Bands, Choirs, Ensembles and Orchestras: Christopher Daly LRAM, CertEd, Honorary BA

Christopher Daly was inspired to take up the classical guitar after hearing a recital by the great Andres Segovia.

After a three-year course in education at King Alfred’s College Winchester, Christopher began to teach the guitar privately as well as in schools and evening classes. Throughout his working life he has performed with singers and instrumentalists as well as presenting historic solo repertoire.

Christopher was a specialist adjudicator for some years before being invited to become a general one in 2004.

The same year, he joined the committee of the Lennox Berkeley Society for whom he introduced a guitar award in partnership with Oxford Music Festival. This ran from 2010 until 2020. The award is held by nine outstanding young guitarists with representation by all three Royal music colleges.

In November 2023, he joined the Music Centre team at the University of Winchester.

Brass (and Woodwind/ Recorder) : Abigail Burrows

Abigail Burrows is a busy freelancer, working with numerous London orchestras and in West End shows. She is principal flute of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra and currently teaches at the Royal Academy of Music junior department. Her creative teaching style has earned her an international reputation and she has been a guest tutor at flute festivals, courses, and events around the world. She has previously taught at Junior Guildhall and The Purcell School.

As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed extensively throughout the UK, playing at concert venues including The Southbank, Wigmore Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, and Bridgewater Hall. She has freelanced with notable orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia and BBC Concert Orchestra. Commercially, she has worked with artists ranging from Andrea Bocelli to Pete Tong, and played at music festivals including Latitude and Glastonbury. She has recorded in many of London’s studios for numerous albums, TV and Film soundtracks.

In the pit, she has toured the UK with productions of Les Misèrables, Wicked and The King and I, as well as a residency of Pinocchio at the National Theatre. Earlier this year she was the chairholder for Jamie Lloyd’s production of Evita at the London Palladium.

Abbie is a Haynes Flutes Artist.

www.abigailburrows.co.uk
Insta: @abbieflutes

Creative Writing: Adults – Jo O’Neill

Jo O’Neill is the author of More Than Us, a psychological thriller published in 2024. A versatile author, she is currently working on two historical novels, including a story about the 1597 Scottish witch scare. Whether set in the past or present, her writing explores themes of psychology and misuse of power.

Children – Melanie Hyo-In Han

Born in Korea and raised in East Africa, Melanie Hyo-In Han recently moved from the U.S. to the U.K. where she is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing. She is the author of Abecedarian: Banff, Canada (kith books), My Dear Yeast (Milk & Cake Press), and Sandpaper Tongue, Parchment Lips (Finishing Line Press), as well as the translator of several collections of Spanish poetry (Hebel Ediciones). Han has been awarded fellowships from Gladstone’s Library, The Society of Authors, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Casa Uno. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Flora Fiction and the Two Languages Prize Editor at Gasher Press.

Piano: Belinda Mikhaïl BMus(Hons),PgDipRCM,ARCM,EMT

Belinda will be adjudicating both the Piano and Singing Sections of our festival this year!

Belinda Mikhaïl was awarded 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 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 also in demand as a vocal coach for classical, musical theatre, pop and rock singers and runs an extensive private teaching practice. She has trained performers as diverse as Siouxsie Sioux, Jennifer Ellison, Jack Garrett, Cathy Tyson, the Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, as well as the world-renowned dancer Akram Khan. Her students are enjoying major roles in theatre companies up and down the country as well as West End Shows such as Anything Goes, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Haddestown, Dirty Dancing, Book of Mormon and High School Musical, and the hit TV series’, Bridgerton, Downton Abbey and Broadchurch.

Belinda’s work as an adjudicator has seen her travel extensively; she was invited to Trinidad and Tobago where she adjudicated their month-long biennial Music Festival and future trips will see her travel to both Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. She thoroughly enjoys listening to a wide variety of music and meeting a wealth of musicians as she travels in her role as an adjudicator.

Singing: Belinda Mikhaïl BMus(Hons),PgDipRCM,ARCM,EMT

Belinda will be adjudicating both the Piano and Singing Sections of our festival this year!

Speech and Drama: Peter Dayson

Peter started his career as an actor in stage, television and film, progressing to writing, directing and producing.

