Stephen Walford was born in 1974 in Southampton, and educated at South Downs College in Hampshire, and Bristol University where he read Music.

Stephen began studying the piano at the age of six, and first performed at the age of twelve. He has performed in public throughout the south of England playing some of the most important works of the repertoire including sonatas by Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninov, the complete op.25 Etudes of Chopin as well as transcriptions by Busoni, Godowsky and Earl Wild.

His interest in lesser known composers has also led to performances of works by Georgy Catoire, Emile Blanchet and Misha Levitzki

At Bristol he studied under Christopher Northam, a grandpupil of the legendary German pianist Arthur Schnabel. He has attended masterclasses with Anthony Hopkins and the great american Charles Rosen. Since 1995, he has become an established piano teacher in the area. A keen composer, Stephen has written for solo piano as well as a variety of choral music for the Catholic liturgy.

His piano compositions include Four transcriptions of songs by Schubert, an arrangement of Gershwin's 'Love is Here to stay' which was premiered at the Bloomsbury Festival in Australia in 2005, and a thirty minute Fantasy on Themes from Snow White and the seven Dwarfs. All have been been warmly received and played by pianists from Europe, North America and Japan, notably the American Janice Weber and the Bulgarian Ludmil Angelov.

Shelley Payne has been playing the cello since the age of 9, completing her Grade 8 at the age of thirteen and Advanced Certificate at seventeen. Shelley has belonged to several orchestras over the years, including the National Children’s Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.

Having graduated from Southampton University with a first class honours in BA Music, Shelley is now combining finance work at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency with working as a part time music teacher at King Edward VI School. Shelley is also currently collaborating with a singer/songwriter on producing an album of original songs to be released this winter, which she is hoping will lead to the next stage of her musical career as string writer and arranger as well as performer.

Following early studies at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, Mark Cox played professionally with the Regimental Band of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards. During this time he won the Frank Wright Cornet competition at the Royal Military School of Music Kneller Hall, and was a finalist in the National Trumpet Competition.

Mark graduated from the University of Southampton in 1998 having played principal trumpet in all of the University's ensembles throughout his time there. Since leaving Southampton he has played with a wide variety of ensembles and orchestras and has become a member of the English Symphony Orchestra. Future engagements as a soloist include appearances with the Reading Symphony Orchestra and with one of the UK's oldest orchestras, the Royal Orchestral Society in London.

Mark studied Trumpet with Chris Hortin (Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra) Norman Archibald, Ian Macintosh, John Wallace, and principally with the highly regarded international soloist John Wilbraham until his untimely death in 1998. Mark attended the prestigious Lake Placid International Brass Seminar in the U.S.A. as one of only twelve trumpeters selected by worldwide auditions. Whilst there he studied and performed with such luminaries of the brass world as Barry Tuckwell, Roger Bobo, Edward Carroll and Eric Crees. He has also performed with many influential jazz musicians such as Peter King, Don Weller, Lee Goodall, Anthony Kerr, Norman Winston and the legendary Dave Brubeck. Mark has enjoyed passing on the benefits of his teaching and extensive performing experience to younger musicians, coaching the brass players of Southampton University and Essex Youth.

Mark's career has taken him to major venues throughout the world. In addition to the major venues in London, he has performed all over the U.S.A. Canada and Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany and the Czech Republic. In July 2001 Mark was invited to record with the Prague Symphony Orchestra.