MUSIC ADJUDICATORS

Choirs – NORMAN HARPER Norman Harper was organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, where he read for a music degree and a PGCE, as well as studying organ with Peter Le Huray and Gillian Weir. During his career he has been director of music at a number of churches and schools, initially in the north-west of England and more recently in London. Currently he is sub-organist and director of the Girls' Choir at St George's Metropolitan Cathedral, Southwark and on the academic music staff of Dulwich College. He is also musical director of the Alleyn Singers and The Friends' Musick, and assistant musical director of Wimbledon Choral Society. Norman has broadcast solo organ recitals on BBC Radio 3, and accompanied broadcast services on radio and television, many of them from St George's, Beckenham. He has performed as soloist and accompanist in major venues in the UK, including St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and King's College, Cambridge, and has made two solo CDs. Abroad he has given recitals in Washington National Cathedral, St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and venues in France, Germany, Estonia and the Czech Republic. He has been an examiner for ABRSM for over 20 years. For relaxation Norman enjoys cooking, listening to jazz, walking in the countryside and reading Private Eye. Guitar – HELEN SANDERSON Helen Sanderson studied guitar at the Royal College of Music with Charles Ramirez, graduating with both the Madeline Walton Prize for guitar and the prestigious Anthony Saltmarsh Bursary. Her active concert career has included concerts at major international guitar festivals and recitals at the Purcell Room, Barbican hall, Academy of Arts (Berlin), and British Embassy in Vienna. In addition to her solo engagements, Helen is a member of the VIDA Guitar Quartet and performs as an accompanist for voice and guitar repertoire in partnership with Mark Wilde, Susan Legg and James Bowman. Helen is much in demand as an adjudicator, international jury member and masterclass artist, with recent invitations from the Royal College of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire and Jugendwettberwerb Gevelsberg (Germany). Her passion for inspiring and educating young guitarists has led to her founding the World Youth Guitar Festival (WYGF) in 2007 which is now Europe’s largest residential festival for young classical guitarists. Following on from this success Helen launched a monthly scheme, GUITAR CIRCUS which provides ensemble training based at the Royal College of Music, London and Birmingham Conservatoire. Harp – HELEN ARNOLD Helen Arnold is well known in the South as a freelance harpist, teacher, examiner and adjudicator. She trained with Marisa Robles, Fiona Hibbert and the late Sidonie Goossens, made her debut at 16 and still enjoys giving recitals, playing in orchestral concerts and playing for many different functions. As a teacher she is highly respected, holding one of this country's largest teaching practices solely for harpists, who travel from six different counties for lessons. She is married to Tim Arnold, International Operations Director for the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music and they have two grown-up daughters. She is delighted to be returning to Beckenham Festival this year. Piano – ANN MARTIN-DAVIS Ann Martin-Davis studied at the Royal College of Music where she won the College's premier piano prize, the Chappell Gold Medal. A series of awards led to her South Bank debut and she subsequently won scholarships to study with Arie Vardi in Hanover and Gyorgy Sebok in Canada. Ann has performed twentieth century and contemporary solo and chamber repertoire throughout all five continents and she is regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Her role as a pianist/ producer of innovative programmes has involved extensive research into contemporary music, including a trip to Beijing for the British Council. Ann played to the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski shortly before his death and her disc of his complete keyboard and chamber works received international acclaim. Following her signing to Nimbus, it is to be re-released, together with several new recordings next year. Recent projects have included Cycles, a reworking of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben by poet Sophie Hannah and composer Gabriel Jackson which toured over thirty arts festivals and L’Art de Toucher, a programme of French solo piano and harpsichord music which she premiered at Lichfield International Festival with harpsichordist Sophie Yates. Her programme Sound Bites was nominated for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Audience Development Award. Ann will perform her latest programme Landscape on an active volcano in New-Zealand, in the Teatros Amazonas in the Brazillian jungle and more importantly at Bognor Regis Music Society in 2012. As well as her playing, Ann teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She is also a member of the examining panel for the Associated Board and is much in demand as a festival adjudicator. Singing – SUZANNE HIGGINS Suzanne studied with Betty Middleton in Yorkshire, continuing her studies whilst singing with the choruses of the Opera Royale de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium and Cologne Opera. Since returning to England she has worked as a freelance with the BBC Singers, London Voices, the Britten Singers and the London Sinfonietta, as well as touring extensively with the Arena Carmen for Classical Productions. She has taken operatic roles for London City Opera and London Opera Players. Since 1989 Suzanne has been a member of the Quartet of St. Giles Cripplegate in the City of London. She was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 1999, and joined the Musicians Company in the same year. For over twenty years Suzanne worked for Hertfordshire Music Services as a singing teacher in Secondary Education. She taught singing for several years at Morley College, and conducted choirs both there and for Bromley College of Adult Education. Her outreach work since 1990 has involved performing for Music in Hospitals. Folk music is another great interest. Suzanne teaches singing at Heading School, Oxford, and maintains a private teaching practice. Suzanne is an adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals. Strings – TIM HEWITT-JONES Tim Hewitt-Jones studied at St John's College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, and has been a cellist with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House for thirty years. Apart from the daily performance with international conductors and artists for the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet, he is involved in many other activities – recitals, coaching the Southband Sinfonia, and varied projects with the Royal Opera House Education Department. He is also conductor of the Dulwich Youth Orchestra, and an examiner for the ABRSM, and has wide experience of cello teaching from beginners to adult. His three sons have all performed in Beckenham Festival string classes in years gone by, one also being a string finalist in last year's BBC Young Musician of the Year. Tim has also written teaching material including sight-reading tests and the ABRSM Cello Prep Test, and was recently elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, but he remembers his first grade 4 cello class in the Cheltenham Competitive Festival in 1966! He enjoys cycling, tennis and the European languages that tumble nightly into the pit at Covent Garden. Woodwind and Brass, Recorder, Ensembles, Music Versatility – DANIEL CHANDLER Daniel received his early musical education on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire. After studying the Flute with Jonathan Rimmer in Manchester he was awarded a place at the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with Susan Milan. Daniel has given many recitals for music societies and festivals around the UK. He has also coached chamber music on ‘National Flute Association’ masterclass courses in the USA. For several years Daniel performed in over 250 concerts and presented workshops as part of a Flute and Harp duo for the ‘Live Music Now!’ scheme, promoting the experience of live music amongst people who would not normally have access to it. Daniel has also performed with the Lancashire Sinfonietta and has delivered education workshops with them at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Following several years as Assistant Director of Music at Merchant Taylors’ School in Liverpool, Daniel is currently Director of Music at Arnold School, Blackpool. He also manages to find time to continue performing, deliver workshops and adjudicate as a member of the British and International Federation of Festivals. .