A MODERN champion of the oboe is next on stage in the Kendal Midday Concert Club season.

James Turnbull has dedicated much of his performing life to promoting and extending the oboe repertoire and teams up with highly regarded pianist Libby Burgess for their The English Oboe Rediscovered recital at Kendal Town Hall, on Wednesday, January 20.

James was seven when he began his oboe studies. After gaining a first class degree in music from Christ Church, Oxford University, he continued his oboe studies at the Royal Academy of Music and under Nicholas Daniel at Trossingen Musikhochschule in Germany, where he was awarded first class for both his artist and soloist diplomas.

He is deeply committed to expanding the oboe repertoire and keen to find lost works and bring to new audiences rarely performed pieces.

An active chamber musician, he's artistic director of Ensemble Perpetuo, a chamber music collective that specialises in multi-art form collaborations and innovative ways of performing chamber music in new contexts. He's also performed with other chamber music ensembles, including the Berkeley Ensemble and the Allegri String Quartet.

Aside from his performing interests, James encourages young people to learn the instrument and has launched the LearnToPlayTheOboe.com website which receives more than a thousand new visitors every month from across the world. Plus he also teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and gives masterclasses across the UK.

Libby's warm, sensitive playing was a much acclaimed feature of James' The English Oboe: Rediscovered CD release in 2013. The recording features repertoire from a number of English composers spanning the late 19th to 21st centuries.

A prizewinning pianist, Libby's dedicated to the fields of song and chamber music, working with some of the finest singers and instrumentalists of her generation. A committed chamber musician, she relishes partnerships with a range of string and woodwind players, collaborates regularly with The Berkeley Ensemble, and has performed in The Sacconi Quartet's festival.

Born in Sussex, Libby read music at Oxford, where she was the first female organ scholar at Christ Church Cathedral, before specialising in piano accompaniment with a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. Libby’s passion for working with singers extends beyond the piano: she has conducted Britten and Mendelssohn operas for Ryedale Festival Opera, and is a highly thought of chorus master, collaborating with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in the premiere of his Kommilitonen. She is regularly asked to give choral workshops and be a guest conductor for choirs throughout the country, and, although a sought after pianist, is also in-demand as a vocal coach.

KMCC performances are on alternate Wednesdays, starting at 1pm. Snack lunches are available from 11.50am.