Dr Frances Jones is a freelance woodwind and French horn player based the Thames Valley, UK, particularly sought after as a performer, teacher, lecturer, adjudicator, arranger and writer. She took a music degree at the University of Reading and studied oboe with Sydney Sutcliffe at the Royal College of Music.

Since 2005 she has become the UK’s leading exponent of the Swiss alpine horn, which has resulted in engagements to perform and lecture regularly not only throughout the Alps and across Western Europe, but also in South Africa, Taiwan, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia. Research projects about the instrument have included the recent completion of a ground-breaking PhD about the influence of the alphorn on the classical composer, which has led to a fascinating book ‘The Alphorn through the Eyes of the Classical Composer’, published by Vernon Press in 2020.

Frances’s talent as an insightful arranger of music for various combinations of instruments displays not only a detailed knowledge of the sounds, colours, capabilities and subtleties of the instruments chosen, but also a deep passion for a range of musical genres and a desire to enable players of various abilities to enjoy a broad variety of beautiful music.