After playing in most of the professional Sydney seasons of popular musicals over 20 years, and teaching at many prominent schools on Sydney’s North Shore, he accepted a temporary position as a Brass Teacher on Guernsey in the Channel Islands in 2001, which lasted for 5 years instead of the intended 12 months!
Among others, Gerry has played for: Dame Shirley Bassey, Gene Pitney, Dame Joan Sutherland, Julio Iglesia, Luciano Pavarotti, John Dankworth and Cleo Lane, Jerry Lewis, Geoff Harvey Midday show band, ‘Macca’ and Sir Harry Secombe. Professional Musical productions in Sydney include: Cats, Les Miserables, La Cage Aux Folles, Camelot (with Sir Richard Harris), Guys and Dolls, Porgy and Bess, Nine, Barnum, Sugar Babies, Hello Dolly and Sweet Charity.
Orchestral playing includes: Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmanian, West Australian, Singapore and Guernsey Symphony Orchestras, Australian Opera and Ballet, Victorian State Opera, Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, London Festival Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Sydney Philharmonia and Australian Chamber Orchestras.
Gerry’s main goals in coming to Orange are to communicate some of the vast playing experience he has had in professional ensembles to the pupils of Orange, in the hope that some of them may continue on to higher levels of performance and achievement, but that most of them will develop the ability to express their inner musical feelings in a practical and meaningful way and gain a living appreciation of the world of musical expression.
