Our Team

Tamara Kohler (she/her) is an Australian flautist and arts producer, specialising in new music performance. Alongside her work with CoMA, Tamara is Co-Artistic Director and Flautist of award-winning Australian art music ensemble Rubiks Collective, known for their “incredibly personal, strangely spiritual and ultimately deeply touching” performances (Limelight Magazine). Noted for her “fearless execution” in performance, Tamara has performed internationally throughout Australia, Europe, America & Asia with many leading new music ensembles.

Alongside her performance career, Tamara is passionate about opening access within the arts for underrepresented voices, having worked with high profile arts charities Raw Material (Brixton, UK) and Short Black Opera (Melbourne, AUS) to design and deliver various community projects. She regularly mentors young people interested in embarking on less conventional creative careers and has guest lectured at the University of Melbourne, Australian National Academy of Music, the University of Queensland, Monash University and the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Photo Credit: The Musician’s Photographer

Francesca Le Lohé (she/her) is a composer, community musician and creative project manager active in Japan and the UK. She strives to make ambitious music-based projects which provoke awareness and discussion, bringing together the experience and skills of multiple people across disciplines and cultures. Operas include: “How Was It For You?”, exploring themes of Relationship and Sex Education within Japan and the UK (Tokyo, May 2022); "THE KEY": an immersive, site-specific opera inspired by Tanizaki's novella, featuring a mixture of Japanese and Western artforms (2019 “Keizo Saji Prize”. Tokyo & London, 2018 & 2019).

Francesca's work has been performed by ensembles including Ensemble Zar, GBSR duo, Psappha, and Red Note ensemble, and featured in Sonorities, Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival and the London Festival of Architecture. Francesca is lead producer for the “Sound & Word Network”, an international collective of composers and writers whose collaborative work has featured in Tama Music and Arts Festival (Japan) and The Arc Project Festival (UK).

Emory Southwick (they/them) is an artist, musician and life model based in Durham, UK. Emory joined CoMA just before graduating with a BA First Class with Honour in Music from George Stephenson College, Durham University. Outside of their work for CoMA, Emory is Director of The Marra Project, bringing sober creative spaces to County Durham and the North East, including Queer Life Drawing, a monthly online life drawing class working exclusively with queer models. Emory has just edited and published Pride of Place: Queer Spaces of County Durham, a collection of art, poetry, and stories celebrating queer spaces in the area.
Alongside this, Emory is working on an MLitt at Newcastle University on queer and crip theories, focussing on the relationships between voice, vocality, and non-verbal communication for autistic people, as well as transgender liminality and narratives in country music.

Abi Bliss (she/her) is a writer and content producer based near to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. After starting out in the world of arts journalism, she has expanded her work to include copywriting, marketing & communications, project management and radio & podcast production. She is one of the co-founders of, and the current Programme & Engagement Lead for Yorkshire Sound Women Network as well as a longtime contributor to The Wire magazine. Having benefitted from free violin lessons at school, Abi is a keen amateur musician and believes passionately in removing barriers to access for everyone.

Mick Kahn (he/him) has worked in IT in higher and further education, developing and managing networking and e-learning services for institutions across the country. Since retirement he has volunteered for CoMA in a wide range of roles. Mick is a keen amateur musician, playing violin with CoMA London, singing in a choir, playing saxophone in street bands and performing floor spots at folk clubs.

Marc Dooley is musician and music publisher, having led on digital publishing at Edition Peters for almost 20 years. He writes about music for various publications and is a regular contributor of programme notes to major festivals and venues.

A clarinettist by training, Marc studied at Trinity College of Music and the University of York. He has been the Musical Director of the Fulham Symphony Orchestra since 2001 and has enjoyed many exciting and ambitious projects with the orchestra. He is often invited to work with other orchestras (he is also Principal Conductor of the Kew Sinfonia), and works regularly as an ensemble and chamber music coach with students of all ages.

Marc has supported CoMA in developing our music catalogue, and particularly our anthology publications, having edited our Open Score Anthology, Partsongs Publication and Choral Partsongs Edition.

Leon Clowes is a multidisciplinary artist who has participated in several CoMA workshops and residences. He is grateful for the commissioning, networking and learning opportunities that he’s gained from the organisation, and this motivated him to apply to become one of our Trustees.

