Paul Appleyard

PAUL APPLEYARD comes from Yorkshire, being born in Dewsbury in 1951. He began learning the violin at Oldershaw Grammar School in Wallasey but soon switched to the viola and took lessons with Andrew Thomas, then Principal Viola in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. From school, he studied Law at Kings College London before entering the Royal College of Music as a postgraduate, where his professor was Frederick Riddle. He spent two years in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra before returning to the UK to freelance. He has worked with all the major London orchestras and those of the BBC as well as spending short periods as Principal Viola with the Ulster, Scottish Ballet and London Festival Ballet orchestras. In 1988 he was invited to join the Scarborough Spa Orchestra, where the quartet was founded and where his interest in arranging began, producing many numbers for both the orchestra and the quartet. His major spare-time activity is in the classic car movement, being the proud owner of a much-cherished Triumph Stag, and is also a member of the Jaguar Drivers Club. His viola was made for him in 1974 by the celebrated modern luthier Sergio Peresson, in Haddonfield NJ