New for 2019
The first item of Very Exciting News for 2019 is that entry to the festival is going to be handled entirely online, in liaison with a company called Play and Perform. This will make life much easier, not only for the Festival Administrators, but also for the people who are entering. Full details of how to make the best of this facility will be published here on the website in April, when the new syllabus will be published.
The Second Item is our Class Dedication option. Please see below for further details of this.
The Second Item is our Class Dedication option. Please see below for further details of this.
Our adjudicators for 2019
ANTHONY WILLIAMS (piano classes)
Concert pianist, writer, lecturer, ABRSM examiner and moderator, and festival adjudicator, Anthony Williams was born in Essex studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London with Alexander Kelly and at Reading University with Jonathan Dunsby. Following international competition success Anthony embarked on a career as a concert pianist whilst also establishing an international reputation as a piano teacher and has since become a passionate educator of pianistic musicianship at all ages from beginner to advanced. As well as giving piano masterclasses, public lecture-recitals and seminars on performance, repertoire and the art of teaching he is a consultant for numerous professional development courses and gives teacher workshops both in the UK and abroad.
He has given talks on piano performance for Radio 3 and is author and editor of various publications include The Best of Grade and Fingerprints (Faber) and Teaching Notes (ABRSM). His most recent and highly acclaimed book The Piano Teacher’s Survival Guide (Faber, 2017), a comprehensive guide to teaching and playing the piano, draws on his experience of teaching young beginners through to professional pianists combined with insights from his professional playing around the world as both soloist and accompanist.
Anthony combines his busy freelance career with a full-time position at Radley College, Oxfordshire as Head of Keyboard and Instrumental Music.
ROY ROBINSON (strings classes)
Roy studied the viola and piano at the Royal College of Music with Frederick Riddle and Angus Morrison. As well as gaining 5 performing and teaching diplomas on his two main instruments and the violin, he won the Leslie Alexander Viola Competition, the highest award available at the RCM. He was subsequently awarded an MA in Music Education.
Roy has spent most of his career combining teaching, performing, examining and adjudicating. After working at St Swithun’s School and Cheltenham College, he was Director of Music at Castle Court School. He has taught academic music to A Level and his main instruments to Diploma level. After a recent period of completely freelance activity, Roy has returned to school life, this time as a Director of Music at Alton School.
He has performed in orchestras and ensembles, as a solo recitalist, as an accompanist and member of piano duet partnerships. He is a busy ABRSM Grade, Diploma and Jazz examiner and has worked extensively overseas, including tours to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Qatar, Jordan, South Africa, Namibia, USA and Germany (the latter examining in German!). He has also presented a number of teacher workshops at home and abroad.
He has a passion for arranging and composing and has had many of his works performed (some have also been published). He particularly enjoys working with choirs of all ages and has coached a number of choral societies. He has also organised and conducted numerous orchestral and choral courses for children, some under the umbrella of SATIPS. He is an adjudicator member of the British Federation of Music Festivals and in demand at some of the country’s largest Music Festivals.
Away from music, Roy’s interests include playing tennis and being actively involved in the classic car movement in his old Morris camper!
KEVIN ASHMAN (wind classes)
Kevin received his earliest musical training in The Salvation Army where he was taught to play cornet by his father. Further tuition followed at The Latymer Grammar School, where his interest in music of all styles and genres was developed and nurtured by successive music teachers. On leaving school Kevin gained a place at Trinity College of Music in London, where he studied trumpet with Norman Burgess, vocal studies with James Gaddarn and conducting with Bernard Keefe. He gained LTCL and FTCL diplomas for teaching and performance as well as winning several college prizes, including prizes for solo and ensemble performance and The Founders Prize. He was principal trumpet of the University of London Orchestra with whom he performed as the trumpet soloist in Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto.
Since leaving college, Kevin has continued to work as a professional musician, playing trumpet and cornet in a wide range of orchestras and ensembles as well as performing at many civic functions in the area and featuring as a soloist in concert performances. He has also been privileged to play trumpet obligatos for renowned soloists such as Dame Emma Kirkby, Judith Howarth and Elizabeth Harwood. For many years he was a member of The Salvation Army’s International Staff Band, latterly as principal cornet, and was featured regularly as a soloist with that group in concerts and recordings. Kevin also teaches trumpet and cornet as well as other brass instruments as a private instrumental tutor.
As Musical Director of the Paddock Wood Choral Society, Kevin has directed several successful choral concerts, including recent performances of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’, Karl Jenkins’ ‘The Armed Man’ and Mozart’s ‘Requiem’. He actively encourages the use of young musicians, both in the orchestra and as soloists, in the choir’s concerts. He is also the principal cornet and Assistant Musical Director of the Kent Police Band.
