ADJUDICATORS FOR 2008

David Campbell
Robert Codd
Lucy Gould
Tom  Poster 
Kathryn Price
Caryl Thomas 

DAVID CAMPBELL  David Campbell is one of Britain's best-known clarinettists who has given concerts and masterclasses in over 40 countries.  David's discography reflects his wide range of repertoire from Mozart to Maxwell Davies and he has a particular interest in the works for clarinet and string quartet.  His CD of the Bliss Clarinet Quintet received much critical acclaim and a recording of Peter Lieuwen's 'River of Crystal Light', written for him, was released in the USA in May 2007.  David broadcasts regularly for the BBC and Classic FM, and devised a series of chamber music masterclasses for BBC Radio 3 called The Finishing Touch.

Engagements in 2007 included performances in Tallinn, Vancouver, Bahrain and Houston as well as an extensive nationwide tour with the prize-winning Sacconi String Quartet.  David has invitations to perform in Beijing, Hong Kong and the USA in  2008 and he plans to record CDs of clarinet quintets and concertos for release next autumn.

He is a Visiting Professor at Canterbury Christ Church University, Head of Woodwind at Westminster School, Consultant to Buffet Clarinets and UK Chair of the International Clarinet Association.  Since 2001 he has been Artistic Director of Musicfest-Aberystwyth, an international festival and summer school held in July at Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

ROBERT CODD  of Welsh extraction, was born in Bristol. He first took up the bassoon at Clifton College, Bristol and then read Music at University College, Cardiff, where he graduated in 1966 and, also, gained the LRAM (Performers) diploma on the bassoon. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London studying with Geoffrey Gambold.

After his studies, Robert combined College activities with classroom teaching, peripatetic woodwind teaching and chamber music with the London Harpsichord Ensemble, Galliard Ensemble and Van Walsum Ensemble. He, then, spent several years freelancing, especially with contemporary music and wind chamber groups, as well as working at the London Festival Ballet (English

After his studies Robert combined college activities with classroom teaching, peripatetic woodwind teaching and chamber music with the London Harpsichord Ensemble, Galliard Ensemble and Van Walsum Ensemble.  He then spent several years freelancing, especially with contemporary music and wind chamber groups, as well as working at the London Festival Ballet (English National Ballet) - as a bassoonist, not as a dancer!

In 1973 he joined the BBC Welsh Orchestra (now the BBC National Orchestra of Wales) as principal bassoonist.

He is involved in chamber music, adjudicating, teaching and other education work.  In 2001 he gave performances of the Mozart bassoon concerto in Aberystwyth and Rhyl.

He is married to Jean Marsden, an oboist, who was a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra and London Festival Ballet (they met in the pit).  They have two children, Rhodri and Rosalind.

LUCY GOULD founded the Gould Piano Trio whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded the prestigious Queen's Commendation for Excellence.  She has performed much of the concerto repertoire with orchestras such as the BBC national Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the English String Orchestra, and has been invited to lead the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Halle,  BBC Philharmonic, BBC NOW and the Scottish Chamber Orchestras.  She is a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe where she holds the position of principal 2nd violin, and she teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.  Lucy lives in Cardiff with her husband, the clarinettist Robert Plane, and their three children, Florence, Rufus and Iris.

From 2005 the Gould Piano Trio will be ensemble-in-residence at the Royal Northern College of Music, giving concerts, masterclasses and chamber music coaching.  As part of their commitment to extending the piano trio repertoire, the Goulds have commissioned works and performed many contemporary pieces.

TOM POSTER, born in 1981, studied  with Joan Havill at the

His diverse and rapidly-developing career combines the complementary roles of concerto soloist, solo recitalist and chamber musician across an extensive repertoire in a range of major international venues.  He has been described as "an unparalleled sound magician" (General-Anzeiger) and "a pianist of distinction" (The Times) and as a "musician with great potential to make a mark on the international scene"  (Fort Worth Star-Telegram).

Since his London concerto debut at the age of thirteen, Tom has appeared in a wide-ranging repertoire with orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic (Yan Pascal Tortelier), South Bank Sinfonia (Vladimir Ashkenazy) and the orchestras of Nancy and Montbeliard, FRance.   He has given solo recitals at the Barbican, St John's Smith Square, and also in Bonn, Hamburg, Lugano, Paris, Spoleto (by personal invitation of the late Gian Carlo Menotti) and at British festivals in Brighton, Chester, Edinburgh, Windsor and King's Lynn.

He is well-known for readiness to face a challenge and on several occasions has been invited to step in at the last moment for indisposed artists, once giving a full evening recital at six hours' notice.  More recently he rushed across London to give a rapturously received performance of the Grieg concerto at only three hours' notice.

KATHRYN PRICE   One of Britain's most internationally sought-after soloists, Welsh 'cellist Kathryn Price is performing to considerable world-wide critical acclaim.  The LA Times wrote of the young 'cellist "she sparkled as the soloist in Shostakovich's First Concerto.  She seemed to plumb the depths of this brooding work and attain its intense heights with ease, never forcing her points but making them dead-on.  Her timing, pacing and inflection were similarly simple and true"

Kathryn has won numerous international prizes and awards for her playing and all the awards available to her in her native Wales.  She is the first person to hold the National Welsh American Foundation Scholarship on both sides of the Atlantic, and has been made an Ambassador of the Arts for Wales.

Additionally, Kathryn is in demand for her inspirational and motivational teacher, both in this country, Europe and the USA. 

She has given masterclasses at many Conservatoires, is Visiting Artist in Residence at Idyllwild Arts Academy, and her annual intensive masterclasses at the Internacional Curso de Musica Matisse, Madrid, draw students from all over the world.

Kathryn owns four beautiful cellos, including a Gabrieli and a Rugeri, and  she plays on a bow made especially for her by Master Bowmaker, John Stagg of Bristol.

CARYL THOMAS  is widely recognised as one of the most accomplished solo recital harpists.  She has performed to great critical acclaim throughout Europe, the United States, Russia and Japan, and her personable artistry is supported by a formidable technique and solid musicianship. She made her American debut in 1981 at Carnegie Halls as winner of the Concert Artists Guild Award, and her London debut at the Wigmore Hall a year later.

Caryl Thomas graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she studied with Ann Griffiths, and New York University, where she received an M.A. degree whilst studying the harp with Pearl Chertok and Susann McDonald. She later entered the Royal College of Music, London to study with Marisa Robles. She has been awarded many scholarships and prizes, including a Rotary International Scholarship, the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, an I.S.M. Young Artists Award, a Park Lane Group Recital at the Purcell Room, and she was the first British harpist to win a major prize at the International Harp Contest in Jerusalem.

Caryl has recorded the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with the London Philharmonic, and appeared as a concert soloist with the B.B.C. Welsh Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, and the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg. Caryl has played with numerous chamber groups, including the Prometheus Ensemble, The Debussy Trio, and The Instrumental Quintet of London which made its debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1987.

Together with her many recitals and concert performances, Caryl has given numerous Radio 3 recitals, and has hosted her own music series on S4C.

Today, Caryl concentrates mainly on her teaching commitments, and she is Professor of harp at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. She was the Chairperson for the 7th European Harp Symposium which was held at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in July 2007.