About Us

What We Do

Manchester Musical Youth (MMY) is an award winning theatre company for young performers in Greater Manchester brought to you by an established, experienced and successful artistic team, with a track record of creating the very best in youth theatre productions such as Jekyll and Hyde (2015), Hot Mikado (2015), Little Shop of Horrors (2016), Les Miserables (2016) and Legally Blonde (2017) to name but a few.

Our aim is to bring together, encourage and develop the most talented young performers throughout the Greater Manchester area, aged between 8-18 years old, so that they can experience the highest, most professional standard of musical theatre outside the West End. We strive for excellence in every aspect of our productions and believe that age is no barrier to quality. In addition our ‘Grads’ group extends this offer to those aged 19+, embodying the same ethos and professional standards in an enjoyable, supportive environment.

The weekly workshops will primarily focus on the Acting, Singing and Movement disciplines in order to stretch, challenge and build on the amazing talent that our company members bring. Our members will also gain a valuable educational experience too; learning vocal and performance skills but also a wider understanding of music, theatre and the themes and issues in our productions. These skills will not only dramatically improve their performance standard, but also supports their academic development and most importantly builds their confidence and self-belief.

The directed workshops will be aimed towards producing a full-scale professional-standard show each year, as well as building on repertoire and individual skills, which company members will have the opportunity to share at one off events, concerts and charity fundraisers.

The team is also keen to encourage company members to engage with the community by supporting and building partnerships with local organisations, businesses and charities to enhance member’s performance experience and also share our enjoyment of musical theatre with those that benefit from it the most.

Our Team

Kimberly Holden

Founder/ Musical Director

Kimberly is a multi award-winning musical director specialising in working with young ensembles.
A trained cellist, Kimberly studied her BMus at Hull University and played professionally before moving into education, where she found her true passion for helping young people engage with music and the creative arts. During her 25 years teaching she spent many as Head of Year and Head of Performing Arts, adding drama facilitation to her CV. She found a specialism in working with young voices (enhanced through training with the Internationally acclaimed Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher of Vocal Process), and ensemble choral work.
In 2016 she left teaching to devote herself full time to her own company, Manchester Musical Youth (MMY). Nurturing talent and inspiring creativity are central to Kimberly and MMY’s ethos and the company has helped hundreds of talented young performers from across Greater Manchester grow and develop to pursue musical theatre as a passion.

Dave Holden

Founder / Director /

A graduate of Salford University where he studied Popular Music and Recording, speacialising in composition and performance as a vocalist, Dave is now an experienced music teacher. He has worked throughout the Manchester area for over 15 years delivering classroom music and music technology to both secondary and primary age students. In addition to his responsibilities within the production side of MMY, Dave is Musical Director for our 8-11 year old group "Apprentices", Director for the main 13-19 group and co-ordinates and delivers the Arts Award programme.

Shannon Wild

Director "Apprentices" / Workshop Leader

Shannon has always had a passion for the performing arts, studying the Musical Theatre degree at The Manchester College. In 2015 she graduated
from The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in Community Drama, where she went on to specialise in work with young people. Shannon has worked with various companies in the north west area, as a freelance
drama practitioner. Shannon works as the Director and Choreographer alongside Dave with Manchester Musical Youth’s 8-12’s Apprentices group. She also is our workshop leader for both the Youngsters classes and delivers the Explore Arts Award. Shannon encourages imagination and creativity through musical theatre workshops.

Sarah Binns

Choreographer / Workshop Leader

Having trained in ballet, tap, commercial, contemporary and musical theatre style dance at Debra Simmons School of Dance since the age of 3, Sarah has choreographed a number of different musicals for both Leeds University Stage Musicals Society and Canon Slade Performing Arts College, including ‘A Chorus Line’, ‘Billy Elliot’, ‘Grease’ and ‘Guys and Dolls’. She has also been a national tap demonstrator for the IDTA.

Sarah Bartlett

Choreographer / Workshop Leader

Sarah started performing when she was young, training in ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, acting and dance. Having gained a degree in Musical Theatre (BA Hons) She discovered a flare for choreography. Whilst at university she choreographed for a range of different shows including ‘Cabaret’, ‘Kiss me Kate’ ‘Pirates of Penzance’ and ‘West side story’. After university Sarah performed professionally and was asked to choreograph for a local theatre group.

Ben Attfield

Rehearsal Pianist

Ben started learning piano at the age of 4, and now studies with Psappha pianist Benjamin Powell. He is currently studying music at the University of Manchester, and teaches piano and music theory at Xaverian College. A great lover of ensemble performance, Ben is an experienced accompanist and chamber musician. He completed a performance diploma at the age of 15, and has played orchestral piano parts with the Greater Manchester Hub and Hallé Youth Orchestras. In 2016, Ben performed Rhapsody In Blue with the Xaverian College Orchestra after winning the annual ‘Young Musician of the Year’ competition.
In the world of musical theatre, Ben has appeared in the pit for a number of productions in the Manchester area (including Chicago, Sweeney Todd, The Addams Family, Little Shop Of Horrors and Les Misérables, Footloose, Made in Dagenham, Oliver, Southbrook and Calamity Jane), and has been rehearsal pianist for MMY since 2018.

About Us