Leslie Shadrake (tuba)

Leslie has been a member of our Orchestra since 2000. He began

playing tuba in the 1960s taught by Christian Surtees and Victor Brightmore,

attending the East Ham (Newham) Music Academy, playing in its youth

orchestra and many other groups including the staff orchestra. When deciding

on a career in music or his other specialism, mathematics, for better or

worse he chose the latter, getting a BSc in mathematics, then an engineering

PhD in materials science, then working in industry as a theoretical analyst

mostly of infrared and visual-band video cameras.  He's now a self-employed

mathematician/chartered physicist finding occasional work in optics and was

lately an Open University associate lecturer in mathematics. 

However, through all this he continued prolific tuba-playing, being a founder member

around 1970 of the quintet Renaissance Brass, still active until quite

recently. He has played at some time for many local orchestras around London

and southwest Essex (e.g. Brentwood, Havering, Newham, Woodford, Redbridge,

Essex, Nelson, Southwark, Barclays, University of London, MAYC) and is

currently also a member, covering 11 playing years, of the

nationally-contesting Becontree Brass Band. 

He has played the solo part in Tubby the Tuba and the Vaughan Williams Tuba concerto with the BPO. 

His previous experiences performing this concerto with full orchestra were with the Newham Symphony

Orchestra and then with the National Youth Wind Orchestra under the

direction of Harry Legge OBE.