RORY RUSSELL is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music (with a first Class BMus (Hons)) where he studied under the tuition of Craig Ogden and Gordon Crosskey.

His primary work is as a member of the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet with whom he has performed extensively throughout Britain and abroad in venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and Athens’ music conservatoire. 

They appear regularly on Classic FM and BBC Radio 3 and have had features on them in Gramophone, BBC Music, Classic FM & Classical Music magazines. 

In 2009 they were signed to Chandos Records and received widespread acclaim for their first release ‘Spirit of Brazil’.  Their second CD for Chandos ‘Dances’ was released on the 1st July 2010 and has been featured on the Classic FM play list in Britain and Australia.  A CD of classic film themes will be released in summer 2012 and a disc of Spanish music in spring 2013.

Rory has appeared with Orchestra’s around the UK to perform concertos including Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un Gentilhombre, the Malcolm Arnold Concerto and Vivaldi’s Concerto in D major. 

In 2007 Rory was the winner of the John Fussell Trust Fund Competition at the

Swansea Festival.

Classical Guitar Magazine   “… Rory Russell is a name to remember...”

We remember Rory when he entered our Festival as a performer and we are pleased he has achieved so much in his career and we can welcome him to our Festival as an adjudicator.

ROSEMARY GRAHAM previously a stage manager, she studied for and gained her licentiate after bringing up her family and has taught drama and theatre arts in state and independent education, given workshops, business and post-graduate seminars and specialises in individual teaching speech, drama, Presentation and performance.

She acted professionally;  designed and directed for amateur theatre in the U.K., and abroad and continues to do occasional radio work, poetry readings, interviewing and recording of books.

She has taught English, its use and pronunciation as a second language, and, for five years was LAMDA examiner, enjoying the contact with many students and teachers.  

Interested in all aspects of communication and performance, she was along-time member of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama and is an adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals.

Rosemary was with us in 2010 and says she looks forward with great pleasure to sharing our Festival again and we look forward to welcoming her back to

Hereford.

ELIZABETH CHILDS is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where

she studied flute with Gareth Morris and piano with Graeme Humphrey. 

Whilst at the RAM she performed regularly with all the orchestras, and was

also engaged in many internal and external teaching projects, a subject that

has always interested Elizabeth. 

International engagements have taken her to both the USA and to many parts

of Europe and she has performed extensively throughout the UK as a

soloist, recitalist and orchestral player.  From 1987 to 1994, Elizabeth was

principal flute with the Sinfonia of Scotland, Dundee Opera and Dundee

and Perth Light Operatic Company which complimented her work for

both ‘Travel Scotland’ and a busy teaching schedule.  She has recorded

programmes for the Open University and children’s programmes and gives

Organ duo recitals with her husband.

Elizabeth has a broad and extensive teaching and performing career.  She

has successfully prepared pupils for scholarships to leading public schools,

Junior Conservatoires and Specialist Music Schools and now has many

ex-students working in the profession.  She regularly directs summer

schools and other courses for young wind players.

Currently Elizabeth is engaged in a busy teaching schedule which

includes Wells Cathedral School, UEA in Norwich, is Flautist in

Quintessimo, plays with Aurelian Ensemble, is part of the management team

for Harpenden Musicale, Flute Tutor for The National Children’s Wind

Orchestra of Great Britain and directs several successful flute choirs.  One of

her main aims is to provide as many performing opportunities for all her

pupils as possible and firmly believes that encouraging children to perform,

enhances and benefits all areas of their education.

Elizabeth, who is married with 3 grown up children, regards it as an

enormous privilege to sit on the Board of the BIFF along with the role as Chair

of the Adjudicators Council.   She, herself, grew up in the Hull and Hornsea

Festivals and knows first-hand how valuable these experiences are.

In 2009 Elizabeth adjudicated in Sri Lanka and in 2010 she spent a month at

the 62nd Hong Kong Schools Festival as well as at many UK Festivals.  She

is also a full member of the ISM and a committee member of the Hitchin

Festival of the Arts.

Elizabeth is delighted to have been invited to return to adjudicate at the

Herefordshire Performing Arts Festival and wishes everyone well in their

preparations.

We, in Hereford, are delighted that she has been able to join us again.

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 Andre 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 CD’s, including the complete works for cello by Leon Boellmann, which was awarded five stars for performance by the BBC Music Magazine and has been played on ABC Classic FM (Australian Radio) and RTBF musiq3 (Belgian Radio).

Oliver Gledhill is a 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 over eighty festivals.

We welcomed Oliver back to Hereford last year and pleased he is able to return in 2012.

HENRY FAIRS is Head of Organ Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire and

organist to the University of Birmingham. Since winning first prize at the

Odense International Organ Competition, his concert career has taken him to the major European centres of organ music and to America, performing solo

recitals and concertos on both historic and modern instruments.

