Ep 79 Katie Bycroft

Katie Bycroft is a musician, music therapist, supervisor and
advocate for access to musical experiences for all. She trained
at the Guildhall in 1998, having initially studied Oriental
Studies (Japanese) at Cambridge University. Music was important
from very early days, and she immersed herself in flute playing
from the age of 8, taught by her flautist aunt. Music has always
been a way for her to connect with people from other cultures,
from youth orchestra and choir trips to Europe, to joining a folk
music group in Japan as well as singing the Messiah in Japanese
while living there in the 1990s. Her latest musical adventure has
been to move to Malta to work for Villabianca Centre for Music
and the Arts, a new music therapy project set up in 2021 by The
Malta Trust Foundation. This unique opportunity to be involved in
establishing a music therapy service where none existed before
has been transformational in many ways, for many people. She
continues to be active in the UK music therapy world, as
Supervision Network co-ordinator for BAMT, clinical placement
seminar leader at UWE, and working together with University of
the West of England to establish a blended, distance-learning
music therapy training for trainees based in Malta. Music therapy
continues to bring welcome connections, with a visit during a
recent trip to Australia to the Noro Music Therapy Centre just
outside Sydney. She is also Director of the Oxford Flute
Summer School which continues after 35 years to attract flautists
from all over the world for a wonderful week of flute playing
with like-minded people.


Luke spoke to Katie in person, at University of the West of
England, Bristol in August 2023.