He ran an International Award Winning Community Cross-Over Project which took children and students from across the London Boroughs and performed in the West End, transferring to Ohio, U.S.A. This involved artists from the industry working with local actors and special needs students to produce an innovative and unique international award winning production concept.

As an Actor Peter has appeared in many tv series and sit-coms, on stage played everything from John Macey in ’ MONDAY AFTER THE MIRACLE’ (West End) to Chris Keller in ‘ALL MY SONS’ with rep seasons ranging from Manchester ,Nottingham, Birmingham, Leeds, Swansea, and Basingstoke.

As a writer Peter has written several plays, 8 musicals, show-cased in the West End and is currently working on a spy-thriller.

For television Peter has appeared in several Dr Who episodes with five different Doctors, Blakes Seven, Three of a Kind, Stig of the Dump and The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, Sorry, Play for Today.

He has just finished writing and directing a new musical called Hazlewood Heroes and currently working on a new film script.

Later this year he is directing a 110 centenary production in Birmingham with an all star cast.

As a Director Peter has been responsible for many productions, was Artistic Director for Stafford Gatehouse for 8 years, worked for Disney as a Director and Executive Producer and, also worked for Really Useful Theatre Groups and for 2 years as a writer for E.M.I.

Peter’s passion is working with children, students and young performers, particularly special needs to nurture, encourage, support and develop them with perhaps a career in the industry or just ‘Life Skills’.

Peter has recently finished directing GODSPELL with Chesney Hawkes, Sleeping Beauty in Leeds and Cinderella in Birmingham. He is currently directing a play which is heading into the West End later next year.

With three productions in December 2023 Peter has just directed ‘ Cinderella ‘ in Leeds, ‘Beauty and the Beast ‘ in Birmingham and ‘Santa’ in Wimbledon. He has just completed Sri Lanka Festival and is currently adjudicating Hong Kong. In April 2023 he is adjudicating the Canada Festival, Fleetwood and Hong Kong.

Last year he directed two productions of Snow White in Leeds and Birmingham and has just finished directing Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty in the same locations.

Peter is also available for on line adjudicating. During the covid crisis Peter has regularly used tools such as Zoom, Google Classroom and WhatsApp to keep in touch with his many students, with workshops, lectures and lessons, as well as preparing showreels, voice overs, audition pieces and general industry support and advice.

Strings: Lesley Shrigley Jones GRNCM,LRAM,ARNCM(VcP), ARNCM(PfT/VcT),KA

As an Associated Board Scholar, Lesley studied `cello, piano, singing and viola da gamba at the Royal Manchester and Royal Northern Colleges of Music.

Later, awards from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst and the King Edward V11 Foundation enabled her to join the Master Classes of Antonio Janigro and Paul Tortelier in Salzburg, Nice and Stuttgart, where she achieved the highest honours for performance.

Debut recitals in London, an invitation to join Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s avant garde chamber group, “The Fires of London”, and a standing ovation at the QEH for her performance of “Vesalii Icones”, led to concerts throughout the UK, Europe, Latin America and Canada. She has broadcast on BBC, ITV and French radio and appeared in BBC2’s Tortelier’s Master Class series.

Lesley’s broad vision of repertoire and skills has led to a wide range of musical partnerships. She has collaborated with dancers: “Dance Umbrella Festival”, organists, Robin Walker and Christopher Kent: a rich festivity of Bach: visual artist, Rachel Gadsden in: “Shamal’, a stirring evocation of survival: Russian pianist, Yekaterina Lebedeva in: “Fusion”: film, photography and music; and has appeared as guest artist on the QE2 and with the Choir of The Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace. Her recordings include “Cello in Song” with pianist Antony Saunders, and “This Holy Earth”, music by Charles Camilleri.

In tandem with her performance career, Lesley has for many years accompanied and taught cello and piano; coached both instrumentalists and singers; and developed aural training skills. In addition, she has mentored and examined for the Associated Board and adjudicated for The National Chamber Music Competition and the Deutsche Jugend Musiziert. In recent months she has maintained an online music room and is happy to engage with an online presence for Festivals.

She has been an adjudicating member of the British and International Federation of Festivals since 2012

Woodwind & Recorder (and Brass) : Abigail Burrows

See Brass Section above for Adjudicator Bio