When did you join the orchestra?
1985

Favourite ENO opera?
It’s almost impossible to choose just one. If I really have to, Wagner’s Parsifal conducted by Reginald Goodall.

Best ENO moment?
Again, difficult to choose- but probably the audience reaction to our Verdi Macbeth at the Bolshoi in Moscow, 1990.

How did you start?
Aged 9, at primary school. Miss Campbell the music teacher needed someone to play percussion in her new school band – she chose me.

Passion outside of opera?
A few. I play in the carnival in Basle, Switzerland every year (ENO schedule permitting). Crewing in tall ships- when Britten‘s Billy Budd sings about the joys of looking down on the waves from the topmost rigging, I know exactly how he feels!