaysia. She was privileged to attend a boarding school in England and completed her secondary school education there. She gained her degree in Pharmacy from the University of London. Now retired, she was a pharmacist in the NHS for 38 years.

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Teaching art in all forms in schools provides an introduction to something which brings pleasure to the children and benefits to their overall development. Unfortunately when money is tight, this teaching is the first to be dropped as it is often seen as an optional extra. So it is with musical education in primary schools which may well be sporadic or non-existent. Therefore, Kim is delighted to be a trustee of the Emma Johnson Music Foundation and to assist the foundation in its aim of introducing children to the wonders of music and orchestral instruments played live by musicians.

Paul Harris

Paul Harris is one of the UK’s most influential music educationalists. He studied the clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won the August Manns Prize for outstanding performance in clarinet playing and where he now teaches. He is in great demand as a teacher, composer, and writer (he has written over 600 books); and his inspirational masterclasses and workshops continue to influence thousands of young musicians and teachers all over the world in both the principles and practice of musical performance and education.

Hilary Thorne

I completed my initial degree (BSc in Psychology) at Birmingham University in the 1970s. Following five years of teaching Science to secondary aged children I embarked on a one year MSc course in Educational Psychology also at Birmingham University. This enabled me to start practising as an Educational Psychologist initially in the London borough of Croydon and then in Lewisham. I finished my career as an Assistant Principal Educational Psychologist in Lewisham and retired in 2021. I have been a school governor for a Lewisham secondary school for students with severe learning difficulties.

Since my retirement I have joined the committee for The Arts Society Blackheath. I have always been interested in the arts, especially exhibitions, film, theatre and music. I have a passion for education and equality of opportunity for all children and young adults. Working as a trustee for this charity gives me the opportunity to support both education in schools and the arts.