Danny Thompson

Madeline Castrey

Madeline Castrey is a musician, singer and researcher who enjoys a successful career in performance and academia. With a background in West End theatre and television, Madeline was the first ever 16 year old admitted onto a degree course at The London College of Music and now works as a PhD researcher. She is a professional opera and jazz singer, performing at many high profile venues including Opera Holland Park, Twickenham Stadium and The Shard in London, releases her own music with London labels and has had leading roles in several London shows including Les Miserables, Evita and The Lion King.
Madeline founded the charity Resonate, using music and singing to positively impact lives. Her work applying classical vocal technique to those living with serious neurological disability has been featured on several national outlets including BBC News, Sky News, BBC Radio, GB News and Channel 5 News. She has received several awards for her work and in 2022, she was honoured to judge the Princess Diana Awards as a past recipient herself, for young people making exceptional contributions to global communities. Alongside her performance and lecturing career, Madeline is also a musicologist and enjoys guest lecturing and voice/vocal coaching. She is passionate about the health/wellness benefits of using the voice and wrote her published book on this subject in 2023.

Matt Jones

Matt is a guitarist and music production engineer based in Birmingham and plays for progressive power metal band Dakesis.

Matt graduated from ACM Birmingham in 2018 and works as a dep/ session guitarist as well as running his own recording studio in Birmingham. He has worked as a guitar and music production tutor since 2010 and teaching for ACM since 2018.

Highlights of his career include several appearances at Bloodstock open air festival, multiple UK tours and European shows sharing the stage with former members of Iron Maiden and Iced Earth.

Catia Carvalho

Catia supports young talent holistically by equipping emerging graduates with the tools to navigate the complexities of personal, professional and civic identities for the future of work. With a multidisciplinary background in the creative industries for a decade, Catia advocates for the (re)design of siloed, incremental and reductionist views of talent; exploring themes around design thinking, holistic learning, interdisciplinarity and metaphysics.

Catia has a deeper understanding of the creative industries through her experience with different perspectives and languages, having worked with international clients in both multinationals and startups, branding and advertising agencies, and design and innovation firms across the B2B2C spectrum. Wishing exploring was still a lucrative path, her specialisms lie within creative strategy, brand development, design thinking, art direction and graphic recording.

Gwen Howard

Gwen’s (she/they) music practice spans disciplines including songwriting, composing, production, scoring, and sound design for film and TV. Her work has been licensed to Saint Rogue (Sony/ATV), placed in major international television spots such as “Married at First Sight” and “The Ultimatum,” and featured by organisations such as the Illuminated River Foundation and IKLECTIK .

She holds a B.M. in Popular Music Performance from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and an MComp in Electronic Music from the Guildhall School of Music.

Gwen takes a special interest in the intersection of electronic music, gender equity, and disability studies and sees her artistic practice as an extension of her activism.

Matt Aston

With over a decade of professional experience, Aguilar endorsee Matt Aston has toured the UK and Ireland year on year with various artists performing headline shows at venues such as Shepherds Bush, KOKO, the O2 academies, The Roundhouse, The Ritz in Manchester, Glasgow ABC and many more, as well as having played festivals such as Glastonbury, TiTP, V festival, Belladrum, Wakestock, Victorious festival, Isle of Wight.
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TV/radio credits including: BBC1, BBC2, BBC radio 2, BBC radio London, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 5, MTV, Ont sofa, Sofar sounds and 4Music.

In addition, Matt has a vast recording/song-writing experience, having recorded on Lucy Spraggan’s (Xfactor, Sony/Columbia Records) Silver album ‘Join the Club’ which peaked at number 7 in the official UK chart, as well as many other recordings, writing sessions and videos since in studios such as Wendyhouse, Metropolis, Park Studios, Oktopus Studios, BBC broadcasting house, Sofarsounds, remote sessions.

Phil Banks

I’m an Executive Creative Director, which means I’m someone who practices various forms of design, guides others, and makes creative and operational decisions to improve brands, products, organisations, creative teams, and hopefully, the lives of customers.

Outside of work, I’ve got a passion for various sports, music, psychology, animals, photography and video, and I guest lecture at HE institutions on things relating to brand and UX design…and still enjoy getting my geek on and doing some hands-on design work.

