Helen Vollam

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Helen Vollam (b. 1974) is Principal Trombone for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, appointed in 2004 as the first woman to be appointed principal trombone in the UK since Maisie Ringham of the Halle Orchestra earlier this century. She is a member of Bones Apart.

Helen studied with Eric Crees at the Guildhall School of Music from 1992 to 1997.

In 1995 she won the bronze medal in the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Music Scholarship competition for her performance of the Gordon Jacob Trombone Concerto with the LSO.

She was a brass finalist in the 1992 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. She's also been a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra and London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

Since taking up trombone aged 7, Vollam played in the Cheddar Valley Brass Band, followed by Essex Youth Orchestra where she started lessons with Denis Wick aged 15.