Management Team
Led by Executive Director Nina Camilleri, LYC’s professional management team looks after our day-to-day organisational business and underpins all areas of LYC’s work and activity.
NINA CAMILLERI
Executive Director
Formerly Director of Development and Planning for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Director of Development and PR for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Senior Development Manager for Scottish Opera and Opera North, Nina brings a wealth of experience to the London Youth Choir in the fields of strategic planning and development.
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In her positions with both the National Youth Choirs and National Youth Orchestra Nina has been responsible for the creation and implementation of new philanthropic strategies which have played a critical role in their development and growth. Alongside these roles, Nina has also worked as a consultant to Help Musicians UK, Longborough Festival Opera and Gabrieli Consort & Players, providing business development support and advice on fundraising and governance. In 2018, Nina became a Trustee of the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust.
RACHEL STAUNTON
Artistic Director
Rachel Staunton co-founded LYC in 2012 with Suzi Digby. Having gained a first-class honours degree in music at Royal Holloway, University of London, Rachel continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with numerous awards and an LRAM in Choral Conducting.
Rachel usually conducts London Youth Choir, LYC Cambiata Girls and LYC South East, but is currently taking a break from conducting and will return in 2024.
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She held the post of Vocal Director for In Harmony Opera North (Classic FM’s Music Education Project of the Year 2014) and spent several years establishing the Opera North Children’s Chorus. Rachel has also worked as a conductor with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain for over a decade.
In 2014, Rachel was made Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, in recognition of her contribution to choral music and work with young people. She is passionate about using choral music to inspire young people from all backgrounds and dedicates her career to this mission.
JAMES PRESCOTT-MARTIN
Finance Director
James has worked for over 35 years in both the Arts (English National Opera, Contemporary Dance Trust, Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre and the National Youth Orchestra) and the Voluntary sector (Age Concern and Surrey Community Action) in both Finance and General Management positions and now part time at LYC as Finance Director.
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He now spends the majority of his spare time playing tennis. He also enjoys swimming, Pilates, reading, cinema, theatre and of course music. He is a member of Epsom Choral Society as a first bass.
ISHANI O'CONNOR
Head of Engagement
(she/her)
Ishani joined LYC from the Chineke! Foundation where she was Learning and Participation Manager for nearly five years. She brings an understanding of the wider music education sector, creative learning, partnerships and development of community outreach programmes to the new role of Head of Engagement.
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At Chineke! Foundation, she worked with the musicians of Europe's first majority Black, Asian and ethnically diverse professional and junior orchestras, nurturing young talent, providing the Chineke! Juniors with a welcoming environment to confidently perform at prestigious venues, such as Royal Festival Hall and Kensington Palace. Ishani developed multiple learning partnerships with music hubs, venues and other charities across England, taking Chineke! Orchestra professional musicians into primary and secondary schools to lead workshops in performance and creative composition.
She is a Trustee for the charity Music for All and a member of Dulwich Symphony Orchestra, playing second violin, where she ran an orchestra outreach programme and is also a Trustee. Ishani established a new charity, Draper Together with the residents of the Draper Estate in London SE1, bringing a diverse community together through arts-based events such as cultural festivals, a theatre season and concerts in the community hall. In 2016, she achieved a Masters (Distinction) in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths, University of London and was a Development Placement with the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT). Ishani has been a TV Researcher for BBC Specialist Factual Arts and an independent educational film producer.
Tom Hansell
Head of Operations
(he/him)
Tom joined LYC as Head of Operations in September 2022. Born in Yorkshire and raised in Surrey, Tom gained a BA in Music and MA in Music Composition from Durham University and has worked in the arts for over a decade: initially in secondary education and as a freelance arranger and orchestrator, before moving into arts management with various roles at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, latterly, the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras.
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Before joining LYC, Tom spent five years at the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras – running their young artist development scheme, fixing and managing John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir and undertaking various fundraising roles. Outside office hours, he can often be found racing across the country on his bike, singing in various choirs around London, or indulging his love of cats and other animals. Tom is proud to be a Trustee of Echo Vocal Ensemble.
ALISON BASTABLE
Head of Safeguarding & Pastoral Care
(she/her)
Alison started her nursing career at age 18 at St. George’s Hospital in London. She has experience in many different specialities but when her two daughters were young she became a school nurse at a boys prep school in Surrey. The boys’ wellbeing took front and centre of her work and she was a member of both the pastoral and safeguarding teams. She is delighted to have found LYC and to be able to bring her commitment to young people's wellbeing to the LYC family.
