Our Trombone Tutors
Byron Fulcher
Byron Fulcher was born in Cornwall and took up the trombone at the age of nine.
He made his BBC Proms solo debut in 2012 performing Berio’s virtuosic masterpiece Sequenza V at the Royal Albert Hall. Other solo performances have included a Purcell Room debut in 1994 and the British premieres of Gyorgy Ranki's Tales of Father Goose and Marco Stroppa's From Needles Eye, the world premiere of Dai Fujikura K's Ocean as well as concertos by Jacob, David, Grondahl and Bourgeois.
Byron first recorded Mahler’s Symphony no 3 with the European Community Youth Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy and has since recorded it twice with the Philharmonia under Ben Zander and Lorin Maazel. He has also performed with all the London orchestras and played under the baton of many of the world’s finest conductors including Abbado, Bernstein, Blomstedt, Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Dudamel, Gergiev, the late Haitink, Harnoncourt, Maazel, Mehta, Muti, Rattle, Salonen, Svetlanov and many others. He can also be heard on the soundtrack of over one hundred films including Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End, Wallace and Grommit Curse of the Were-Rabbit and the Harry Potter series.
Byron was invited to perform at the International Trombone Festival in Helsinki 2002 and Birmingham 2006 and has judged the ITA competitions on several occasions. He has given masterclasses in Asia (Japan, Singapore and China), Europe (UK, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland) and South America (Peru). He directed the RCM Trombone Ensemble to runner up in the 2015 ITA Remington competition.
Byron has been Principal Trombone of the London Sinfonietta since 2008 and as a member has been involved in many British and world premieres including Birtwistle’s Echo for horn and trombone with Michael Thompson and John Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony. Byron is also a member of London Brass, performing both trombone and euphonium on the album Surprise.
Byron is a Conn-Selmer Artist who endorses Vincent Bach Trombones.
Grethe Westbø Tonheim
Grethe Tonheim is a Classical trombonist based in Norway and has been working professionally since 1988. Inspired by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester conducted by Claudio Abbado where she played from 1989-1991.
Grethe Played with the Gavle Symphony Orchestra, Sweden, and then returned to Norway to pursue a more varied musical career, Playing Orchestral , Windband, Opera, Theatre gigs and of course teaching trombone at Manger Folkehøgskule and Euphonium at The Grieg Academy in Bergen.
After 30 years of playing the trombone, Grethe works with several Norweigan orchestras and military bands including Eikanger-Bjørsvik Band.
Grethe, and the Eikanger-Bjorsvik band commissioned composer Svein-Henrik Giske to write a double trombone concerto “The Sons of Zeus” and this was performed in 2015 with Marius Hesby of the Royal Norwegian Navy Band.
Grethe visited the Rath factory in January 2017 and collected her new trombone.
“I play so many styles from quartet to symphony orchestra, the R6 set up works really well for me and is simply the best instrument I’ve ever played”
Chris Thomas
Chris’ musical activity is firmly rooted within the brass band movement. He started playing at the age of eleven and following initial tuition from Mr Richard Nash and a brief spell in The Tredegar Junior Band, Chris was appointed principal trombone of the Sun Life Band at the age of only seventeen. A period of travel that took him all over the world saw him forge a reputation as one of the finest amateur performers of his generation. He has presented masterclasses and performed in concert halls as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Japan and throughout Europe. In addition, he has performed as featured soloist at the National Brass Band Championships Gala Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
He has won the British Open Solo Championships twice, been British Trombone Champion five times and has won the title of International Brass Musician of the Year. Chris has premiered two major works by leading Welsh composers; the Trombone Concerto by Gareth Wood and Alun Hoddinott’s Concerto Grosso. Both were performed as soloist with the National Youth Brass Band of Wales. He has released a solo recording ‘The Noble Trombone’ with the Cory Band and has appeared on over forty CD recordings, in styles ranging from serious major works to lighter material.
In July, 2000, Chris was appointed principal trombone of the Cory Band and with them has amassed a total of six National Championships wins, seven British Open wins and seven European Championship wins. He has received the Don Lusher award at the Brass in Concert Championship on four occasions. He travels worldwide teaching and performing with many organisations and has delivered masterclasses in Sweden, Norway, Australia, the USA and Japan.
Chris joined Flowers Band in January of 2024 and is very much looking forward to returning to The West of England Area after more than 20 years away.
Chris is proud to be a Rath Artist, playing on a Rath R5 tenor trombone.