Helen James�began playing clarinet through County Durham�s Music Service. She continued her studies at Trinity College of Music where she was awarded the Wilfred Hambleton Award and the Gladys Puttick Prize for improvisation. As a member of the clarinet quartet Clariphonics she won a Park Lane Group Young Artists Award, which included a performance at the Purcell Room. She is co-principal clarinet with St. Paul�s Sinfonia and also plays with other orchestras such as English Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and West End shows including The Wizard of Oz and Les Mis�rables.