Welcome Stephanie!

We are delighted to welcome rising star Stephanie Wilkins to our cornet section.

Stephanie started to play the cornet aged 8, and was initially taught by the late Shaun Thomas. He’d visited her school on a recruitment drive partnered by Mount Charles Band and the Cornish Music Service.

After a very short time with Mount Charles Junior Band she progressed to Mount Charles Youth. At that time Mount Charles Youth Band was vibrant and successful and Stephanie was privileged to play with them at several prestigious venues, including the Royal Albert Hall (Music for Youth), the Festival Hall (London Southbank), Symphony Hall (Birmingham) and the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester). The majority of the events listed above were National Youth Competitions. Mount Charles Youth Band has won the South West of England Youth Band Championships many times (13 consecutive years). More recently (whilst Stephanie was on principal cornet) they continued their ‘winning ways’ by chalking-up another three! Stephanie has also won Best Instrumentalist prizes on many occasions.

As well as being a stalwart of Mount Charles Youth Band Stephanie is proud to have performed with several championship section bands, including; St Austell, Mount Charles and Tongwynlais Temperance Band. She was particularly pleased to have won the Scottish Open Championships with the latter this year!

Stephanie has also been a member of the Cornwall Youth Band for a number of years and played principal cornet no less than six times! She believes her time with the Corwall Youth Band played a significant part in her musical development so far, and cites the world class guest conductors such as; Richard Evans, Dr. Robert Childs, Garry Cutt and Allan Withington as simply inspirational.

In September 2011 Stephanie began Under- Graduate Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, majoring in performance and pedagogy. She is currently being taught by Christopher Turner (assistant principal cornet Cory Band). Stephanie has already been appointed principal cornet of the College Repertoire Band and assistant principal cornet of the Concert Brass Band (as well as taking part in many chamber music ensembles).

Stephanie joined the Cory Band in December 2011 on the invitation of Dr Robert Childs (Head of Brass Band Studies RWCMD). She is thrilled to be playing with the No 1 Ranked Band in the World (5 consecutive years). Her insatiable appetite for music and musical performance will be stretched to the limit with the commitment to both College and Cory. However, Stephanie is never one to shy away from a challenge and is really looking forward to combining both.