Carrickfergus Musical Festival Association

Hon Administrator - Mr W P Howard MBE
peterhoward@carrickfestival.co.uk

Details of the adjuducators for 2009 are as under.

MUSIC ADJUDICATOR

DR VIVIEN PIKE

Dr Pike studied music at the Royal Manchester/Royal Northern College of Music after previously studying medical sciences. She graduated with teaching and performing diplomas and a silver medal.

Vivien has a wide experience as a soprano soloist with many choral societies and recitalist for music societies. She has sung in choirs from the age of 7 and is a former member of the BBC Northern Singers and choir soloist with the Sheffield Philharmonic Choir.

Over the years as a peripatetic teacher of singing, she has taught hundreds of young singers, particularly in South Yorkshire, one of the first being Lesley Garrett. She formed the City of Sheffield Girls' Choir in 1979 (now Cantores Novae) and her choirs have won many prizes in national and international competitions. The choirs have enjoyed tours to Italy, Germany, Ireland, Australia (where the represented UK at the first Melbourne International Choral Festival), Canada and USA, Finland and Estonia.

Vivien is in great demand for solo singing and choral workshops and adjudicating at festivals both nationally and internationally. She has worked with singers in Sweden, Latvia, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, Estonia and has lectured for courses in Latvia and Slovenia and recently as a visiting professor at the Estonian Academy of Music. Vivien is an external examiner of singing at degree level and a visiting lecturer/examiner in choral conducting at Huddersfield University. She is a regular tutor for the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and a conductor of their National Girls' Choir. She was a jury member for both the preliminary round and finals of the 2008 World Choir Games in Graz and is the UK member of the Choir Olympic Council. She was awarded an Honary Doctorate by Sheffield Hallam University for her continued work with singers nationally and internationally. She is a Churchill Fellow, studying the cultural influences on voice development in Sweden, Finland and Estonia and has recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

SPEECH  &  DRAMA

ARTHUR WEBB

After award of his initial degree from Queens University, Arthur studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and then returned to take up a teaching post at Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast. During that time Arthur acted at the Lyric Theatre, worked as a drama coach with BBC and as Director of Youth Lyric producing many shows at the Lyric Theatre. Arthur produced both musicals and plays for school and local companies and later was awarded an MA degree from the University of Ulster. Arthur currently works as Arts Education Advisor for the Belfast Education and Library Board, he is Chief examiner for Drama in Northern Ireland and Chairman of Musical Theatre for youth. He has been responsible for introducing drama as a discreet, statutory subject in the Northern Ireland Curriculum. Arthur is married with one son.

BRASS

JOHN HOUSTON BA, Dip Mus, MTD, LRSM

John has been a music teacher in Fort Hill College, lisburn for the past 29 years including 10 years as Head of the Music Department. Apart from his full time job, he has taught Brass with the SEELB Music Centre in a part-time capacity. He is a trumpet and cornet player with over 30 years experience and has played with a range of musical groups including the Ulster Orchestra, Neuschel Brass Quintet, Belfast Brass Ensemble and John Anderson Big Band. He was also Principal Trumpet player with the Castleward Opera Company orchestra with which he performed for the past 20 years. John is also a founder member and Principal Cornet player with Strabane Concert Brass Band with whom he has represented Northern Ireland in five European Brass Band Music Festivals and is an examiner for GCSE Music Practicals in schools throughout Northern Ireland. He is looking forward to hearing some fine performances in Carrickfergus this year.

STRINGS

ALAN MCCLURE

Alan is well known in Northern Ireland as a freelance violinist and teacher. He began playing the violin at the age of 14 after hearing Arthur Grimiaux playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Alan made rapid progress on the instrument and eventually performed the work as part of his music degree several years later. this led to four further performances of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the Ulster Orchestra. Alan has since delved occasionally into other kinds of music such as jazz and rock, often playing on electric violin and is now a fluent improviser in many styles. He is also well known as a gospel musician having recorded extensively for many gospel artists and has recently released his own solo project for Kingsway Music. He is a keen chamber musician and plays both violin and viola regularly with the Ireland String Quartet.

Alan has performed with the Irish Film Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, Castleward Opera Orchestra, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, The Ulster Orchestra, Camerata Ireland, the West Ocean String Quartet and Contempi String Quartet.

WOODWIND

RICHARD DOUGLAS FTCL, LRSM, Dip Mus, CT ABRSM

Richard is a freelance teacher and player based in Comber and teaches flute and wind chamber music at Sullivan Upper, bangor Grammar, Carrickfergus Grammar, Our Lady & St Patrick's, Knock and the City of Belfast School of Music. As a soloist Richard has performed concertos by Mozart, Vivaldi, Mercadiste and Quantz and is an international artist for the Miyazawa Flute Company of Japan and is thr proud owner of a 14 carat gold Miyazawa Flute.