Louise Braithwaite
Education Manager

Louise is a versatile musician with a passion for education. In addition to her position as Education Manager for OOTS she is also co-principal oboe in the orchestra and also regularly plays with a number of other orchestras including the CBSO.

Louise’s interest in music developed early and she enjoyed a number of high-quality orchestral music-making opportunities through the Sandwell, Worcestershire and Warwickshire youth music services in the 1980s. She went onto gain a broad-based training in composition, academic research and performance at the University of Huddersfield and graduated with an honours degree in 1994, receiving the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. She went on to post-graduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Louise has since developed several career strands simultaneously which have included teaching, both privately and with the Warwickshire County Music Service where she has also given In-Service training for music service teachers. She was also Librarian and music assistant for the Royal Ballet Sinfonia prior to the arrival of her daughter as well as taking on various freelance orchestra management and librarianship projects with other orchestras.

Louise joined OOTS as Education Manager in November 2005. A conviction that classical music is an accessible vehicle for learning, enjoyment and integration informs the highly successful bespoke education projects which Louise devises for Orchestra of the Swan. Originally from Redditch she anticipates that her local knowledge, teaching experience, and past membership of local non-professional music groups will be valuable tools for the continuing development of Orchestra of the Swan’s education and outreach programme.

In her spare time Louise enjoys motorcycling, non-professional music-making, voluntary work and solving sudoku.

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