Fiona Dwanell Pacquette is the youngest of 3 children born to Mr Jean Pacquette (deceased 2004) and Mrs Leone R Pacquette (deceased April 2021). Her mother taught her to play hymns at a very young age, but she didn’t start receiving piano tuition until she was 14/15 at Central Foundation Girls’ School in East London.
At the age of fifteen, Fiona joined the London Schools Concert Orchestra (LSCO) and London Schools Strings Orchestra (LSSO) as a Cellist, and remained a member of the two orchestras for two years.
After seeing that she was serious about music, her father decided to purchase her very first upright grand piano when she turned nineteen. She then went on to study BA Music and MA Liturgical Music and Special Honours Study (composition) at the Colchester Institute School of Music under the tutelage of Professor William Tamblyn (now retired).
Fiona gained her first experience teaching Piano and Music Theory as an apprentice over 25 years ago, under Mr John Prince, at the Hampstead Seventh-day Adventist Church in North West London. She managed the John N Prince Music School at Hampstead SDA Church for more than 20 years before she was appointed to manage one of the Centres of influence – the East London School of Music (ELSCM) from 2015.
Fiona is also the Director of the HACS Philharmonia Chorus (formerly Hampstead Adventist Choral Society) and the HACS Philharmonic Orchestra.
Her main passion is to see people of all ages, with a keen interest in learning an instrument – to follow their dreams and see it through. “I like to give others the same opportunities I had” she says, “playing an instrument and writing music are very useful skills to have”.
