A former member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Mark Perry studied a BTEC in Music at Richmond upon Thames College between 2003-2005 and went on to study a BMus Hons in Jazz at Trinity College of Music. In 2009, he won the prestigious Yamaha Classic FM Jazzwise Scholarship award for jazz trumpet. He’s performed with acts such as Rudimental and upcoming artist BB Diamond and has appeared in music videos with Jessie J, Robin Thicke and Conor Maynard. He’s also regularly appeared in the backing band on The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. His 2013 debut jazz album, ‘Road Ahead’ was described by The Guardian as ‘an intelligent and very musical set’ and saw him perform with some of the jazz world’s top artists including Ola Onabule and Gareth Lockrane. Exclusively endorsed by Geneva Trumpets, Mark has also recently started his own music agency, Silver Stage Entertainment.
“I had a great two years at Richmond upon Thames College and it was undoubtedly the place to be to study music,” Mark explains. “I was fortunate enough to be there at a time when the music department had a couple of great college bands, including a brilliant jazz band that I became a member of. The teachers on my course were absolutely fantastic and made learning a pleasure. We all shared a love of music and spent a lot of time practising, rehearsing and generally having an incredible amount of fun.
“Another great thing about the course was that it taught me about the technical side of performing including setting up the PA for gigs and also the business side of being a musician, something I still find useful and remember to this day. The facilities were amazing to me too as I’d never had access to a recording studio before and learned a lot about recording software and setting up microphones.
“As a musician, I’ve been very fortunate to have travelled to some great venues across the world and perform alongside some incredibly talented artists. It’s crazy to think that only ten or so years ago I was happily practising with friends at Richmond upon Thames College and now I have a career doing a job that I love. Being at the college really was one of the best times of my life and I owe a lot to the music teachers for their passion and support which was vital at that stage of my career.”
image courtesy of Chelsea Bloxham