From Robbie Williams to Escala: a journey shaped by dedication and practice - Helen Nash

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Artist bio
Helen Nash is a Cornish-born pianist and cellist whose career spans live television, orchestral performance, crossover string work, and high-profile collaborations across classical and popular music. Raised in rural Cornwall, she began piano and cello as a child and later studied cello at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. After an early break playing for Robbie Williams, Helen built a varied freelance career performing with artists including Andrea Bocelli and Cher, while also appearing on major television shows such as The Graham Norton Show and Britain’s Got Talent. As a member of Escala, she has helped bring string music to wider audiences through inventive arrangements and outreach work, while continuing to reflect on arts access, education, and the realities of sustaining a life in music.

Episode summary
In this episode of The Variety Show, Adam Sternberg talks with pianist and cellist Helen Nash about growing up in rural Cornwall, finding music early, and building a career that moves between classical training, live television, and crossover performance. Helen shares how an unusual combination of family influences, countryside life, and a chance encounter with a local cello teacher led her into music, even though no one in her immediate family was a professional performer.

She reflects on studying cello seriously, stepping away from it after music college, and then being drawn back in through an unexpected mix of songwriting, freelance opportunities, and high-profile gigs. From playing for Robbie Williams at the Royal Variety Performance to joining Escala and working across television and live events, Helen describes a career that has often developed organically rather than through one fixed plan. The conversation also explores the pressures of practice, the realities behind the glamour of performance, the value of music education, and the growing barriers facing young people who want to enter the arts. Helen closes by arguing that the arts remain essential to human life, even in an age shaped by AI and rapid technological change.

00:00 Intro and Helen’s upbringing in rural Cornwall
00:02 Family background, farming life, and first musical influences
00:04 Getting her first cello and starting music young
00:08 Teenage playing, early paid gigs, and earning through music
00:11 Music college in Wales and why education still matters
00:13 Stepping away from cello after college and finding a way back
00:15 Robbie Williams, the Royal Variety Performance, and first major gigs
00:17 Joining Scala and making string music accessible
00:19 Arts funding, class, and barriers to entering the profession
00:27 Helen teaches Adam some conducting basics
00:28 The realities of practice, performance, and advice for young musicians
00:31 Hope for the future of the arts and why creativity remains essential