New for 2025
MEET THE COMPOSER
We are delighted to announce that our "Meet the composer" this year is Pam Wedgwood
Our adjudicators for 2025
VIVIENNE CUNNINGHAM (speech and drama)
Vivienne trained with John Holgate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and worked professionally in theatre and television. She has taught speech and drama, public speaking, and performance techniques to all ages, both privately and in schools and colleges. Many of her pupils have achieved success in the theatre, television and film industry, others have become teachers themselves. She worked for many years as Head of Drama at a school where the drama department established a strong reputation, winning numerous awards nationally and staging ambitious productions in the school’s state of the art theatre.
She was an examiner for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the English Speaking Union but now particularly enjoys working as an adjudicator for The British and International Federation of Festivals. Having competed in festivals since the age of four, entered numerous students and worked as a Convener, she now takes delight in encouraging students to share their work with an audience and experience the joy of performance.
Vivienne particularly enjoys writing plays and poetry and then watching them come alive on stage.
Vivienne trained with John Holgate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and worked professionally in theatre and television. She has taught speech and drama, public speaking, and performance techniques to all ages, both privately and in schools and colleges. Many of her pupils have achieved success in the theatre, television and film industry, others have become teachers themselves. She worked for many years as Head of Drama at a school where the drama department established a strong reputation, winning numerous awards nationally and staging ambitious productions in the school’s state of the art theatre.
She was an examiner for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the English Speaking Union but now particularly enjoys working as an adjudicator for The British and International Federation of Festivals. Having competed in festivals since the age of four, entered numerous students and worked as a Convener, she now takes delight in encouraging students to share their work with an audience and experience the joy of performance.
Vivienne particularly enjoys writing plays and poetry and then watching them come alive on stage.
KENNETH ROBERTS (piano classes)
Kenneth Roberts was born in Hastings and educated at York University where he
gained BA and MA degrees in music. He has worked as Conductor/Musical Director
for numerous companies at home and abroad and has conducted over 250 opera,
ballet and other theatrical productions. 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. Between
2001-2011 he worked at the University of New Hampshire, USA, where he
directed a new ‘African’ Musical, that he was commissioned to write, and also
composed music for an award-winning ‘international’ children’s piece. He was
also musical director and conductor for Plymouth State University's Educational
Theatre Collaborative. In 2002 he 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 and in 2007 he completed a
commission to write a ballet based on the novel ‘The Trumpet Major’ by Thomas
Hardy. His recent Flute Concerto has recently received several performances and his new Recorder Concerto was premiered in March of this year. In 2010 he also contributed music for the recently published musical version of ‘Pollyanna’ and became a BIFF (British and International Federation of Festivals) adjudicator. He is currently ‘Composer in residence’ at Battle Abbey School and is writing music for a theatre project involving Ukrainian students due for presentation in USA in the coming summer.
His highly acclaimed reduced orchestral arrangements of operatic scores by
Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini and others are currently being played all over the
world and are available from ‘www.smallscores.com’
In between times he has enjoyed giving his series of lecture recitals around the
country at music clubs, and on cruise liners on subjects ranging from Mozart to
‘Jelly Roll’ Morton.
His other interests include photography, cycling and cricket
ANDREW SHERWOOD(strings classes)
PAM WEDGOOD (wind classes)
"Pam's special gift for melody has served to establish her as one of the top educational composers alive today"
An inspiration for teachers and pupils alike, Pam Wedgwood has been a staple diet for young musicians throughout the world for almost thirty years.
Pam is recognised around the world as one of the UK's most prolific and successful composers of popular repertoire for young and not so young instrumentalists.
Born in 1947, Pam's musical career began with the recorder and piano, and Tenor Horn and Euphonium through the brass band tradition at her school. She then took up the cello and French horn, entering Trinity College of Music in London too study piano, horn, cello and composition at the age of sixteen.
After graduating she began a career as a professional French horn player, working with the Royal Ballet Touring Orchestra, The Royal Opera, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and many West End shows. Marriage and a young family led her to take up an appointment as a peripatetic instrument teacher in Surrey in the late 1970s, and she began composing pieces for her pupils.
In 1988 her long association with Faber Music began with the publication of "Jazzin' About", a series that now numbers over 30 books and has featured on many an examination syllabus. Since then, her output has grown to over 200 books including the successful "Upgrade!" and "After Hours" instrumental series, the recorder method "Recorder World", and the adult piano method "It's Never Too Late to Play Piano", "Piano Basics", "Piano Gallery", "Piano Meditation", "Piano Sea-scapes", and her most recent publication "Piano Dreaming".
Pam has also produced several orchestral works for the National Children's Orchestra and a large number of chamber works for strings and wind.
In the past she has led many workshops and has inspired teachers as far afield as Malaysia and Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Pam now concentrates on composing, teaching and adjudicating.
In the last few years she has also been involved in the setting up of dementia choirs on the Isle of Wight. Something that she feels passionate about.
In 2024 Pam was awarded the Art of Piano Education Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony held in the Royal Albert Hall, in recognition of her significant impact on piano education over the course of her career.
BELINDA MIKHAIL (singing classes)
Belinda Mikhaïl won the Associated Board and the Queen Mother Scholarships to study piano and singing as a joint first study at the Royal College of Music where she won the Hopkinson Gold Medal for her final recital. She has since travelled extensively performing both as a soloist and as a chamber musician and has appeared as a concerto soloist at the major London Concert Halls.
