BBC RADIO 3 | BBC TV PROMS EXTRA | VERBIER FESTIVAL | YALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC | SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | NORWEGIAN MUSIC ACADEMY | CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | SYDNEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | YEHUDI MENUIN SCHOOL | LEEDS INTENATIONAL APIANO COMPETITION | BAPAM
I trained as a pianist and spent many years performing as an accompanist for BBC Radio 3, BBC Young Musician of the Year, Radio Television Hong Kong, NPO Klassiek, and for all the London music colleges. That experience, with all its pressures and pleasures, gives me an insider's understanding of what it means to perform on stage. It's not my current focus, but it informs everything I do.
“I didn’t realise I could be so happy performing. The change has been incredible! Charlotte gave me the best coaching I have ever had. Charlotte Tomlinson's playing is always wide ranging, fresh and imaginative."
JOHN LILL
INTERNATIONAL CONCERT PIANIST
My teaching career has taken me to conservatoires and music schools across the world, from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and Hong Kong University, to the Purcell School, and more recently twenty years of teaching piano students at the University of Oxford. I have given both masterclasses and one-to-one lessons at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Sydney Conservatorium and Oxford International Piano Festival, among others. I have also taught at Chetham's International Piano Summer and on the Jackdaws and Finchcocks piano weekends.
From 2000 to 2008, I founded and directed Chamber Music International, an intensive residential course for high-level chamber ensembles and composers. Over eight years, CMI brought together outstanding young musicians and an internationally renowned faculty, with Sir Simon Rattle as its patron. It was this experience which inspired the Oxford Piano Weekends.
“Chamber Music International was inspirational and visionary. I thought it was wonderful!”
SIR SIMON RATTLE
CONDUCTOR
My route into performance coaching began with my own injury. A brush with tendonitis as a student forced me to stop playing and confront the relationship between the mind, body and emotions. That experience set me on a twenty-year journey, exploring how tension develops in musicians, what it costs musically, and how to resolve it. I have worked as a practitioner with BAPAM (British Association for Performing Arts Medicine), helping musicians through RSI, tendonitis and playing-related injury, as well as performance anxiety and the deeper emotional challenges of a performing life.
I give talks and masterclasses on performance anxiety and body awareness to institutions worldwide, from UK conservatoires and universities to Yale Summer School of Music, Verbier Academy & Festival, Norwegian Music Academy and Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, New York. I have also worked with professional orchestras including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
"The feedback from our students for your talk and masterclass was so positive that we're now looking for ways we can bring you back!"
MATZ PETERSEN
NORWEGIAN MUSIC ACADEMY
I have been a Keynote Speaker for the Leeds International Piano Competition, the Conference of European Music Schools, the General Assembly of the World Federation of International Music Competitions and the ABRSM Teachers Conference. BBC TV Proms Extra, BBC Radio 3 and the BBC World Service have all interviewed me about performance anxiety in musicians, and I appear in the American documentary Composed.
"Charlotte has a natural and immediate connection with audiences and brings a professional understanding to a very human and shared experience: the performing musician."
BENJAMIN WOODROFFE
SECRETARY GENERAL
WORLD FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPETITIONS
I have written two books: Music from the Inside Out and Keep Calm and Pass Your Music Exam, and have contributed to Classical Music Magazine, International Piano and a range of international teaching publications.
"Music from the Inside Out is an essential read for all musicians. I would highly recommend it!"
MAXIM VENGEROV
SECRETARY GENERAL
My interview series Beyond Stage Fright brought together 43 conversations on film with top international musicians about how they manage performance stress.
“Beyond Stage Fright is a fantastic series! Each video offers such valuable insights and advice that I am sitting with pen and paper, making notes as I go along.”
NIKKI
PIANO TEACHER
I have also developed two online video courses, Inspired Performance and Piano Freedom, which bring my approach directly to musicians wherever they are in the world. Inspired Performance is accredited by ABRSM as a CPD programme for music teachers.
Work with me
Performance Coaching
One-to-one coaching for performers of all instruments.
Piano
One-to-one piano lessons in Oxford, working on technique, interpretation, and the psychology of learning and performance.
Oxford Piano Weekends
An intimate residential weekend for serious pianists in a beautiful Oxford studio.
PERFORMING
BBC Radio 3
BBC Young Musician of the Year
Radio Television Hong Kong
NPO Klassiek
London music colleges
Recitals
PIANO TEACHING
Purcell School
University of Oxford
Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts
University of Hong Kong
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Oxford Int'l Piano Summer School
Chetham's Int'l Piano Summer School
Jackdaws & Finchcocks piano weekends
Oxford Piano Weekends
PERFORMANCE COACHING
University of Oxford
University of Cambridge
Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Wells Cathedral School
KMH, Stockholm
Yehudi Menuhin School
Verbier Academy & Festival
Imani Winds, New York
Yale Summer School of Music
Norwegian Music Academy
Sydney Conservatorium
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
KEYNOTE SPEAKING
Talks & Masterclasses
Leeds International Piano Competition
Conference of European Music Schools
World Federation of International Music Competitions
ABRSM Teachers Conference
BBC & MEDIA
BBC TV Proms Extra
BBC Radio 3
BBC World Service
Composed, documentary
BOOKS
Music from the Inside Out
Keep Calm and Pass Your Music Exam
Skakoon: a novel for children
ARTICLES
Classical Music Magazine
International Piano
Making Music
Music Teacher
ESTA & EPTA
Huffington Post
ONLINE COURSES
My newsletter
Monthly reflections on performance, teaching and the inner life of a musician. Read by performers and teachers worldwide