The Musical Museum's Trustees make up our board of Directors, and have a broad spectrum of backgrounds and experience. Our Trustees volunteer to apply their skills, experience and contacts to help us achieve our charitable objectives, grow the museum's visitors, reach new audiences, and build a sustainable future for our collections.
Our current Trustees are:
Steve Barrett-White – Chair, Operations & Commercial Director
Steve Barrett-White first worked in the record industry in a number of roles, followed by Acorn Computers working on marketing the BBC Micro, then Commodore Computers (introducing the Amiga in the UK). After a spell at Phillips and SPC, he entered the Audio/Visual market, working for distributors and dealers. He joined the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) 16 years ago, and retired as their Audio Visual Manager in October 2019, where he was responsible for A/V at RIBA’s London HQ and a team of staff supporting their offices around the country.
Steve is much in demand as a presenter/lecturer in microphone techniques and sound in general. He has an extensive library of microphones and sound equipment, and regularly produces recordings for radio and for orchestras, cinema organists, choirs and jazz bands across the UK and Europe.
Adrian Church - Director of Pianos & Conservation
Adrian started his career as a studio engineer working for the BBC at TV Centre. He progressed to Video Editor, responsible for sound as well as pictures, which included choosing music to use in programmes. He went on to work for a number of independent facilities as well as Channel Four before becoming freelance and setting up his own company. An interest in Player Pianos started with hearing reproducing rolls recorded as early as 1905 played on the radio, which led to him acquiring his own Duo-Art Pianola Piano many years ago. Maintaining this and meeting knowledgeable fellow enthusiasts through the Pianola Institute has helped him develop an in-depth understanding of the workings and history of the Musical Museum’s remarkable instruments.
Marcus Harborne – Vice-Chair, HR, Health & Safety and Tour Director
Marcus first visited the Museum in 2016, and like many before him, was captivated by the sights and sounds he experienced there. Marcus joined as a tour guide, and latterly became a trustee. His working life has been spent in the licensed retail industry, including being a manager for Forte Hotels, an area manager responsible for some 28 public houses with Courage Brewing, and Morland Brewery as a Business Development Manager for 15 large catering outlets. In 1998, Marcus set up his own consultancy - Harborne Innpact Services Ltd, providing training on all aspects of hospitality, catering, licensing law, premises licensing and health and safety best practice - all skills which have been of great practical help to the Musical Museum in recent years. Marcus still runs his company, and covers all parts of the country in the delivery of various contracts. He is an active member of his local church and a long-standing governor of an independent school in High Wycombe along with other charitable activities.
Joanne & Chris Powell – Musical Museum & Cinema Organ Ambassadors
Chris is one of the UK’s premier ‘entertainment organists’ as well as a truly international artist in the field of electronic and theatre organ music. His education and formative years growing up in Lancashire saw him pursue his love of music with piano and organ studies culminating in a string of engagements for both local concerts and dances from the age of 14 onwards. By the time he was 18, he had joined the prestigious team of organists playing for dancing at the Tower Ballroom Blackpool, and begun a successful career performing electronic and pipe organ music at venues across the UK.
Joanne was ten years of age when she started to play the organ. Lessons by a church organist on a piano were the order of the day until an organ shop opened in her home-town of Gainsborough. She then transferred to lessons at the shop, given by an ex-theatre organist. At the age of seventeen, she turned full-time professional and has never looked back. Christened the "Queen of the Hammond" by Ian Wolstenholme after being featured on his radio show, Joanne maintains a loyalty to the Hammond sound. She currently performs on a Key B Duo electronic organ with a Ketron SD3 expander, and is equally at home at the console of the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ.
Chris and Joanne married in December 2019, and travel the country supporting each other, appearing in concerts both separately and together. Not only do they perform regularly at the Musical Museum, but they also promote the Museum at their events and help us to deliver a key part of our third charitable objective - to present the theatre pipe organ as an instrument with a significant role in the development of light music, on radio and in the cinema and as a musical art form.
Joseph Bourke - Treasurer
Joseph is a Chartered Certified Accountant engaged as a senior lecturer in finance and accounting with the Claude Littner business school at the University of West London. He has over 50 years of domestic and international experience in senior roles within finance and accounting. He served as Chief Financial Officer for a hotel and property management group operating throughout the United States and Mexico and as Finance Director for a Japanese Group operating in London.
He was engaged by the Musical Museum as the Charities auditor in 2010 and subsequently served as the Museum's Independent examiner and financial advisor until 2020 when Joseph sold his accountancy practice. Joseph joined the board of trustees in May 2023 and has been overseeing the finance and accounting functions of the Museum since that time.
Anne-Marie Rahme - Children's Tours and Outreach Development Director
Originally from France, Anne-Marie studied Education Sciences at the Catholic Institute of Paris and worked as a primary school teacher. She moved to London in November 2020 and it’s her passion for Art and Education that lead her into the museum world. She has been volunteering at the Musical Museum as a tour guide and receptionist since 2021, and in France, she is in charge of the cultural program for another non-profit organisation. Anne-Marie's experience as a teacher and as a cultural attaché informs her interest in opening up the Musical Museum to schools and young visitors by creating activities in an educational environment - her goal is to encourage and engage the visitors and make the Musical Museum more accessible to children and families.
Michael J Wood – Exhibition & Display Director
Mike’s association with the Museum began in 2006, when as a volunteer, he spent many hours with the team dismantling and moving the collection to the new building - and then rebuilding, repairing and displaying the collection in the various galleries. Mike read Mathematics at the University of St Andrew’s followed by post graduate studies. He joined IBM and was responsible for sales and marketing to a variety of large companies, and post-retirement became chair of a charity that offered independent services and practical help to local care givers. Mike is an accomplished musician and accompanist to local choirs and choral societies (occasionally taking charge of the baton). He is currently organist at St. Nicholas Church in Shepperton, and for the past 24 years Mike has been the principal accompanist for the highly-regarded Weybridge Male Voice Choir. He can also be heard at the console of the Museum's Wurlitzer playing for tours, films and events.
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Advisors to the Board
Dr. Joyce Tang - Archivist Advisor
Joyce is a graduate from University of Southampton with a PhD in Music, and a conservatoire-trained pianist. Currently working in Guildhall School of Music as a Research Mentor, Joyce has an impressive academic record having studied her Masters in Music at University of Oxford, with her bachelor’s degree awarded from Royal Academy of Music. Her PhD thesis was Pianos of the late 19th to early 20th century and performance practice. Joyce previously volunteered with the Musical Museum as Head Archivist, establishing new cataloguing systems and procedures, and staging unique hybrid concerts featuring live performances and recorded items from the Roll Library.
Simon Hill, CITP MBCS – Emeritus Director of Technology and Innovation
Simon served as CTO, Museum Trustee and Vice-Chairman from 2015 - 2021, and continues to advise the Museum on matters relating to our IT infrastructure, fundraising, and the technical design and staging of our concerts and events. Simon is a consultant specialising in service transformation, insight and technology. He is currently working in the Insight & Data Advisory practice of international technology consulting firm Capgemini, and has a career spanning two decades of leadership roles at a range of national and global brands.