- Adjudicators
The Festival is delighted to welcome this excellent team of adjudicators in 2018, each one of them an expert teacher in their field.
(Scroll down to find the Adjudicator for your section)
Nathan James, MA, FISTD, FTDTA, ANATD, CertFd(QTLS), MBBO
Dance
Nathan trained in the Midlands in all Musical Theatre Disciplines along with gaining many of his early teaching qualifications. His first professional engagement was in ‘Cinderella’ with Brian Conley and Danny La Rue. Subsequent pantomimes have included ‘Snow White’, ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Cinderella’ all at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Having now settled in London, Nathan has performed in a range of regional productions including ‘Copacabana’ and ‘Hello Dolly’ and various trade shows and TV commercials. He has toured the UK in the national tour of ‘Copacabana’ and also Europe in the Irish dance show ‘Spirit of the Dance’. He also completed a season at the renowned Chichester Festival Theatre. Nathan last appeared in the revival of the Broadway Musical ‘42nd Street’ albeit in German in the city of Stuttgart.
For the last 8 years Nathan has concentrated on his first passion, teaching. Specialising in Jazz, Musical Theatre and Tap styles he has taught at many of the major Vocational Colleges in the UK, including Arts Educational School, Bodywork Dance Studios and Sylvia Young Theatre School. He is currently Head of Degree and Academic Studies at the Urdang Academy, London. Nathan regularly visits the USA in order to further his knowledge in the tap and musical theatre genres and was invited to perform in a showcase of new work at the Leonard Nimoy Theatre in New York.
Nathan was awarded an MA in Professional Practice (Dance Education) with Distinction from Middlesex University and is in his final year as a PhD student with the University of Roehampton. Nathan is a British Federation and All England Adjudicator as well as a Modern and Tap examiner for the ISTD.
Susan Collier, ARAM, GRSM, ARCM, LRAM, PGCE
Instrumental
Susan has a lifelong passion for communication through music. Inspired, at the age of three, by her first public performance as a violinist at the Royal College of Music, she has since dedicated herself to expertise in performance and directing. She has put into practice skills of artistic interpretation, reading and playing to audiences, timing and sensitivity. She has a keen sense of how to convey musical expression, whether as a soloist, conductor, teacher, director, or as part of an orchestra or chamber group.
She devotes much time to organising and performing in fund-raising events, and is an Adjudicator for The British and International Federation of Festivals. She teaches the violin to university students and pupils at RAMJD, where she also coaches chamber music. As Director of Performance at Mill Hill County High School, Susan conducts the Chamber Orchestra and directs the Barbershop. She freelances with various London-based ensembles and performs with the Silvestre Trio, as well as her son Jacob Collier.
Having studied at the Royal Academy of Music as a violin scholar, Susan became the youngest violin professor in their Junior Department and has since been awarded an ARAM for outstanding services to the violin profession.
Jane Wilkinson B Mus (Hons) (RSAMD),GradDip RCM
Vocal
Jane Wilkinson trained as a soprano at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and then as a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music where she won many competitions for Lieder and an award for excellence in English Song. She worked with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in her national competition as a semi finalist in 2009. She performs recitals across the country and has toured South Africa, Europe and America. Currently Jane teaches at Chelsea Academy and Imperial College. She trained in the teaching of young voices at the Voices Foundation. Jane frequently gives master classes in the UK and abroad. Jane has a passion for teaching and developing young voices. She is a former member of the National Youth Choir of GB and now conducts the New Malden Voices Choir and Youth Choir. Recently she has been specialising in contemporary opera and has premiered many productions, working alongside composers on new works for the stage and for recordings. Jane has performed oratorios and concerts at the Edinburgh Festival and in venues worldwide. She has released various recordings from Baroque repertoire to folk and frequently provides vocals for ‘experimental’ music. Jane is a very experienced vocal adjudicator.
