Francis Winston

Greetings! I am a classically trained composer, musician (vocalist, saxophonist, clarinettist) and music teacher with over 25 years of extensive experience in both youth music education and the music industry. I have created and headed several Secondary school Music departments and ran school music tours.

In my early years I sang and toured with Cathedral choirs, in later years I performed in orchestras and London musicals on both clarinet and saxophones.

Amongst many other musical endeavours, I created and led a 15-piece Hip Hop-Jazz-Funk band (Souljahz) for 10 years, recorded an album and supported one of Run DMC's UK shows. The band included some very successful artists most of whom are now leaders in their respective musical fields.

Additionally I have composed and toured two Hip Hoperas (urban musicals) to the Edinburgh Fringe and New York city respectively. I have built recording studios, produced, managed and trained many young vocalists and instrumentalists that have successful careers in the music industry.

Since 2021 I have been touring the UK training Primary and Secondary school teachers in rap, and worked with ABRSM to develop and incorporate rap into their new Musical Medals assessments. I have created a further education Hip Hop & Rap course for the Institute for Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) in London, and am involved in several outreach projects, bringing Hip Hop and Rap education to schools, colleges and universities. I also teach music part-time in a London state Academy.