Helen Goldsmith

Helen is a crossover artist, specializing in contemporary/classical performance and is an active recitalist across Yorkshire and Merseyside. At the age of 29, Liverpool born Helen has been performing professionally from the age of 17, and trained in Classical Music Performance at Leeds College of Music where she was trained by Colin Honour; Principal Clarinettist at Opera North. Throughout Helen’s training as a clarinettist, she has trained with John Padfield (Jazz Clarinettist and Saxophonist in Liverpool) and later went on to train with Katherine Lacey (Principal Clarinettist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) before moving to Leeds and training with Colin Honour throughout her degree. Helen has also taken Masterclasses from Robert Plane, Janet Hilton and Anna Hashimoto as well as partaking in workshops at The Purcell School of Music in London and with The Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. As a performer, Helen has been fortunate enough to tour Europe, visiting Spain, France, Italy and Holland as a performer as well as attending The Midwest Band Clinic in Chicago in 2012. Helen’s orchestral and wind band experience is vast and she has performed under the baton of world class conductors including Tim Reynish, Mark Heron, Eduardo Portal, Natalia Luiss Bassa and John Malaxterbarria. Some of Helen’s highlights as a performer include performing a solo recital at age 18 in The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (2010), touring with the pop-synth star of the 80's, Marc Almond (2016) and showcasing her own self-funded Contemporary Music Tour in collaboration with pianist Ben Cockburn (Reed & Ivory) (2017). Helen performs regularly with bands and groups such as Reed & Ivory (clarinet and piano duo), Operation Lightfoot and St Matthew’s Orchestra as well as performing regularly in pit orchestras including the orchestra of Leeds Youth Opera and Halifax Light Opera. Notable awards that Helen has obtained include Liverpool's Young Instrumentalist of the Year (2010) and silver place in The East Coast Musician of the Year (2014). During her time at Leeds College of Music, Helen also came second place in LCoM’s Track of the Year Award in 2016 for the Reed & Ivory rendition of Bozza’s Aria for clarinet and piano as well as performing and premiering “Strange Remains” and “The Loneliness of The Long Distance Probe” with her duo partner Ben Cockburn at A Spotlight on Female Composers in Leeds (2015). Since then, Reed & Ivory have gone on to perform and premiere 4 new pieces for clarinet and piano across Newcastle, Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool. Helen is also a passionate teacher and workshop leader. She regularly leads workshops and masterclasses across Yorkshire and Liverpool and teaches privately and across schools as a private contractor. Helen is a qualified childcare practitioner and has been an active community musician since 2016 regularly performing and teaching in care homes, adult community centres, schools and hospitals. She is often quoted “The best compliment I can give my parents and tutors for their support throughout my musical education is to give back all I have learnt into the community working with real people and making people feel something through music and performance.”