Meet the Staff
Showroom
Adam Clifford
Director; Sales and Marketing Manager; Wind Specialist
Adam studied flute at the University of Surrey with Anna Noakes, Ian Clarke and Jenny Welch, and was awarded a First in his final recital. Adam has been with us since 1998 when he started as Saturday staff to help finance his university studies. He is now one of our directors, our sales & marketing manager and website designer, and he still occasionally plays flute and piccolo in charity gigs. He also plays saxophone.
Jonathan Myall
Director; Wind Specialist
Jonathan studied flute at the Royal College of Music with Graham Mayger and Christopher Hyde-Smith. After teaching and freelancing in London and around the UK, he started working for Charterhouse Musical Instruments in the City of London, which was at the time one of the UK's leading wind specialists. During this time his interest in the business and technical sides of the flute grew, and he wanted to learn more about the manufacture and development of musical instruments. It was at this time that he met Ian, who was then a student at the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1989, after travelling extensively - visiting factories in Japan, Taiwan and the USA - Jonathan opened our first shop, in the picturesque village of Walton on the Hill; a couple of years later, the then-separate business of Just Flutes (in Twickenham) came up for sale. Jonathan purchased it and the rest, as they say, is history!
Hannah Clark
Woodwind Consultant
Hannah is a graduate from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied a Master of Arts with Michael Cox, Katherine Baker and Pat Morris. Prior to that she studied her Bachelors at the Royal Northern College of Music with Laura Jellicoe, Jenny Hutchinson and Janet Richardson.
Hannah has been lucky enough to play with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, The Hallé and the English Symphony Orchestra. She is also a keen chamber musician, performing regularly with her flute quartet Dolce Flutes, who enjoy experimenting with electronics. Alongside that, Hannah is part of a Flute and Guitar duo formed whilst she was at the Academy.
When she’s not playing, Hannah loves to cook and discover new and exciting food in London. Originally from Cambridgeshire and a country girl at heart, she always looks forward to an opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of London to go on long walks in the countryside.
Lily Halward
Woodwind Consultant
Lily is a graduate from the University of Chichester Conservatoire where she studied Music and Musical Theatre with Joint Honours, as well as playing and exploring the flute for her personal study dissertation performance. She has been a flute player since a young age, and her interest in musical theatre and playing in the pit has motivated her to begin playing the saxophone and the clarinet more recently.
Lily is also a very keen singer and enjoys performing in shows, both professionally and for fun! She also likes to write her own music in her spare time using other instruments such as the piano and the guitar.
Aside from music, Lily enjoys going for walks around her village in the countryside and going to the theatre!
Agne Burnaite
Assistant Woodwind Consultant
Agne is a graduate of Trevor Wye’s Flute Studio and later Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). While still studying at RCS, Agne performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing Shostakovich’s Symphonies 5 & 11 as well as Strauss’s Don Quixote. Agne also performed as a principal flute & piccolo with Mediterranean Opera Festival Studio Orchestra and Berlin Opera Symphony Orchestra.
Agne is a passionate teacher and is actively teaching flute and recorder privately as well as in Music House for Children. Agne is grateful for her studies with renowned pedagogist Trevor Wye at his Studio in England. She absorbed an array of teaching methods exploring musicality through engaging physical exercises and games.
Aside from music, Agne loves nature and sports. There was a time when she had to choose whether to pursue music or competitive swimming…
Repair Studio
Ian McLauchlan
Workshop Manager; Flute and Piccolo Technician; Headjoint Maker
Ian studied flute at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Kate Hill and Trevor Wye. Whilst there he was offered an instrument technology course as part of his diploma which lasted three years. During this time he produced his first headjoint which was made from stainless steel and nickel silver.
Following study at the RNCM he started working from home repairing flutes and making headjoints, quickly gaining a reputation for the quality of his work. Ian spent time working at the Brannen Cooper factory in the USA, receiving training in both manufacture and repair of their flutes. This influence led to a thorough overhaul of his method of making headjoints.
Ian has now established himself as one of the leading flute technicians in the UK, maintaining many instruments belonging to professional players. He is resident flute technician at Just Flutes / Just Flutes.
As a player Ian regularly freelances in the south of England and abroad, working with Surrey Opera, Kentish Opera and two wind quintets amongst others. He has worked as the principal wind tutor for the IAPS National Symphony.
Griff
Single Reed Technician
Griff served in the Royal Marines for 22 years before deciding to retire from military life in 2003 to combine his passion for music and his engineering skills to become a musical instrument repairer. Griff studied Musical Instrument Technology and Repair (woodwind and brass repair and making) at Merton College.
Griff is something of a saxophone geek and has a passion for all things saxophone both vintage and modern. He is married with 2 young boys and lives in Exmouth, Devon, from where he commutes to us weekly!
Jim Prior
Flute Technician
Jim studied instrument repair at Merton College and has worked at John Myatt, Normans, and most recently Ackerman Music in Hove, where he's run the workshop for eight years.
Outside work Jim is a keen trombonist, playing in bands around Sussex and even runs his own big band! Jim also enjoys designing and making tools for instrument repair technicians.
Alex Stanley
Flute & Double Reed Technician
Alex’s interest in instrument repairs began whilst studying abroad at the University of North Texas where she jumped at the chance to take the repair classes on offer. After completing her degree from the University of Leeds, she went on to study Instrument Repairs at Merton College and has been working with Just Flutes since.
Away from work Alex plays flute/pic in a local concert band and likes kickboxing and cake.
Dispatch
Beth Penny
Dispatch Assistant / Sheet Music Assistant
Beth works across both our sheet music and mail order departments, and is a first-class graduate of Royal Holloway, University of London. Since graduating she mainly plays pop music on her flute, going busking and playing gigs regularly around London. Aside from music, Beth enjoys painting and going to coffee shops!
Rebeka Raffai
Dispatch Assistant
Rebeka is a First Class Graduate of Music Business, a degree awarded by BIMM University. She completed her dissertation on topic of the application of mindfulness within sustainable music practice while working at Just Flutes and ensuring orders are fulfilled smoothly. Emerging from Hungarian roots, her father played double bass in a Hungarian folk band and she has been drawn towards music for as long as she can remember. Although she has been thoroughly academic, she has equally been drawn to the creative aspect of things; she actively plays guitar and also sings in a pop choir across London. In her free time, she also crafts crocheted accessories and cares for her abundance of houseplants alongside enjoying walks, plant based foods, meditation and listening to music.
Roderick Seed
Flute Consultant and Dispatch Assistant
Roderick Seed graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied with William Bennett, Kate Hill and Pat Morris. He has also studied with Lorna McGhee and Sebastian Bell. He has since played with London Octave, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and as a soloist in Japan, Canada, Europe and USA.
He is the author of “Mastering the Flute with William Bennett” published by Indiana University Press and "7 Daily Vocalises". He is an Altus Flutes European Artist and performs and teaches across the UK and abroad.
Sheet Music
Bethany Desmond
Sheet Music Manager / Buyer
Bethany is a music graduate of the University of Nottingham, where she studied flute with Dana Morgan. After showing an interest in music at the age of five, when given a fife instead of a recorder in school music classes, Bethany later began orchestral performance with the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain. She has since had the opportunity for solo concerto performances with the Lydian Orchestra. Bethany is also a competent pianist, as well as her primary instruments of flute and piccolo.
Chris Hankin
Sheet Music Catalogue Editor
After gaining a music degree from Sheffield University, Chris Hankin attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she had lessons with William Bennett. She then continued her flute studies with Jonathan Snowden and now has a very varied and successful freelance career.