Leon trained as a musician and composer at Goldsmiths in the late 1980s. For over 30 years, he worked for numerous arts and social welfare causes and brings this expertise to CoMA’s board. Most recently, Leon successfully completed a PhD in the Philosophy of Music at London College of Music, and from this, has co-founded the Addiction Recovery Arts Network which publishes the quarterly 'Performing Recovery' magazine.

As a composer, Leon has been commissioned to produce sonic, story and social practice pieces for BBC Radio 4, Birmingham Opera Company, Britten Pears Arts/Snape and Drake Music Scotland/NMC Recordings/Siwan Rhys.

Mimi Harmer is a cellist, composer, sound designer, and creative producer working at the intersection of music, technology, marketing, and education with a view to drive social change through arts and culture.

As an interdisciplinary artist, Mimi’s works have been performed internationally at festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe and ART*VR. She is a founding member of the XR collective Fresh Do, who make immersive and interactive experiences.

Alongside her artistic practice, Mimi’s work is driven by curiosity, care and a commitment to widening access and participation in the arts. She designs and delivers socially driven cultural and educational projects, and creates accessible, audience-centred experiences across digital and physical spaces for Global 500 companies.

Mimi is a teacher at Leeds Junior Conservatoire, co-founder of the European Performing Arts Students’ Association, and a Board member for the F-List for Music, and the Independent Society of Musicians. Mimi also plays in CoMA London.

Roisin Hughes is the Executive Producer for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, UK’s largest international festival dedicated to new and experimental music. She has over 10 years' experience in fundraising, event management, marketing & communications and strategic development. Roisin has played a pivotal role in delivering the hcmf// commitment to widening access to new music, and identifying and working to remove barriers to participation in its creation and performance.

Colin Johnson (they/them) has been involved with CoMA for many years as a composer and performer, and is currently one of the organisers of the CoMA East Midlands ensemble and the CoMA Inspires composition group. Colin is interested both in notated music and in frameworks for improvised and devised music, and has a particular interest in collaborative performances with writers, artists, scientists and technologists.

When not musicking, Colin teaches Computer Science at the University of Nottingham and has written study-skills books that aim to demystify university study. As a member of the CoMA board, they are keen to promote access for musicians from all backgrounds to performance and composition opportunities.

Sharon Robinson is a portfolio Finance Director providing freelance services to small and medium sized businesses and charities including work with them on financial strategies, management of finance functions, raising funds and cash management. She has many years of experience in finance across a variety of sectors.

As well as working with charities, Sharon is a Trustee of several charities in education and music, as well as Chair of Fulham Symphony Orchestra, a leading amateur orchestra, in which she plays the violin.

Rūta Vitkauskaitė is a composer of concert music, researching collaborative music creation and inter-disciplinary projects. Her ensemble and orchestral compositions have been awarded numerous prizes and performed in festivals including Apeldoorn, Sound (UK), Gaudeamus, Operadagen (NL), Nordbeg, Halland (SE), Gaida, NOA (LT), Q-O2 (BE), SUSA (DK), broadcasted on BBC Radio 3, Deutschlandradio Kultur. Her collaborative electro-acoustic opera for blind-folded audiences, Confessions (Spatial Opera Company), was awarded Golden Stage Cross and toured across Lithuania, Sweden and EU with over 50 shows to date.

Her music has been performed by outstanding ensembles and orchestras in UK and Europe, including BBS Singers, Manchester Collective, Ensemble 360, Ligeti Quartet, Kaleidoscope, Apartment House, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Martynas Levickis, Rakhi Singh, Jonathan Powell, and many others.

Ruta has PhD in Composition from the Royal Academy of Music in London, she is currently a Lecturer in Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, initiator and Music Director of CoMA, Contemporary Music for All, Glasgow branch, and was recently appointed as Deputy Director at Sound.

Alex is a Business Development Manager at environmental law charity ClientEarth, responsible for fundraising from the US. He has more than 12 years' experience working in the arts, previously for Sound and Music, NMC Recordings, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and Northern Ballet. He has a music degree from the University of Sheffield, and is an avid new music fan with a particular love of electronic music. He is a founding Trustee of arts education charity Hand Of, as well as on the board of CoMA.