Adjudicators

Oliver Gledhill

Oliver Gledhill, cellist, was a Scholar at the Guildhall School of Music and won numerous awards including the ISTEL/Redditch Music Society Competition. He studied with many eminent cellists including William Pleeth, Edmund Kurtz and André Navarra. He has given acclaimed recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, including three in the Kirckman Concert Society Series. Festival appearances have included solo performances in England, France, Italy, Mallorca and the Czech Republic. Oliver has recorded eight CDs, including the complete works for cello by Léon Boëllmann, which was awarded five stars for performance by BBC Music Magazine, and has been played on ABC Classic FM (Australian Radio) and RTBF musiq3 (Belgian Radio).

Oliver Gledhill is Professor of Cello at Junior Guildhall, and also teaches at Mill Hill School and Chigwell School. He has edited music for Peters Edition and Durand. His published writings include articles and reviews for The Strad Magazine and the British Journal of Music Education. He is an examiner for Trinity Guildhall, for whom he selected and revised both the 2009 Cello Diploma and Cello Grade Syllabuses. As an adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Festivals, he has adjudicated at ninety festivals.

Suzanne Higgins

I was always interested in singing, but initially followed the advice given, which was that it’s a great hobby, but hardly a career. With which I did a degree in English and went into FE to teach English and General Studies. Fortunately for me, the hobby, when strenuously and studiously pursued, took me into Belgian and German opera choruses, through a mass of concert work, and eventually back to England.

Here, the hard realities of getting a mortgage led to a part-time stint in secondary schools alongside the immensely enjoyable session work with the BBC and other choral groups, not to mention more concerts for choral societies and the then Council for Music in Hospitals. It was one of these concerts which led to my participation in running a music club for the residents of Meath Home in Godalming. This delightful group of people taught me more than I ever taught them, and together with the other club leaders, Lisa Westerhout , Patrick Ward and Susan Devlin, we produced many home grown musical plays and pantomimes, as well as our own adaptations of existing works.Since my return to England in 1984 - not as ill-omened a year as it might seem – my singing profile has included church singing, eventually as the alto in the St.Giles quartet, Cripplegate, London, and a revived interest in folk music, with its attendant instrumental demands. These “demands” are of course entirely optional, but I find them rewarding. On the operatic front, character roles (Tisbe and Marcellina) with London Opera Players and tours with Classical Opera Productions to venues from Birmingham to Berlin, and the Royal Opera House, this last to Jerusalem, have helped to stave off platform stiffness.Teaching has broadened from a purely private practice to include Primary Schools, Secondary schools and Adult Education, as well as Singing Workshops. The introduction of Adult Education to residential homes for the elderly led to a student age range of 4-96! I have had reason to be grateful for my guitar and concertina: they are considerably more portable than a keyboard, and add to the interest for my students.The most recent professional development is that of adjudicating, a fascinating and stimulating job which has the added advantage of bringing me into contact with even more new repertoire.Home life includes a succession of cats, currently three. They are a constant reminder that, whatever we may think, humans are not top species.

Kenneth Roberts

Kenneth Roberts was educated at York University where he gained BA and MA degrees in music. He works as Musical Director for numerous companies at home and abroad. He has played and conducted at many prestigious venues including The Royal Albert Hall, The Festival Hall, The Britten Theatre, Kensington Palace and Hampton Court. His second opera, 'Mister Butterfly,' which he wrote in 1994 was premiered in Hong Kong and subsequently performed at the Edinburgh Festival, and featured in a documentary shown by BBC television and BBC World Service Satellite.
Recently he has spent several spells in New Hampshire, USA, where he directed a new 'African' Musical which he was commissioned to write. In 2002 he wrote the music for an award-winning 'international' children's piece produced in New England and fulfIlled a commission from the Purcell School in association with the Vaughan-Williams Trust as part of their centenary celebrations to mark the birth of Sir William Walton. He has recently completed a commission to write a ballet based on the novel 'The Trumpet Major' by Thomas Hardy.

Speech & Drama

Mia Ball

Mia Ball has been involved with drama and the Festival movement since she played the Cheshire Cat at the age of eight. She studied for her LGSM while reading for an Honours degree in English, and then moved on to BBC Radio, working mainly in the drama department. Having a family encouraged her to go into teaching and she has taught all ages from 8 to 80. Until July 2009 she taught in a girls' independent school, taking A Level Drama and Theatre Studies courses and directing plays, as well as preparing students for grade examinations, and of course, Festivals. She is now focusing on an increasing range of freelance work, including examining, running workshops, teaching presentation skills and helping to organise her local Festival. She examines and runs teachers' workshops for LAMDA both in this country and abroad and regularly adjudicates at Festivals in England and Hong Kong. She is looking forward to returning to Medway Festival.