Conductor - Uwe Radok
    Uwe Radok was born in Germany and subsequently lived in Australia and America before coming to the U.K. in 1972. Whilst living in New York, he studied at the High School of Music and Art and conducted shows and performances during his time as a student at the Eastern Military Academy. After his service with the U.S. Army, which included a tour of duty as a medic in Vietnam, Uwe continued his french horn studies with Ranier DeIntinis (New York Philharmonic). Since arriving in England, he has played the horn throughout the country with Opera East, BBC Opera and StoweOpera and is well known in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire as a player, soloist, and conductor. He is the principal conductor of the Luton Symphony Orchestra and was for 16 years the conductor of the Bedfordshire County Youth 3rd Orchestra. He is the principal horn in the Quintempo Chamber Ensemble, the Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Bedford Sinfonia and Stowe Opera Orchestra. He also plays on occasion with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra, Hertfordshire Philharmonic and the Luton Camerata, and was for several years a conductor and horn player at the Yorkshire Pennine Spring Music Festival. Married to Louise (née Arthur), also a horn player, he recently retired after 27 years teaching for the Bedfordshire County Music Service, the last ten years as Head of Brass. Uwe has now increased his playing and conducting commitments as well as arranging music (two wind octet arrangements of youthful pieces by Malcolm Arnold have recently been published and recorded on Naxos records), giving consultation lessons, travelling and editing web pages. He recently qualified as a professional proofreader and is increasingly working in that area. Many of his students hold playing positions in orchestras, both professional and amateur.  
         
 
     
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Spotlight on a member of the orchestra...

      
 

I began my musical path very early on when aged about 4 years old.
My parents bought a recorder for me to tootle on and since then there was no stopping me. I began recorder lessons at the age of 6 at the local Saturday Morning music school in Salisbury near to where we lived. After also starting private piano lessons at the age of seven, my parents soon realised this was going to be my forte, so with lots of encouragement I embarked on Associated board exams, quickly working my way up to Grade 5.
At about the age of 9 my parents thought I ought to think about taking up an orchestral instrument so I had a trial for the French Horn; unfor-tunately it was not to be, but the clarinet definitely was, and it wasn’t long before I was also zooming through the grades in this. By the time I left La Retraite Convent School aged 18 I had passed Grade 8 piano, Grade 7 recorder and Grade 8 clarinet with distinction.
During my school years (being an only child) I was thrown into all sorts of summer schools, one of which was a weekend recorder course with the world famous player Carl Dolmetch. A fantastic experience and one that really inspired me to go into music as a career.

 

  

Charlotte SearCharlotte Sear ~~ Principal Clarinet

Following school I attended B.C.H.E or Bath College of Higher Education as it was known then to study a B.A. (Hons) degree course. I had some fantastic clarinet tutors there, one of whom was Wilf Goddard who at the time played for the English National Opera. I was also fortunate enough to gain very valuable ensemble experience with various groups who would come down from London to give lunchtime recitals and masterclasses. In my final year I opted to do Performance which culminated in giving an hour long recital to a public audience. I gained a II(i) hons degree at the end of the 3 years which then led to Trinity College of Music, London where I did a 1 year Performance Post Grad Course. My clarinet tutors during this time included Keith Puddy. I spent most of my time there playing in ensembles directed by Stephen Nagy who was brilliant. It was also during my time at Bath and Trinity that I focused on Bass clarinet repertoire as I was the only student willing to play the Beast!!
Then in the summer of 1986 I saw a job advertised for a clarinet specialist woodwind peripatetic instrumental teacher, and following a successful interview with Michael Rose and Jim Hibbert, I began teaching for Bedfordshire Music.
To begin with I taught up and down the county whilst living in Dunstable, after about two to three years I went along to a Luton Symphony Orchestra rehearsal, and a few months later I became 2nd clarinet and played on a regular basis from then on. Also at this time, I played for the Bedfordshire Symphony and Bedford Sinfonia. Eventually I moved up the ranks to principal clarinet of Luton Symphony where I have been ever since.
During my time at LSO I met my future husband Jeremy Sear who used to play violin. We married in April 1990 and have three wonderful daughters, Hannah (14), Bethany and Megan (identical twins) aged (11).
Since then Jeremy has taken a break from playing but is soon to be re-introduced with my powers of persuasion (I hope!)
At present I continue to work part-time for both Luton Music Service and Bedfordshire Music, teaching general woodwind and clarinet specialist in High and Upper schools.