Richard Gordon-Smith
Richard Gordon-Smith is a composer, music animateur and violinist. Previously a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, he now commits himself full-time to educational and community activities in schools and elsewherework, and to serious composition.
Richard has a substantial list of compositions to his credit, and has had work recorded and played in many parts of the world. He is especially adept at developing music with young people that can then be used to produce scores for professional performance.
Ensemble Liverpool, in association with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Sefton Council, presents a lunchtime recital on Thursday 18 December ‘08 of Piano Trios by Joseph Haydn and Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, in Bootle Town Hall. Members of Ensemble Liverpool are Martin Anthony Burrage (violin), Alexander Holladay (cello) and John Peace (piano). Tickets are £3 each, obtainable in advance or on the door.
The 2008 Elegant Music Carol Concert at Sudley House, by Mossley Hill Church, Liverpool, is on Sunday 7 December, from 2 – 3.30 pm. Join us after your lunch, all prepared to sing at 2.30. It’s free and everyone’s welcome! And do leave time to explore Sudley House, too. It’s one of the great treasures of Liverpool, with wonderful art, plus a cosy tearoom open daily, 10 am till 4.30 pm.
Daffodils in the sunshine take on a new aspect when they’ve just been background to a performance of ‘Spring’ from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Members of Elegant Music are here (below) relaxing in a break from rehearsals for a client’s special occasion.
Alexander Holladay is a cellist and a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, which he joined in 2007 aged 25. 
Sunday 23 December 2007 was the date for an occasion to remember: Carols Round the Christmas Tree at Sudley House, the historic home of a Victorian Mayor of Liverpool. The free singalong afternoon concert saw almost three hundred people came to enjoy the company and the carolling with Live-A-Music and the Children’s Choir.
Summer 2007 has been a special opportunity for HOPES and Live-A-Music to provide Children’s Music Workshops, thanks to generous funding from Awards for All. The workshops, held alternately in the city centre and a close-by suburb, have focused on themes developed by the children themselves – in one case, a ’symphony’ featuring global warming, drifting snow, salsa / jazz and a roller-coaster! Following sessions in July and mid-August, the next workshops in the series are on Saturday 8 September in Mossley Hill Parish Church Hall.
John Peace is a Liverpool-based pianist, organist, lecturer and teacher of keyboard studies. He has an extensive solo, chamber and accompaniment repertoire across classical, opera and church music repertoires, and has taught piano at all levels; former students include Ian Hobson, winner of the 1981 Leeds International Piano Competition. John instigated the Merseyside area European Piano Teachers’ Association. He performs with Live-A-Music and in the chamber group, Ensemble Liverpool.
Elegant Music is a long-established, independent free-lance ensemble of fully professional classically-trained musicians who provide high quality music and easy listening for private, family and corporate events, after-dinner and soiree concerts, and special occasions. As individual players and singers we appear in our own rights with the North West’s most prestigious symphony orchestras and other performing arts organisations; and we come together as Elegant Music to offer classical music and lighter musical entertainment in venues across the region and beyond. 
The Live-A-Music Children’s Workshops on 5 April in Mossley Hill Parish Church Hall, Liverpool 18 were action-packed, with much creative sparking between the children, musicians and ’supporting cast’ of accompanying (grand) parents and younger brothers and sisters. Themes included ‘Music, Myth and Magic’, ‘Animal Samba’ and ‘Symphony’ – with the children also performing a work of their own.