Maggie Cotton

Maggie Cotton was born in Yorkshire in 1937 and has devoured music since her very early pianistic beginnings as a child. In the late 1950s, three years after leaving school, she trail-blazed her way into the male-dominated profession of symphony orchestra musician, landing herself a contract as a percussionist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Since retirement, having played for the orchestra for forty years (eighteen with Simon Rattle), she has also worked as a music critic, and has at last gathered her experiences, from a player’s perspective, of the colourful and deeply satisfying world of the professional symphony orchestra in her autobiography 'Wrong Sex, Wrong Instrument'. Maggie's other published books are 'Percussion Work Book', 'Agogo Bells to Xylophone' and 'The Classical Music Quiz Book'.