Jen Townsend presents a programme of beautiful music for the flute accompanied by Joanna Garcia at the piano.
Please join us in the Nave for our April Lunchtime Recital performed by Jen and Joanna.
The programme will include:
Air Valaques – Franz Doppler
G Minor Sonata – JS Bach
Morceau de Concours – Gabriel Faure
Sonatine – Henri Dutilleux
Flute Concerto 3rd Movement – Aram Khachaturian
This recital is free to attend with your cathedral admission.
Jen Townsend
Jen graduated from Leeds College of Music (Leeds Conservatoire) with a 1st class Honours degree. She has been awarded numerous awards and scholarships, including the John Sheerer Prize for Woodwind, The Robert Tebb Trophy for Outstanding Performance, the Arnold and Marjorie Ziff Concerto Award, the Friends Scholarship, the Rotary Scholarship and she came 2nd in the prestigious Purmerade International Solo Competition. Jen has studied under Rachel Holt, Clare Southworth, Wissam Boustany, and undertaken masterclasses with Trevor Wye and Peter Lloyd. Jen currently studies under Alena Walentin (international soloist, orchestral player and teacher at conservatoires around the world) and Luke O’Toole (Principal Flute at Opera North).
Jen has performed as a soloist in Israel and Holland and at venues across the UK, including Leeds Art Gallery, Ripon Cathedral, Hexham Abbey, the University of Leicester, Leeds College of Music and Buxton Opera House where she performed the Ibert Flute Concerto with orchestral backing. She has also played extensively in pit orchestras for ballets, operas and musicals. She is currently Principal Flute of the University of Leeds Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Yorkshire Wind Orchestra. In addition to her performing career, Jen has over 15 years of teaching experience, with a particular interest in teaching students of grade 8 and above.
Jen is currently performing as a soloist across the North of England with renowned pianist Joanna Garcia. Alongside her busy schedule, she is she is undertaking the highly-regarded MMus in Performance at the University of Leeds.
Joanna Garcia
Joanna has performed with eminent musicians such as Sir John Tomlinson in a concert shown on the South Bank Show, had a long-standing duo partnership with viola player Robin Ireland, has performed recitals in Buenos Aires, and performed with the Lindsay Quartet in their Sheffield Festival. She has a recording of chamber music by composer Geoffrey Poole (under her maiden name, Joanna Porter).
Joanna particularly enjoys working with singers as a coach, and has been repetiteur and conductor with Heritage Opera, conducting operas such as Tosca and Don Giovanni. She is the Vocal Director for the EYSM, and has a passion for music in education, having worked from 2001 to 2018 as both a primary and secondary school teacher and then Assistant and Deputy Headteacher.
As director of the Joanna Garcia Piano School, Joanna has a particular interest in working with advanced adult students and piano teachers and is sought after to help musicians who are striving to overcome performance anxieties. Joanna is also a festival adjudicator, a music consultant in schools, a leader of masterclasses and online workshops, and a freelance staff pianist at the RNCM. Most recently, she has delivered talks for EPTA and ESTA, and she is soon to deliver a workshop for the Piano Teachers’ Course UK at the Purcell School.
Joanna is passionate about social media and has a following of almost 17k on TikTok and 11k on Facebook, where she shares characteristically upbeat, positive and down-to-earth posts and videos about pedagogy, pianism and overcoming imposter syndrome.
