About Me
My musical journey began at the tender age of 7 ¾ when I took up the piano. This was shortly followed by the clarinet (once my fingers were deemed to be long enough!). But I soon realised that I wouldn’t be competing with Alfred Brendel on the concert platform and the universe really had enough clarinettists! So one day I ventured into the music room store cupboard to see what I could find….and there at the back, under a decade of dust was an oblong case, held together with an old leather belt. Luckily (?) for me the bassoon was still in one piece and seemed to be an unusually fine example of Czechoslovakian engineering! Suddenly I was playing in all the local orchestras and weekends were a thing of the past. Next stop was the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where I developed my taste for a good pint and the odd curry! After leaving the hallowed establishment in 1991 I freelanced for several years, before packing my bags for the warmer climes of Hong Kong in 1996. I spent 3 years with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, playing bassoon and contrabassoon, living life to the max, spending as much time sailing as playing. I actually missed a rehearsal once, catamaraning instead bassooning... But the allure of the dollar began to wane and the call of the home country became stronger and in 1999 I returned to this green and pleasant land (UK), to scrape a living once more! After a few more years spent traversing Britain's motorways in the name of freelancing I secured a position with the The Ulster Orchestra as Prinicipal Second Bassoon. That was 6 short years ago and I've now added a beautiful wife and daughter to the mix (with another on the way in March 2011) Music education is an emotive subject and this country has seen it's fair share of neglect over the years. (I remember marching against cuts in music tuition when I was 12 years old!). But we struggle on and do our best to improve the lives of all children through music! If you want to contact me about anything to do with my site
click here!
Return from About Julian Partridge to Home Page |
