Children's Classic Concerts,
46a Fortrose Street,
Glasgow,
G11 5LP UK
Telephone:
0141 334 8500

Email:
ccc@childrensclassicconcerts.co.uk

Meet the Team

Owen Gunnell
Artistic Director and Presenter

Owen has presented concerts for CCC since 2007 and been Artistic Director from 2008 onwards. He has become a much-loved part of the organisation, with audiences adoring his cheeky chappy persona, his virtuosic percussion performances and his enthusiastic dad dancing. His fun-loving nature breaks down the divide between audience and orchestra and he is sure to get everyone involved in our concerts whether it be a 3-year-old or an 80-year-old.

The CCC team are yet to find a costume that Owen is not prepared to wear! Backstage has seen some hilariously tight costume changes, yet he has never failed to get back on stage in the nick of time. His skill for devising concert programmes that combine both core music from the orchestral repertoire, alongside more popularist music has seen CCC concerts grow in popularity…
In addition to his fooling around onstage, Owen is a well-respected percussionist, working with major orchestras of the UK, and he regularly tours with the Colin Currie Group, around the world.

Catherine Earnshaw
Creative Producer

Catherine combines her work with CCC alongside her work as a freelance oboist. She started working for CCC early in her career, developing the education programme and became General Manager in 2009. In 2018, she took a step back from the day-to-day running of the organisation to focus on the creative production of projects alongside Artistic Director, Owen Gunnell.
As a musician, Catherine works regularly with Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet as well as taking to the stage as part of the Scottish Reed Trio. You can also see her performing as ‘The Duck’ in CCC’s Essential Orchestra concert of Peter and the Wolf. Her other stand-out role for CCC was as a dancing Panda in Eddie McGuire’s Panda Suite, in 2012.

Pippa Barnwell
General Manager

Pippa has worked in orchestra management for over 17 years.  As a musician who loved playing but hated performing, she found working behind the scenes far less nerve wracking than being out on stage.  Over the years she has been roped in to feature as principal chain clanger, bass drum beater, mp3 operator and her first role at CCC, as Piggy No. 3, in the Essential Orchestras’ Three Little Pigs concerts.

Jemma Stewart
Development Manager

Jemma first joined CCC as an intern in 2011, and has never left! She’s always enjoyed working with families, previously holding posts as an early years music teacher for Rhythm Time and as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities at Cornerstone. After many seasons of project planning at CCC, she now enjoys writing about the positive impact of our work and acknowledging vital support from funders. Some of her top moments include: bringing together young participants on stage and screen to perform ‘We Can Fly’ (2018); riding in a rickshaw and getting the police playing percussion in the streets of Glasgow (‘Soundcycle’, 2018) and taking on the role of chief smoke machine operator (‘Ghost Train’, 2017).

Riitta Koljonen
Project Manager

Finnish born Riitta, originally a flute teacher, joined the CCC team in September 2016. She previously worked for string orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, in The Netherlands, taking responsibility for office management and specialising in educational projects.

Just like Jemma, Riitta liaises with musicians and venues, is involved in CCC project planning from start to finish and also takes care of the office administration. At CCC concerts, Riitta can often be found either at the guest or merchandise desk, or sometimes even on stage – her first (and most demanding, so far!) role at CCC was holding up and changing the pig’s house walls in the Essential Orchestra’s Three Little Pigs concerts.