A PENZANCE music teacher is celebrating being awarded the Classic FM Teacher of the Year Award 2026 for Visiting and Private Music Teachers.

Tim Boulton, a frequent visitor to schools across West Cornwall, has been living and working in Cornwall for 23 years. He’s the director of Cornwall Youth Orchestra and, together with colleague Emma Stansfield, runs a network of youth string orchestras including Penzance Junior Strings, Band of West Strings and Truro Youth String Orchestra, allowing young people a pathway to develop valuable group skills alongside individual lessons.

With music therapist wife Ruth Boulton, Tim is a founding director of MusicAbility, which provides string instrument teaching in five local secondary schools and to students from many local primary schools, with bursaries available for children who cannot otherwise afford to learn an instrument.

Its charitable arm, the MusicAbility Foundation restored a Regency building in Parade Street; now known as MusicAbility Centre, it houses two music therapy rooms and other teaching spaces. The charity also provides a residency for The Elmore Quartet, one of the UK's top younger generation professional string quartets, who spend up to six weeks in West Cornwall and give free concerts to thousands of young people every year.

Several of Tim’s past students from West Cornwall are now working at the highest levels of the music profession: in orchestras, chamber groups and bands, and even writing music for games.

“I feel honoured to receive this award which recognises some of the very best teaching practice across the UK,” he said. “At MusicAbility, we’ve worked hard to make sure music education here in Cornwall is engaging and fulfilling.

“Music is so much more than a school subject – it’s a central part of young people’s identity and an interface with the world around them.”

The award will be presented at Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall tonight (Monday, October 12), and the prize includes a share of £20,000 worth of equipment for local young musicians.