Recently Kevin has also been in demand as an adjudicator in local music competitions and festival where he continues to be inspired and encouraged by the number of talented young musicians who take part in these events.
SUZANNE HIGGINS (singing and accordion classes).
Suzanne studied in Yorkshire, continuing her studies whilst a chorister in Opera Royale de Wallonie, Liège, and Cologne Opera. On her return, she freelanced with the BBC singers, London Voices, the Britten Singers, the London Sinfonietta, Classical Productions, London City Opera, and London Opera Players.
For over twenty years Suzanne sang in the Quartet of St Giles Cripplegate. She is a Freeman of the City of London, and a member of the Musicians Company.
Suzanne has taught singing for Hertfordshire Music Services, Morley College and Bromley College of Adult Education, as well as acting as choral conductor for the last two. Her outreach work for many years involved taking music into residential homes and performing for Music in Hospitals.
As a folk singer and musician, Suzanne developed an interest in free-reed instruments and has played with Spare Parts Concertina Band since 2006, giving tunes and part-playing workshops in a variety of festivals including Whitby, Tenterden, Chippenham, Cawley, Fareham and Broadstairs. With magic lanternists Rene and Alan Marriott the band has devised two full length shows, Fields to a Foundry and A History of the Lifeboats, for which Suzanne composed and arranged songs. She is a member of the International Concertina Association.
JOHN KEMBER (contemporary composer class)
Born in London, John studied at Trinity College of Music, London, firstly as a Junior Scholar then as a full time student. Since then he has enjoyed a full and varied career in both performing and academic spheres with activities ranging from teaching, composing and arranging to working as pianist and conductor in theatres and recording studios.
He currently has over 75 publications available with Faber Music and Schott Music in London, including many for the jazz pianist including his Jazz Piano Studies and On the Lighter Side series, and more recently a new series for Faber Music – The Jazz Piano Player, arrangements of many standard jazz classics. For Schott Music he has written a series of 31 books on Sight Reading, with assistance from specialist musicians for all major orchestral instruments plus Piano Guitar and Recorder. He examined for the AB from 1989 to 2005 and at the same time tutored at the Kent Music Academy until its untimely closure in 2011. Most recently he has been a judge for competitions for both Pianist Magazine and EPTA.
Concert pianist, writer, lecturer, ABRSM examiner and moderator, and festival adjudicator, Anthony Williams was born in Essex studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London with Alexander Kelly and at Reading University with Jonathan Dunsby. Following international competition success Anthony embarked on a career as a concert pianist whilst also establishing an international reputation as a piano teacher and has since become a passionate educator of pianistic musicianship at all ages from beginner to advanced. As well as giving piano masterclasses, public lecture-recitals and seminars on performance, repertoire and the art of teaching he is a consultant for numerous professional development courses and gives teacher workshops both in the UK and abroad.
He has given talks on piano performance for Radio 3 and is author and editor of various publications include The Best of Grade and Fingerprints (Faber) and Teaching Notes (ABRSM). His most recent and highly acclaimed book The Piano Teacher’s Survival Guide (Faber, 2017), a comprehensive guide to teaching and playing the piano, draws on his experience of teaching young beginners through to professional pianists combined with insights from his professional playing around the world as both soloist and accompanist.
Anthony combines his busy freelance career with a full-time position at Radley College, Oxfordshire as Head of Keyboard and Instrumental Music.
ROY ROBINSON (strings classes)
Roy studied the viola and piano at the Royal College of Music with Frederick Riddle and Angus Morrison. As well as gaining 5 performing and teaching diplomas on his two main instruments and the violin, he won the Leslie Alexander Viola Competition, the highest award available at the RCM. He was subsequently awarded an MA in Music Education.
Roy has spent most of his career combining teaching, performing, examining and adjudicating. After working at St Swithun’s School and Cheltenham College, he was Director of Music at Castle Court School. He has taught academic music to A Level and his main instruments to Diploma level. After a recent period of completely freelance activity, Roy has returned to school life, this time as a Director of Music at Alton School.
He has performed in orchestras and ensembles, as a solo recitalist, as an accompanist and member of piano duet partnerships. He is a busy ABRSM Grade, Diploma and Jazz examiner and has worked extensively overseas, including tours to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Qatar, Jordan, South Africa, Namibia, USA and Germany (the latter examining in German!). He has also presented a number of teacher workshops at home and abroad.
He has a passion for arranging and composing and has had many of his works performed (some have also been published). He particularly enjoys working with choirs of all ages and has coached a number of choral societies. He has also organised and conducted numerous orchestral and choral courses for children, some under the umbrella of SATIPS. He is an adjudicator member of the British Federation of Music Festivals and in demand at some of the country’s largest Music Festivals.
Away from music, Roy’s interests include playing tennis and being actively involved in the classic car movement in his old Morris camper!
