East Coast Sinfonietta
Frankie Ayers
Frankie's first experience of conducting a performance was at the age of 14 as a student at Denes High School (now Ormiston Denes Academy) and has conducted hundreds of performances since. Once Frankie completed his GCSEs at Denes he then went on to completing A level music at Sir John Leman High School in 2013.
In 2005 he began learning to play the Tuba with his former brass tutor John Flack and in 2013 Frankie completed his grade 8 Tuba examination with distinction, later training under former London Symphony Orchestra Tuba player Dr James Gourlay. Since the age of 11 he was heavily involved with the Suffolk County Music Service ensembles.
Frankie has toured around many countries in Europe with the Suffolk Youth Orchestra and Suffolk Youth Wind band performing at famous landmarks, cathedrals and concert halls as principal Tuba player. He has also had the opportunity to work and perform with the Kingfisher Sinfonietta and the London Mozart Players.
Frankie founded the ECS in November 2016 to provide more opportunities for local musicians and to bring classical music into the community.
Frankie is a peripatetic brass teacher covering all of Suffolk and most of Norfolk and a freelance Tuba and Trombone player. He spends his spare time with his horses riding, grooming and mucking out.
Frankie was appointed musical director of the B&B Young Peoples Theatre Group in Lowestoft from Sept 2016 - 2019. He conducted 8 performances each of My Son Pinocchio, Les Miserables, Singin' in The Rain and The Sound of Music with a live orchestra.
In 2017 he took over the baton of Saxobility for one year. An adult Saxophone ensemble based in Beighton, Norwich. Although the Saxophone was not in Frankie's remit he relished the challenge and excelled the ensemble in such a short space of time.
Frankie was honoured to joint conduct the SMART Sinfonia on the waterfront stage at Latitude in 2019. They performed a varied programme including Offenbach's Can Can, Shostakovich Festive Overture, Harry Potter, Marquez Danzon No. 2 and Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance No. 1. The audience gathered around in their thousands to cheer them on as they were joined by 6 dancers for the Can Can!
About SMART
SMART exists to ensure that young people have access to arts opportunities to enrich their lives. They provide funding to help Suffolk's young people access high-quality music and arts opportunities. They raise these funds by bringing together the skills, passion and experience of their supporters and alumni.
More recently Frankie has been appointed Director of Music for the Hunstanton Concert Band. Not quite the same as an orchestra in the way that they do not have string instruments apart from a string bass. Frankie was appointed DoM in April and recently completed his first concert with them over HM The Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend.
