Helen is an experienced musician and teacher. Having graduated from both the University of Manchester and The Royal Northern College of Music she spent over 20 years as the founding cellist of the Sorrel Quartet. With them, she toured the world, made many BBC broadcasts, recorded 13 CDs and held residencies at York, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool and Cardiff Universities. Their recordings of the complete Britten and Shostakovich Quartets received wide-spread critical acclaim. She is the Artistic Director of the Erringden Ensemble. Helen has performed at all the major chamber music venues: Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, Brandon Hill Bristol, Snape Aldeburgh, Spitalfields, St John’s Smith Square, Edinburgh Festival. Helen gives frequent recitals and has covered all the standard repertoire. She is now delving into more obscure repertoire for different combinations of instruments. Currently she is working on music for cello and guitar. Helen has played principal cello for Opera North, Northern Chamber Orchestra for several years and also BBC Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, London Mozart Players.As principal cello for Northern Chamber Orchestra, Helen enjoyed performing Vivaldi Concertos.
Helen teaches at Huddersfield University. She has given masterclasses at The Royal Academy of Music and taught for many years at The Royal Northern College of Music, Chethams School of Music, Benslow Music Trust, Lake District Summer Music, Dartington Summer Music.
More obscure experiences include performing with Page and Plant, whose music she loves, and performing with Emma Kirkby, whose voice she loves, at Sir Stephen Spender’s Memorial.