A more corporate version:
I’m an Executive Creative Director with extensive experience of brand development, internal comms, product development, IA, UX, UI, project management and business process management relating to SME’s, national and multi-national businesses/organisations.

I’ve sat on the Operating Executive of a global company; created identities for some of the biggest brands; helped create market leading products; and worked with artists such as Emeli Sandé and Soul II Soul for creative projects.

Jamie West-Oram

Leeds College of Music 1973 – 1976. Moved to London in 1976. Between then and now many sessions and tours plus some freelance teaching. Formed The Fixx in 1980. The Fixx have recorded 14 studio albums including gold and platinum albums and singles. Alongside worked with many top producers and artists (see above).

Christopher Carvalho

Christopher Carvalho is the founder and creator of Unlock Your Sound — The artist self-development platform. At ACM he helps musicians forge their own path with an array of digital marketing and business skills – leveraging the latest in technology and the web. Christopher is a problem solver, with a particular focus on how technology can be harnessed by musicians and creators to build their own brands and identities online.

Maria Radoje

Maria studied cello at the Royal Academy of Music and The National Centre for Orchestral Studies and has worked as a freelance cellist, teacher and composer and performed with a wide variety of professional ensembles.

Maria went on to study Music Therapy at the University of Surrey, Roehampton and The University of the West of England, graduating with distinction. She has since worked in adult and older adult mental health services, with people living with dementia, and with children and adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities, and has led teams of therapists in this context

Maria is also qualified in Guided Imagery and Music, a therapy that uses the imagination and music to work with unconscious processes, and is on the BAPAM register of approved therapists, using these skills to support performing artists struggling with anxiety and depression.

Marwan Elbergamy

King Tut is a Multi Platinum selling producer from London. You’ll find him
between Hip Hop, Indie, Rock and Pop sessions.
His discography includes artists such as Jessie J, Ella Henderson, Professor Green, Maino,
Joel Ortiz, Chip, Nekfeu, Wretch 32 and Dappy to name a few.
He has received many awards for his work including Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond
plaques from the UK, Europe and the US

Connor Haynes

Connor Haynes is an engineer, sound artist and experimental musician, originally from Manchester and currently based in London. His career spans nearly ten years, and he’s worked live sound for +50,000 capacity festivals around the UK, along with having worked in multiple studios in Manchester. Connor also has professional experience as a sound installation A/V programmer using software such as Ma MSP, and his work on building an installation themed around the pandemic has been featured by The Sunday Times Culture Show.

Connor has been currently working as a freelance recording, mixing and mastering engineer since moving to London, along with performing as part of an experimental A/V collective, The Self.

Pete Friesen

Pete started playing guitar for Alice Cooper in 1989 on the “Trash” album world tour, travelling to North America, UK, Europe, Japan and Australia. A live DVD, “Trashes The World”, was recorded at the Birmingham NEC and released in 1990.
He went on to do the European tour of Alice’s next album “Hey Stoopid”, also appearing alongside Alice in the movie “Wayne’s World”.
Pete relocated to the UK in 1992 and joined Scottish rock band The Almighty who he played with for the next 4 years. Releasing 3 albums in that time: “Powertrippin”, (no. 5 in the UK album charts), “Crank” and “Just Add Life”; the band toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, North and South America, Australia and Japan. Highlights were the 1992 Donington Monsters of Rock Festival and supporting Metallica at Milton Keynes Bowl.
The Almighty disbanded in 1996 and in 1997 Pete returned to Alice Cooper’s band do several more tours up until 2002. A live DVD from the “Brutal Planet” tour was recorded at Hammersmith Apollo and released in 2000.
In the summer of 2000 Pete played a string of summer festival dates in Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson’s solo band.
Since 2000 Pete has been a tutor at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford and has recorded production music for London based company Brilliant Music.
His tracks have been used in television and film all over the world.
In 2014 Pete played guitar in the Ray Davies/ Kinks musical “Sunny Afternoon”. It ran for two years in London’s West End and had performances at the Royal Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall. An original cast recording of the show, which was produced by Ray Davies, was released on Sony music.