ALICE BEVERLEY
Head of Development
(she/they)
Alice joined the LYC team as Memberships and Projects Administrator before taking up the role of Development Manager in Autumn 2021 and Head of Development in Autumn 2022. Prior to joining LYC Alice was at the V&A Museum, programming and producing events including the Exhibition Road Day of Design at the London Design Festival, the V&A’s 2018 Christmas festival, and the 5-month programme of concerts and events which ran alongside the Opera: Passion, Power and Politics exhibition.
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A keen singer, Alice was the singing teacher at Princess Frederica primary school for three years, and enjoys singing with choirs around London as well as putting on the occasional recital. They studied English literature at university, graduating with a first from Bristol and going on to complete a masters at UCL, and is fascinated by interdisciplinary study, leading to her dissertation on poetry and music in the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Outside of work, Alice enjoys reading feminist literature, and spends most of their time coercing people into reading more Sylvia Townsend Warner and Ursula le Guin.
NICOLA O'DONNELL
Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager
Nicola is a passionate, results-driven new business corporate fundraising specialist with over 20 years’ experience in the charity sector. Proven track record of securing strategic, long-term corporate partnerships and driving income growth. Prior to working at LYC Nicola was at Remarkable Partnerships working with and within charities to create strategic and transformational corporate partnerships.
FREDDIE AITKEN
Membership and EDI Manager
(he/him)
Freddie joined LYC in summer 2021 having previously worked for a music charity in Manchester, the city in which he studied and founded his own record label. In his spare time, he hosts monthly radio shows, DJs, produces/composes and is a keen photographer & obsessive vinyl collector.
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Freddie currently sits on the Board of Trustees at The National Foundation for Youth Music and is a member of the Music Cities Network’s European Music Business Task Force.
Zoe Nendick
Operations & Communications Executive
(she/her)
Zoe joined LYC in August 2021 as the Operations Assistant, having just completed a Masters degree in Psychology at the University of Nottingham, where she also studied her undergraduate degree in Music. At university, Zoe was a busy singer and choral conductor, and held a Choral Scholarship at St Mary’s Church, Nottingham. She conducted several choirs, including the music society chamber choir, and was Assistant Conductor in the University Choir before the Covid-19 pandemic stopped rehearsals.
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Zoe loves choral singing and is currently a Soprano in Covent Garden Chorus and Hertford Chamber Choir. Also a keen cricket fan, Zoe can often be found watching or discussing women’s cricket, or playing matches for her local team, St. Alban's CC. Living in Hertfordshire, Zoe spends much of her time on trains in and out of London, but claims she enjoys it because “it gives me time to read”. Book recommendations always welcome.
Amy Young
Development Officer
(she/her)
Amy joined LYC as Development Officer in April 2023, having previously worked at the Association of British Orchestras as an Events and Communications Administrator. Amy has had a keen interest in fundraising for a number of years, assisting with the fundraising and communications for two theatres in her local area of East London.
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Amy studied Music and Philosophy at the University of Leeds, following a year of Jazz vocal training at Leeds Conservatoire. Amy has always been fascinated by Jazz and Soul music, writing her undergraduate dissertation on Female Jazz Musicians, Social Class and Authenticity. Amy has also always been a keen singer, winning ‘Young Musician of the year’ in the Stratford and East London 2016 Classical music festival, and has sang in her local choir Modality for a number of years.
Arielle Addy
Membership Assistant
(she/her)
Arielle joined LYC in August 2023, after gaining experience in talent management within the music, fashion and creative production industries. Prior to this, Arielle contributed to the development of a newly established co-working space in London, working in membership operations and customer service.
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While pursuing her masters in Entrepreneurship at King’s College London, Arielle developed a keen interest in social and charitable enterprises. As a result, she concentrated her research dissertation on the intricate challenges that face social-based startups. Now, as part of LYC, she is enthusiastic about furthering her understanding and involvement in charitable organisations.
Outside of work, Arielle enjoys regularly attending concerts and shows, alongside learning musical instruments and foreign languages.
HANNAH FIDDY
Marketing & Communications Consultant
(she/her)
Hannah is a freelance arts marketing consultant, developing new audiences for classical music. She is the founder of Alternative Classical, which creates and promotes new approaches to classical music, and is unique in having a majority audience of under 35s. She also manages the marketing and PR for one of the world's most famous choral composers (and LYC's Honorary Patron) John Rutter, and has worked with numerous ensembles including The King’s Singers and the London Symphony Orchestra.
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Hannah is the creator of an online musical bookshop, stocked with fictional novels on a classical music theme, and Concert Roulette, a classical jukebox that has been played by thousands of people across over 120 countries. She is a keen choral singer and has performed in many countries including Ethiopia, Nepal, Georgia and Canada.
