Percussionist Louise Goodwin studied at the Royal College of Music (RCM), where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree with first class honours, winning the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Rose Bowl upon graduating.
Since graduating, Louise has been working as a freelance player with orchestras across the country, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the English National Opera. Louise has recently been trialling with Orchestra of Opera North, RTÈ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Louise has always been interested in solo and chamber music, and in 2013 was selected to join the RCM’s flagship percussion quartet, PERC’M. Representing RCM, Louise toured with the group across the UK and abroad, performing in venues such as Cadogan Hall, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music.
During her studies, Louise was selected to take part in a number of orchestral academies, including London Sinfonietta Academy, the London Symphony Orchestra Percussion and Timpani Academy and the English National Opera Evolve scheme. Louise is fortunate to have been conducted by internationally-renowned conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Vasily Petrenko, Kristjan Järvi and Vladimir Jurowski, and has performed in concert venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican and the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
What’s on your playlist right now?
My current playlist is a bit of a nerdy endeavour on my part – as a lifelong serious Beatles fan I was very happy when their music went onto Spotify (obviously the tracks don’t sound as good as my dad’s vinyl collection, but at least all the music is now in one accessible place!) and so I am currently working through all their albums in chronological order and selecting my personal favourites across the years for my own ‘Best of the Beatles’ playlist. In addition to this, I’m very lucky to have lots of non-musically trained friends who are always recommending me good new non-classical artists to listen to.
What do you think concerts of the future should look like?
Busier than they do currently! I think that concerts of the future need to be a mixture, with something for everyone. Dressing up and going to watch the opera in a beautiful theatre after dinner is a great way to experience music, but so is sitting in a car park in Peckham with a beer! I think that variety and options are key to continuing to attract audiences. Even with all of the technological advancements in music today, and the ways in which people now consume this, there is still nothing as good as listening to live music on live instruments and I don’t think that people will forget that.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us
I am nearly on level 1000 of candy crush. Embarrassing or impressive?