Marlow Music Festival

Incorporating Computers in Personnel International Concerto Competition

Concerto Competition Information

Competition Adjudicators Detail

Andrew Ball, is regarded as one of the foremost British pianists of his generation. He studied with the great British teacher Kendall Taylor at the Royal College of Music, also taking a First in music at the Queen's College, Oxford. Since then a busy career has taken him all over the world both as soloist and in chamber music. 

 

He has a reputation for innovative and imaginative programming: he has given a large number of premieres, including Hanna Kulenty's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Warsaw Radio Philharmonic and the British premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's Piano Sonata at the Bath Festival. He made his Prom's debut in 1995 playing Messiaen and has many times played the complete sonatas of Tippett, which he studied with the composer. He has played with the Nash Ensemble, London Sinfoniette, Villiers Piano Quartet and Gemini. 

 

His many CD recordings include Billy Mayerl's complete music for piano and orchestra and the Tippette song-cycles with Martyn Hill. This season appearances have included Stravinsky's Les Noces under Gergeyev at the Barbican and the Cheltenham Festival. He was Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music from 1999 until 2005 and is  highly sought after as a teacher there. He regularly gives masterclasses, most recently in Spain, Holland, New Orleans, Hong Kong and Germany.

 

Philip Sheppard is Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, London as well as a senior lecturer in Principles of Education. He is also a guest lecturer at the Royal College of Music in London and directs education projects for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Harlem centre for young musicians in New York. 

 

Philip has been performing as a professional cellist for 30 years, making his debut concert at the age of three, and touring the US and Europe at the age of nine as a concerto soloist. He has performed at venues as diverse as the BBC Proms and Glastonbury Festival, and has made many recordings with classical and jazz composers such as Oliver Knussen, Keith Tippett and John Adams.  

 

Philip makes regular radio and television appearances as a soloist, conductor and music commentator and has appeared as a cello soloist on many films. His two solo albums 'The Glass Cathedral' and 'The Diver in the Crypt' use pioneering electric cello techniques and multi-tracking technology.   

 

He has a deep involvement with contemporary music, and has recently collaborated with Scott Walker, Oasis and David Bowie. Philip co-wrote 'Devil in My Life' with Grace Jones for her forthcoming album, and has recently written with Jamelia, Hal, Sia, Pulp and Unkle. 

 

Philip has just written and recorded a major solo and orchestral project with Ant Genn, Damien Hirst and John Malkovitch. His music is used in many theatre productions including 'The Elephant Vanishes' for Complicite and 'A Christmas Carol'. Future commissions include a score for dancer Akram Khan, two orchestral albums for BMG and a solo piano album for Chappell. He has recently improvised soundtrack solos for Harry Potter The Goblet of Fire in collaboration with Jarvis Cocker, is featured soloist in Hotel Rwanda and plays solo on all episodes of the BBC drama Silent Witness. 

 

Philip has recently written the music for the feature documentary ‘In the Shadow of the Moon'. This won the Audience award at The Sundance Film Festival. He also collected the award for best music production at the BBC Audio awards for 'The Manchester Passion'. 

 

'...an extraordinary cellist who really does create architectural spaces through music and sensational instrumental technique...'

Classical Music Magazine

 

Emma Johnson MBE is one of the few clarinettists to have established a busy international career as a soloist. Emma performs across Europe, the USA and the Far East, as well as in Africa and Australia. In Britain she has achieved great popularity, regularly playing to sold-out concert halls. Emma Johnson has appeared with many leading orchestras in repertoire which includes over forty concertos, as well as being much in demand as a recitalist and chamber musician. A recent development has seen Emma conducting orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. 

 

A frequent broadcaster for the BBC, Classic FM and European Broadcasting Union on both radio and television, Emma's TV appearances have ranged from prime time chat shows to gala concerts with Cleo Laine and Yehudi Menuhin.  

 

As well as traditional repertoire, Emma takes an interest in contemporary composers. Emma has had many new works written for her including Michael Berkeley's Clarinet Concerto. John Dankworth has written several jazz-inspired works for Emma including 'Suite for Emma'. Plans for the 2007-2008 season include a new commission by Will Todd.  

 

Emma has recently recorded two new CDs exclusively for Universal Classics and Jazz. The first, Voyage, is a selection of popular classics and the second is a Mozart Album (featuring the Clarinet Concerto and Quintet), recorded especially for Mozart's 250th anniversary year.  

 

In 1984 Emma won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition and in 1991 was a winner of the Young Concert Artist Auditions in New York. She has given masterclasses all over the world and was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music. Emma was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1996. 

 

'…[Emma Johnson] walks onto a concert platform and suddenly transforms herself into an expressive instrument of sublime beauty.'

The Guardian

 

Simon Over has been Director of Southbank Sinfonia since its formation in 2002 and has conducted almost a hundred of its concerts throughout the UK and Europe. Simon studied at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, the Royal Academy of Music and read music at Oxford University. 

 

From 1992 to 2002 as a member of the music staff of Westminster Abbey, he was Director of Music at both St Margaret’s Church and the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster. 

 

He is Founder-Conductor of the Parliament Choir and has directed all the choir’s performances to date. In 2006, Simon was appointed Conductor of the Malcolm Sargent Festival Chorus. He has been associated with the Samling Foundation in its work with young professional singers since 1996 and he is Artistic Director of the Anghiari Festival in Tuscany. 

 

Both as conductor and as pianist he has worked with many internationally-acclaimed musicians, including Sir Thomas Allen, Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside, Emma Kirkby, Dame Felicity Lott, Della Jones, Christopher Maltman, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Sir Willard White, Anthony Marwood, Alessio Bax, Malcolm Martineau, Emma Johnson and Sir James and Lady Galway. 

 

His performances with American violinist Miriam Kramer at the Wigmore Hall, London, and Lincoln Center, New York – as well as on several recordings – received high critical acclaim. In 2007 he recorded a programme of Russian music with cellist Raphael Wallfisch and Southbank Sinfonia, including the world premiere of Prokofiev’s Cinq Melodies arranged by Prokofiev and Shchedrin for cello and orchestra.