LEADER

ANNEKA SUTCLIFFE

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Anneka has a passion for orchestral music and the way orchestras bring people together. She has played violin since childhood and with many groups in the Bristol area, freelancing professionally as a violinist, teacher, and orchestra manager.

 

Following travels and work in theatre, circus, festival and event production, she set up Insight Ensemble in 2016, presenting a niche collaboration of orchestral music with immersive theatre and circus. They performed sell-out shows in tunnels underneath Temple Meads Station, exploring visual arts, presenting classical music to new audiences, creating opportunities for young performers and commissioning new music highlighting issues in the world today.

 

She led and creatively developed Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra (2014-2024) championing policies of programming a greater diversity of composers and commissioning new works. She has led and organised the strings for Bristol Classical Players since 2015 and plays a supportive role in managing the orchestra.

 

In 2022, after a period of intense climate activism, she took on directing Trees of Music, a charity aiming to save the violin bow-wood (pernambuco) tree from extinction and connecting artists with environmental action. She visited Brazil to plant trees and run masterclasses with children living in favelas. Back in Bristol, she founded string ensemble ‘Pernambuco’ and curated performance showing how music relies on the natural world. 

 

She manages the orchestra for a special new work: ‘A Symphonic Love Letter to the Earth’: Terra Coda by Benji Bower. This premiered in Bristol, performed at festivals then recorded at BBC studios in 2023. It has now been released through Tru Thoughts records and tours the UK in 2025.

 

She annually manages the Wilderness Festival Orchestra, bringing together musicians from Bristol and London to play themed sets of pop covers, classical and film music, reaching audiences of thousands.

 

Juggling many projects, Anneka is approachable as an orchestral consultant, manager and fixer for ensembles of any size. She teaches violin, singing and music theory. You may recognise her voice from Bristol Community Radio (BCFM), where she presents weekly, passionately supporting the Bristol music scene.

 

She recently completed Yoga teacher training and is now integrating this wholesome practice alongside her music teaching.