Elaine Coker

Elaine was the Principal Oboe & Cor Anglais player for The Band of the Hampshire Constabulary (for 4 years), The Royal Marines Association Concert Band (for 5 years), and The Central Band of The Royal British Legion (for 15 years) directed by Major Pete Curtis, Captain Dave Cole and Captain Ted Whealing respectively. Relocation has meant saying goodbye to these ensembles. She has also been invited to perform as guest with the (ex) Royal Marines "All Stars Band" at the annual reunion concert in Margate (Paul used to be the principal and solo trombonist within the Royal Marines Bandservice) - in 2015 she was asked to perform the oboe solo Caccini's "Ave Maria". Solos Elaine has performed include Gabriel's Oboe (arranged by John Perkins), Demelza (arranged by Pete Curtis), Caccini's Ave Maria (arranged by Dave Johnson), Bilitis (arranged by Peter Cole), and Rusulka's Song to the Moon (arranged by Alan Howard). Elaine has had a passion for music since a very young age. At age 8 she progressed from the school recorder club to learn the piano, but, wanting to be somewhat more sociable, started playing oboe at age 12 joining a local concert band, where she also learned flute and piccolo. After five years in music school and deciding to devote a lot of time to practise and developing her music, she opted to study A level music, using both oboe and piano as her performance instruments. Since continuing studies and university Elaine has performed with a variety of concert bands and orchestras in the UK and Germany. Elaine is an accomplished soloist and her performances can be heard on several CDs widely available. She is experienced in most genres of playing and is more than happy to accept bookings for orchestras, pit orchestras, concert bands and solo work.