Marlow Music Festival

Affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Speech and Drama

Ruth Gerald FRCM (change from previous Syllabus edition)    (Piano)

 

Ruth Gerald was Head of Keyboard Studies at the Royal College of Music in London from 1992 until August 1999 having previously been appointed Faculty Advisor for Keyboard Studies in 1987.

 

Her career has always pursued a very wide path, solo and lecture recitals, concertos, chamber music, lieder recitals, accompanying, adjudicating, examining and teaching.  She was Head of Keyboard Studies at the Birmingham School of Music (now the Birmingham Conservatoire) for five years but relinquished this post in order to devote more time to performing, and teaching at the Royal College where she was a Professor of Piano and Piano Accompaniment for over 30 years.  She was elected a Fellow of the Royal College in 1985.

 

Born and educated in Australia, Ruth Gerald began her musical career there, broadcasting regularly with the Australian Broadcasting Commission at a very early age.  After winning the Elder Overseas Scholarship and gaining a Bachelor of Music degree at Adelaide University she continued with postgraduate studies at the Royal College where she was awarded many prizes, including the Hopkinson Gold Medal.

 

Recently she has given Masterclasses in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Malta and Greece and conducted many Seminars for piano teachers in the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.  She is frequently invited to adjudicate at Festivals world-wide and is actively involved in many aspects of the work of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

 

 

Valerie Hoppe MBE GGSM LGSM ARCM (Choral and Vocal)

Valerie Hoppe trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, specialising in Choral Conducting, Singing and Piano. She is widely known as a Choral Director, teacher and adjudicator, and is particularly in demand for her work with the

development of young voices, both in solo and choral work. She has a large teaching practice, working with solo voices of all ages and levels.

 

She has been responsible for the organisation, training and direction of many community performances of major choral works, including Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’, Haydn’s ‘Creation’, and the Requiems of Mozart and Fauré. On many occasions she has organised and directed massed children’s choirs in performances of various cantatas. Valerie has performed with many well-known artists including the opera singer Benjamin Luxon, the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber, as well as the major military bands in Britain, such as the band of the Welsh Guards and the Band of the

Irish Guards. She is currently director of five choirs.

 

In addition to her work with choirs, she has a large number of singing students, ranging from beginners and many young singers to highly experienced performers. In 2003 she was awarded the MBE for her services to music.

 

Tim Wells MA Oxon, LRAM (Strings and Instrumental Ensembles/Orchestras)

Tim Wells started learning the cello with William Bruce while a chorister at Westminster Cathedral and continued at the RCM, Junior Department. He went on to read Music with both Choral and Instrumental Awards at Christ Church, Oxford, and later studied with Mats Lidström at the Royal Academy of Music where he won most of the cello prizes.

 

He plays in the Agon Piano Trio and engagements have taken him to numerous societies and festivals in this country and abroad. He has taught at the RAM, Junior Department and is Head of Strings at Eltham College. He also teaches at Dulwich College Preparatory School.

 

An avid arranger and composer, Tim has composed music for television and his works have been published in several volumes. He is regularly asked to adjudicate at festivals and, in addition to examining for the ABRSM on both the graded and diploma panels, he is involved in other aspects of the Board’s work including syllabus selection, composition commissions and recording projects.

 

Melanie Ragge HonARAM MPhil (Cantab), MA (Cantab), DipRCM, LRAM

(Woodwind and Brass)

Melanie’s musical passions lie in chamber music and education: she has performed internationally in venues as far flung as Vancouver Island, Malta, Italy and Sweden as well as UK venues such as St John’s Smith Square and Wigmore Hall. A founder member of the New London Chamber Ensemble, she has released several CDs, most recently Nielsen’s Wind and Piano Chamber Music “…performances and sound quality are outstanding in every regard.” International Record Review.

 

Melanie has collaborated with a wide variety of other artists including the Dante and Schidlof string quartets, pianist Angela Hewitt and baritone Gerald Finlay. A committed educator, she regularly coaches and gives master-classes; she is an Associate Director and tutor for the National Youth Chamber Orchestra, teaches oboe at the Purcell School of Music and is an oboe professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Recent engagements include the premiere of a new Nonet by Martin Butler at the Cheltenham Festival, and a Wigmore Hall recital with the New London Chamber Ensemble and Angela Hewitt.

Festival Adjudicators