James Kirby,GRSM,ARAM
Piano (3th, 4th March)
As a soloist and chamber musician James performs regularly throughout the UK and Europe. His recital work includes appearances at major concert series in Europe, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Malaysia and in the UK at Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals. Having studied at the Moscow Conservatoire (during which time he reached the semi finals of the International Tchaikovsky Competition) he returns to perform in the former Soviet Union every year. His orchestral performances include concertos with the Moscow, Khazakh and Belorussian Symphony Orchestras, and the Arad and Oradea Philharmonic Orchestras (Romania), and the English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and Astana Opera House.
He has been a member of the Barbican Piano Trio since 1992, performing regularly at Wigmore Hall and in major UK festivals and concert series, and throughout Europe and the USA. Particular highlights include a performance at Carnegie Recital Hall and many cycles of Beethoven’s complete Piano Trios including one in the Master Concert Series at Wigmore Hall.
James has worked with the Vanburgh Quartet, BBC Singers, Lydia Mordkovitch and the mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly and has made several recordings for Chandos. He is a dedicated teacher and enjoys posts at the Royal Welsh College in Cardiff, Royal Holloway, University of London and is Artist in residence at the University of Hull. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Rachmaninov Institute, Tambov, Russia where he makes frequent visits to perform concertos, give recitals and masterclasses and lead chamber music courses.
He has served on the Juries of several international Piano competitions, most recently in Romania, Latvia, Russia and Slovenia and gives many masterclasses, both in the UK and overseas. He is in considerable demand as an adjudicator and is a member of the ABRSM examining panel, which has taken him to Asia and many European countries.
Graham Caskie, BA (Hons), DipRAM, ARAM, ABSM, HonBC
Piano (11th March)
Graham was born in Darlington in 1967 and studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music under Frank Wibaut., Hamish Milne and Alexander Kelly. He teaches at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and in the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. He is particularly renowned for his interpretation of the piano music of Debussy, Ravel, Brahms and Schubert and is also a keen advocate of contemporary music and has had several works specially written for him by Matthew King, John Goss and John Cooney.
Vivienne Redford, LLAM, MSTSD(Adj)
Speech & Drama
Vivienne has studied Speech and Drama since the age of four and has been teaching the subject since 1980. She is Head of Speech and Drama at a large independent girl’s school in Bedford. As well as teaching, full time she is also the Principal of the Redford School of Speech and Drama, established in 1982, training children and adults of all ages in all aspects of the performing arts and communication. Many of her former students are now performing in TV, film and theatre around the world and in major West End productions, the Globe, the RSC and the National Theatre. Others are pursuing careers as teachers of Speech and Drama.
Vivienne is an examiner for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a member of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama and an Adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals travelling extensively throughout the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. She is a former secretary and now a Vice-President of the Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama which has given her a clear understanding and insight into the work, energy and commitment that Festival organisers, teachers and pupils put into making their Festivals a success.When not working (which is a rare occurrence) Vivienne enjoys seeing as much theatre as possible, reading, particularly children’s books, cooking and relishes spending time with her family.
She is looking forward to adjudicating at the Festival, once again, and hopes that it will be a memorable and happy occasion for all those taking part.
Katrina Mulvihill, RNTC(HonsQJT),LRAM, AGSM, ALAM, JPA
Speech & Drama
Katrina Mulvihill studied at The Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and feels privileged to have been part of the unique three year Actor/Teacher Course. Having Graduated with Honours, she won a Scholarship to The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and went on to study Opera, Musical Theatre, Acting and Piano for a further two years. Katrina, as professional Soloist and Principle, has appeared at many prestigious venues over the years performing in Plays, Operas, Recitals and Concerts at The Drury Lane Theatre, The Shaw Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, The Purcell Room and the QEH. She is an experienced Director, as well as performer, and has enjoyed producing plays, concerts and shows with adults through to young children in a variety of styles ranging from Pantomime and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Light Operettas through to Shakespeare and Grand Opera. A longstanding member of LAMDA’s Examining Board, for over 30 years, she has also regularly lectured and given Master classes for LAMDA and other multiple agencies in Mime, Improvisation, Acting, Voice Production and Musical Theatre to name but a few. Katrina is Headteacher of a large Independent School and Nursery in Gidea Park, Essex and an Adjudicator with the British and International Federation of Festivals.