KEVIN ASHMAN (wind classes)
Kevin received his earliest musical training in The Salvation Army where he was taught to play cornet by his father. Further tuition followed at The Latymer Grammar School, where his interest in music of all styles and genres was developed and nurtured by successive music teachers. On leaving school Kevin gained a place at Trinity College of Music in London, where he studied trumpet with Norman Burgess, vocal studies with James Gaddarn and conducting with Bernard Keefe. He gained LTCL and FTCL diplomas for teaching and performance as well as winning several college prizes, including prizes for solo and ensemble performance and The Founders Prize. He was principal trumpet of the University of London Orchestra with whom he performed as the trumpet soloist in Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto.
Since leaving college, Kevin has continued to work as a professional musician, playing trumpet and cornet in a wide range of orchestras and ensembles as well as performing at many civic functions in the area and featuring as a soloist in concert performances. He has also been privileged to play trumpet obligatos for renowned soloists such as Dame Emma Kirkby, Judith Howarth and Elizabeth Harwood. For many years he was a member of The Salvation Army’s International Staff Band, latterly as principal cornet, and was featured regularly as a soloist with that group in concerts and recordings. Kevin also teaches trumpet and cornet as well as other brass instruments as a private instrumental tutor.
As Musical Director of the Paddock Wood Choral Society, Kevin has directed several successful choral concerts, including recent performances of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’, Karl Jenkins’ ‘The Armed Man’ and Mozart’s ‘Requiem’. He actively encourages the use of young musicians, both in the orchestra and as soloists, in the choir’s concerts. He is also the principal cornet and Assistant Musical Director of the Kent Police Band.
Recently Kevin has also been in demand as an adjudicator in local music competitions and festival where he continues to be inspired and encouraged by the number of talented young musicians who take part in these events.
SUZANNE HIGGINS (singing and accordion classes).
Suzanne studied in Yorkshire, continuing her studies whilst a chorister in Opera Royale de Wallonie, Liège, and Cologne Opera. On her return, she freelanced with the BBC singers, London Voices, the Britten Singers, the London Sinfonietta, Classical Productions, London City Opera, and London Opera Players.
For over twenty years Suzanne sang in the Quartet of St Giles Cripplegate. She is a Freeman of the City of London, and a member of the Musicians Company.
Suzanne has taught singing for Hertfordshire Music Services, Morley College and Bromley College of Adult Education, as well as acting as choral conductor for the last two. Her outreach work for many years involved taking music into residential homes and performing for Music in Hospitals.
As a folk singer and musician, Suzanne developed an interest in free-reed instruments and has played with Spare Parts Concertina Band since 2006, giving tunes and part-playing workshops in a variety of festivals including Whitby, Tenterden, Chippenham, Cawley, Fareham and Broadstairs. With magic lanternists Rene and Alan Marriott the band has devised two full length shows, Fields to a Foundry and A History of the Lifeboats, for which Suzanne composed and arranged songs. She is a member of the International Concertina Association.
JOHN KEMBER (contemporary composer class)
Born in London, John studied at Trinity College of Music, London, firstly as a Junior Scholar then as a full time student. Since then he has enjoyed a full and varied career in both performing and academic spheres with activities ranging from teaching, composing and arranging to working as pianist and conductor in theatres and recording studios.
He currently has over 75 publications available with Faber Music and Schott Music in London, including many for the jazz pianist including his Jazz Piano Studies and On the Lighter Side series, and more recently a new series for Faber Music – The Jazz Piano Player, arrangements of many standard jazz classics. For Schott Music he has written a series of 31 books on Sight Reading, with assistance from specialist musicians for all major orchestral instruments plus Piano Guitar and Recorder. He examined for the AB from 1989 to 2005 and at the same time tutored at the Kent Music Academy until its untimely closure in 2011. Most recently he has been a judge for competitions for both Pianist Magazine and EPTA.
Class Dedications
The Helen Turner Class in the piano section was brought about when a friend wanted a way to commemorate her mother, in Maidstone Festival. She suggested providing a cup, but it was decided that a more worthwhile way to honour her mother’s memory would be to name a class after her. Her mother loved piano music, especially that which could be described as "easy listening”, so the popular music class was renamed.
We are now able to offer this opportunity to anyone who would like a class dedicated either to themselves or to a loved one. For £250, a class will be dedicated to the person of your choice for 10 years. After this time, you will be given the opportunity to renew this if you would like to do so.
For more information, please email the Festival Chairman, Sue Greenham info@maidstonemusicfestival.org.uk
We are now able to offer this opportunity to anyone who would like a class dedicated either to themselves or to a loved one. For £250, a class will be dedicated to the person of your choice for 10 years. After this time, you will be given the opportunity to renew this if you would like to do so.
For more information, please email the Festival Chairman, Sue Greenham info@maidstonemusicfestival.org.uk