Born in Hereford in 1976, he received his earliest musical training as a chorister at Leominster Priory. After studies with David Saint, graduating with First Class Honours from Birmingham Conservatoire and gaining the Fellowship diploma of the Royal College of Organists with the Turpin and Durrant Prize, a bursary from the Countess of Munster Trust enabled study with Susan Landale in France where in 1999 he won the Premier Prix d'Exellence à l'unanimité du jury. He then undertook further studies in Germany with Thierry Mechler at the Hochschule für Musik, Köln and in England with David Sanger.

Henry Fairs is regularly invited to give guest lectures and masterclasses: in 2011/12 as a guest tutor and jury member at the Carl Nielsen International

Festival and Competition, Denmark, Edinburgh Organ Academy, London

Organ Day and the Royal Norwegian Academy, Oslo. Henry enjoys playing

and teaching a broad, eclectic repertoire with a strong focus on historically

informed practice and techniques and their relevance and application today.

We are pleased Henry has been able to accept our invitation to adjudicate

in Hereford.

ALAN MacLEAN graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in

1978, receiving the award for the most outstanding student. After further study with internationally renowned pianists, including Karl Schnabel, he embarked upon a career which has included solo and concerto performances throughout the UK and recordings and broadcasts on radio and television. He is much in demand as a chamber musician, having played with many of the country's

leading instrumentalists, and recently has appeared at Malvern, Hailes,

Three Choirs and Cheltenham International Festivals.

In the mid-nineties, Albany Records approached Alan MacLean and

Peter Lawson with the idea of exploring the wealth of twentieth century music written for piano duet. Their first recording, English Music for Piano Duet,

received critical acclaim and a Disc of the Year nomination, moving one critic

to write,

“I cannot recall ever hearing a piano duo with such perfect unanimity before. Peter Lawson and Alan MacLean appear to be in total sympathy not just with one another, but with all the music they play.”  (International Record Review).

Similar accolades followed on release of their second album, British Music

for Piano Duet.

His most recent venture was a recording of John Field’s Concertino for Piano and Strings, with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

After 20 years as Head of Keyboard Studies at The Cheltenham Ladies’

College, Alan left to develop further a number of musical projects. He gives

master classes for young pianists and chamber music players, and regularly speaks and adjudicates at a wide range of music events.

We are very pleased that Alan has been able to accept our invitation to return

to the Herefordshire Festival.

LUISE HORROCKS studied singing on an Advanced Studies at the Royal College of Music after graduating with a degree in English from Oxford University.

She has performed extensively as a Soprano Soloist throughout the UK and Europe.  While specialising primarily in Oratorio, she has also given many Song Recitals and has appeared on the opera stage at Buxton Opera House.   She has also sung in a series of concerts and Recitals in South Africa and the USA and her wide repertoire extends from works by Monteverdi to Stravinsky.  She has made several recordings and her BBC broadcasts include performances of Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation and works by Goehr.

Luise has held positions as a teacher in both the Junior and Senior departments of the Birmingham Conservatoire and as a visiting lecturer at Birmingham University.  She runs an extensive private teaching practice and is regularly asked to give Masterclasses.  She works as a Vocal Coach on several residential courses for singers and is a mentor on the CT ABRSM panel.  She has also trained and conducted the Wyre Forest Young Voices choir.

As an adjudicator member of the British & International Federation of Festivals she has wide experience of many different festivals.  Luise has also travelled widely as a Senior Examiner for Trinity Guildhall, having special responsibility for singing, which includes working on syllabus setting, training new examiners and leading Teacher Workshops.

We are pleased to welcome Luise to the Herefordshire Performing Arts Festival for the first time.

SUE LATHAM trained with the late Madame Helena Lehmiski and after

completing a teacher training course, she taught at the Birmingham

Theatre School.  During this time she danced professionally in and around

the Midlands.

In 1966 she opened her first school in Birmingham and was also asked to

choreograph many productions with Operatic Societies and professional

shows in the county.  Since then many of her students have graduated to

examining, teaching or professional work, including West End Productions

and Television.

Twenty three years ago Sue opened a school in Redditch, Worcestershire

and has recently moved to premises within the scenic grounds of a haunted

castle (or so they say!!).

As an examiner and adjudicator she has travelled to many parts of the

world, including Australia, Cyprus, Holland and Norway.

In the summer of 1998, she was very honoured and privileged to be asked

to adjudicate the very first dance festival to be held in Sri Lanka.  This proved

to be most successful and she was asked back again in the Spring of 1999.

Sue is also on the panel of adjudicators for All England Dance and the

British Federation of Festivals and has also obtained her Post Graduate

Certificate in Adjudication.

Sue is no stranger to the Herefordshire Festival and we are pleased to

welcome her back.