She has made numerous recordings for Sony BMG and Universal and is a vocal soloist on EMI's Vocalise album as used in trailers for ER, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. She appears as the featured soloist on many film soundtracks and her solo piano playing of the theme from Chariots of Fire was heard at every medal ceremony at the London Olympic Games.
Belinda is in demand as a Vocal Coach for classical, musical theatre, jazz, pop and rock singers and runs an extensive private and online teaching practice. She has trained performers as diverse as Simone Ashley from Bridgerton, Siouxsie Sioux the rock legend and the Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche. She is also known in the industry as a Voice Over artist.
Belinda’s work has seen her travel extensively, most recently enjoying work in Glasgow, Gibraltar and Thailand adjudicating at their annual music festivals. She thoroughly enjoys listening to a wide variety of music and meeting a wealth of musicians as she travels in her role as a British and International Federation adjudicator.
PAM WEDGWOOD (Meet the composer)
Kenneth Roberts was born in Hastings and educated at York University where he
gained BA and MA degrees in music. He has worked as Conductor/Musical Director
for numerous companies at home and abroad and has conducted over 250 opera,
ballet and other theatrical productions. 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. Between
2001-2011 he worked at the University of New Hampshire, USA, where he
directed a new ‘African’ Musical, that he was commissioned to write, and also
composed music for an award-winning ‘international’ children’s piece. He was
also musical director and conductor for Plymouth State University's Educational
Theatre Collaborative. In 2002 he 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 and in 2007 he completed a
commission to write a ballet based on the novel ‘The Trumpet Major’ by Thomas
Hardy. His recent Flute Concerto has recently received several performances and his new Recorder Concerto was premiered in March of this year. In 2010 he also contributed music for the recently published musical version of ‘Pollyanna’ and became a BIFF (British and International Federation of Festivals) adjudicator. He is currently ‘Composer in residence’ at Battle Abbey School and is writing music for a theatre project involving Ukrainian students due for presentation in USA in the coming summer.
His highly acclaimed reduced orchestral arrangements of operatic scores by
Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini and others are currently being played all over the
world and are available from ‘www.smallscores.com’
In between times he has enjoyed giving his series of lecture recitals around the
country at music clubs, and on cruise liners on subjects ranging from Mozart to
‘Jelly Roll’ Morton.
His other interests include photography, cycling and cricket
ANDREW SHERWOOD(strings classes)
PAM WEDGOOD (wind classes)
"Pam's special gift for melody has served to establish her as one of the top educational composers alive today"
An inspiration for teachers and pupils alike, Pam Wedgwood has been a staple diet for young musicians throughout the world for almost thirty years.
Pam is recognised around the world as one of the UK's most prolific and successful composers of popular repertoire for young and not so young instrumentalists.
Born in 1947, Pam's musical career began with the recorder and piano, and Tenor Horn and Euphonium through the brass band tradition at her school. She then took up the cello and French horn, entering Trinity College of Music in London too study piano, horn, cello and composition at the age of sixteen.
After graduating she began a career as a professional French horn player, working with the Royal Ballet Touring Orchestra, The Royal Opera, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and many West End shows. Marriage and a young family led her to take up an appointment as a peripatetic instrument teacher in Surrey in the late 1970s, and she began composing pieces for her pupils.
In 1988 her long association with Faber Music began with the publication of "Jazzin' About", a series that now numbers over 30 books and has featured on many an examination syllabus. Since then, her output has grown to over 200 books including the successful "Upgrade!" and "After Hours" instrumental series, the recorder method "Recorder World", and the adult piano method "It's Never Too Late to Play Piano", "Piano Basics", "Piano Gallery", "Piano Meditation", "Piano Sea-scapes", and her most recent publication "Piano Dreaming".
Pam has also produced several orchestral works for the National Children's Orchestra and a large number of chamber works for strings and wind.
In the past she has led many workshops and has inspired teachers as far afield as Malaysia and Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Pam now concentrates on composing, teaching and adjudicating.
In the last few years she has also been involved in the setting up of dementia choirs on the Isle of Wight. Something that she feels passionate about.
In 2024 Pam was awarded the Art of Piano Education Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony held in the Royal Albert Hall, in recognition of her significant impact on piano education over the course of her career.
BELINDA MIKHAIL (singing classes)
Belinda Mikhaïl won the Associated Board and the Queen Mother Scholarships to study piano and singing as a joint first study at the Royal College of Music where she won the Hopkinson Gold Medal for her final recital. She has since travelled extensively performing both as a soloist and as a chamber musician and has appeared as a concerto soloist at the major London Concert Halls.
She has made numerous recordings for Sony BMG and Universal and is a vocal soloist on EMI's Vocalise album as used in trailers for ER, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. She appears as the featured soloist on many film soundtracks and her solo piano playing of the theme from Chariots of Fire was heard at every medal ceremony at the London Olympic Games.
Belinda is in demand as a Vocal Coach for classical, musical theatre, jazz, pop and rock singers and runs an extensive private and online teaching practice. She has trained performers as diverse as Simone Ashley from Bridgerton, Siouxsie Sioux the rock legend and the Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche. She is also known in the industry as a Voice Over artist.
Belinda’s work has seen her travel extensively, most recently enjoying work in Glasgow, Gibraltar and Thailand adjudicating at their annual music festivals. She thoroughly enjoys listening to a wide variety of music and meeting a wealth of musicians as she travels in her role as a British and International Federation adjudicator.
PAM WEDGWOOD (Meet the composer)
Class Dedications
The Helen Turner Class in the piano section was brought about when a friend asked Maidstone Music Festival to help her find a way in which to commemorate her mother. 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 [email protected]
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 [email protected]