Our team

Ben Johnson enjoys a varied career as a singer, conductor, teacher and artistic director. He co- founded the Southrepps Music Festival in Norfolk and is currently a vocal professor at the Royal College of Music. His international performance career has taken in concert, recital and opera performances, collaborating with the world’s finest conductors and pianists.  He has made several appearances at the BBC Proms, performing at the Last Night in 2017, and has performed in most of Europe’s great concert halls as well as Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall in the USA. He has enjoyed a close relationship with English National Opera, as well as performing extensively with companies including Glyndebourne, Opera de Lyon, Bergen National Opera and Opéra National de Bordeaux, to name but a few.

Email: director@cambridgesummermusic.com

Henry Edmundson, MA (Cantab), MSc (Bristol), is a retired senior executive at Schlumberger Ltd, Paris having had responsibility for its worldwide scientific workforce. He is a lifelong amateur musician having studied harpsichord with Professor Gordon Murray, latterly of Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts, and piano with the international virtuoso Robert Goldsand, one-time pupil of Moriz Rosenthal. He has also been an active oboist. Henry has spent his entire adult life climbing and exploring in Afghanistan, the Karakoram, Tibet and the greater Himalayan Range. He is a member of the Alpine Club, the Himalayan Club and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He has written three non-fiction books and resides in Cambridge. He is married with three children and four grandchildren.

William is a practising solicitor, whose day job sees him act as General Counsel to a global media company. He is a keen lover of music and since his early days as a Cathedral chorister, has been involved in choirs all his life. William lives just outside Cambridge with his young family who are also actively involved in music. As a Trustee at CSM, William supports the charity in a number of ways, including legal matters. 

Clare grew up in Cambridge in a musical family, learning to play the cello from the age of seven. After an early career in journalism she joined Cambridge University’s Institute for Manufacturing, where she became Communications Manager, helping to disseminate research to industry. Since her retirement she continues to undertake freelance editing work as well as managing the website of Cambridge Open Studios. Clare enjoys playing her cello in the orchestra of the Cambridge Philharmonic as well as chamber music with the Cambridge Quartet Club. She is a trustee of the charity Cambridge Youth Music and, since 2006, has helped to organise an annual composing competition for children and young people aged 18 and under. As a trustee of Cambridge Summer Music she takes a particular interest in CSM’s promotional materials and website.

Ceri trained as a solicitor in London before joining English Heritage where she stayed for over 20 years as Head of the Legal Department. She has experience of charity law both as advisor and trustee. Ceri is particularly interested in music education and the opportunities in Cambridge to find creative ways to make the experience of live music as broadly available and enjoyable as possible for young people as participants as well as audience. She is interested in encouraging new and imaginative uses for historic buildings including as venues for the performing arts.

Alison is a chartered accountant and trained with PricewaterhouseCoopers.  She has held a number of senior finance roles, with a particular interest in education.  She is Bursar of The Perse School, Cambridge.

As a child she played violin and piano.  The Arts, and music in particular, remain an important part of her life, albeit as an audience member rather than as a performer.  

Alison lives in Cambridge and, as a Trustee of Cambridge Summer Music, takes a particular interest in financial matters.