2012 Adjudicators are listed below:

Instrumental Music and Adult Choirs              Elizabeth Bicker, MBE, LRAM,

                                                                   ARAM.

English Speech & Drama I                             Ailbhe Garvey-Hughes, FLCM,

                                                                   LTCL, ADA.

School Choirs, Ceol agus                               Patrick Devine, PhD, MA, BMus,

Amhránaiocht Traidisiúnta                              LTCL.

English Speech & Drama II                             Carol Lamont, LRAM, RSADip.

English Speech & Drama III                            Vivienne Redford, LLAM, MSTSD.

Irish Speech & Drama                                    Gerry MacRuairc, PhD, MEd,

                                                                    LGSM

Singing                                                         David Kirby-Ashmore, LRAM,

                                                                   DipRAM.

ELIZABETH BICKER, MBE  - Instrumental Music and Adult Choirs              

Elizabeth Bicker’s career in Music has been varied and always challenging. After four years’ study at the Royal Academy of Music, London she first became known as an accompanist, working with professional and amateur musicians, and with a special interest in mentoring talented young musicians.

Professional engagements have taken her to all regions of the British Isles as both Accompanist and Adjudicator and she has broadcast on BBC and RTE television and radio. BBC Northern Ireland made a documentary programme for television, about her rare Pleyel Double Grand Piano and its restoration.

In the role of Chorus Master, Elizabeth spent ten years with N.I. Opera Trust, working with an amateur chorus, professional soloists and orchestra in many performances in the Opera House and in concerts throughout the Province. The reopening of the Opera House in the early 1980s (after bomb damage and refurbishment) was a special time. Elizabeth has been a piano tutor and accompanist in the Music Department of QUB and was a guest lecturer in their Institute of Continuing Education. She is much in demand as a Festival Adjudicator and is an enthusiastic supporter of the Festival Movement and the unique effort made by teachers and Festivals who work together making it possible for young performers to develop their skills.

AILBHE GARVEY-HUGHES  - Speech & Drama I

Ailbhe Garvey-Hughes has been involved in theatre for most of her life. She received a Fellowship in Speech and Drama from the London College of Music and a Licentiate from Trinity College.

She is a former winner of the ‘best actress’ award at the All Ireland Drama Finals. She played in many productions in An Taibhdearc (The Irish Language Theatre) before teaming up with the internationally renowned “Druid” Theatre Company, where she played in many successful productions including those in the Dublin and Edinburgh Theatre Festivals. Her roles include “A Galway Girl”, “Pursuit of Pleasure”, “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Sam Sheppard’s “Action”, Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, Bernard Farrell’s “I Do Not like Thee Dr Fell. Fell” and many others.

She has been teaching drama to primary, secondary and third level students for many years and regularly gives group workshops; she has a particular interest in speech training and oral communication skills.

Her school’s many successes include winning the All Ireland Youth Theatre Festival with a production of Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass”.

A member of the Association of Drama Adjudicators since its inception; she is also an adjudicator and member of The British and International Federation of Festivals: A member of The Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama (M.S.T.S.D.) and an examiner for The Royal Irish Academy.

From her extensive experience in national and international adjudicating in the English speaking world she believes in offering educational feedback to competitors and teachers and encouraging participation in the festival movement.

PATRICK DEVINE - School Choirs, Ceol agus Amhránaiocht Traidisiúnta                              

Patrick Devine was born and educated in Dublin, where he studied piano with Elizabeth Costello and organ with Sydney Greig at the then College of Music, now DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. He completed a BA (1973), BMus (1974) and MA (1975) at UCD. His PhD dissertation (1987) addressed the early music of Anton Bruckner. He has been a lecturer in the Music Department at NUI Maynooth since 1977. He has held church positions in the greater Dublin area and given organ recitals in Ireland and Scotland. His research interests include Czech music, especially the musical language of Antonín Dvořrák and Zdeněk Fibich, also the music of Bruckner. He jointly organised the first international musicological conference to take place in Ireland, held at Maynooth in 1995, and co-edited the two-volume conference proceedings which were published in 1996. More recently he was co-editor of conference proceedings on the music of Fibich. Additionally Patrick adjudicates regularly at music festivals throughout Ireland such as the Feis Maitiú and Feis Ceoil, and he was a jury member for the international Fibich melodrama competition in Prague in 2002. In his roles as teacher and adjudicator he believes in the importance of encouraging and working with musicians in Ireland.

CAROL LAMONT - Speech & Drama II

Since training at the Royal Academy of Music, Carol Lamont has taught Speech and Drama both in schools and privately. She was in charge of a large department of Oral Communication and Drama at a leading school near London, preparing candidates for examinations, festivals and Public Speaking Competitions.

She is a very experienced examiner and being an adjudicator member of The British and International Federation of Festivals, has participated in many festivals in the UK and abroad. She has lectured widely and been involved in running courses in effective communication to both schools and industry.

Her interest in the spoken language led to her involvement in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages where she has found the use of drama techniques particularly effective. She has examined both written and oral English for several boards and joined the Trinity Guildhall panel in 1991 examining both language and Speech and Drama which has involved extensive world wide travel.

Carol now lives in France where she continues to teach English and works with two theatre companies covering a wide range from classical theatre, including Shakespeare, to broad French farce. She also works with a residential drama school training actors for the profession and performs on a regular basis with a professional company in their bilingual productions.

Carol is delighted to be coming to adjudicate at Feis Maitiú, Corcaigh and wishes everyone an enjoyable and positive experience sharing their work.

VIVIENNE REDFORD - Speech & Drama III

Vivienne has studied Speech and Drama since the age of four and has been teaching the subject since 1980. She currently works full time teaching Speech and Drama and curriculum Drama at a large independent girls school in Bedford and is also the Principal of the Redford School of Speech and Drama, training children and adults of all ages in all aspects of the performing arts and communication. Many of her former students are now performing in TV, film and theatre including major West End productions, the Globe and the RSC. Others are pursuing careers as teachers of Speech and Drama.

Vivienne has produced and directed a diverse range of musical and theatrical productions, the latest being ‘The Dreaming’ by Howard Goodall, a musical interpretation of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Blitz!’ by Lionel Bart with over 80 young people. She particularly enjoys devising original and creative theatre with her senior students. For the past ten years she has organised and directed a summer school for students aged 7 to 21, which is always over subscribed. She was delighted to be one of the course leaders of the inaugural Drama Summer course run by the British and International Federation of Festivals at Haileybury.

Vivienne is an examiner for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a member of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama and an Adjudicator member of the British and International Federation of Festivals travelling extensively throughout the UK. She is also Vice-President of the Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech and Drama which has given her a clear understanding and insight into the work, energy and commitment that Festival organisers, teachers and pupils put into making their Festivals a success.

DAVID KIRBY-ASHMORE - Singing

David Kirby-Ashmore, Baritone – was awarded a scholarship to study at The Royal Academy of Music. In addition to recitals and concerts in major London venues including The Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Purcell Room, St. John’s Smith Square, and The Royal Albert Hall, David’s career has taken him all over the world including Hong Kong, Indonesia and the USA.

He has taken principal rôles with English and Welsh National Operas and in Europe including Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Austria; Schaunard (La Bohème) and Masetto (Don Giovanni) for Opéra de Nantes; Johnny Johnson for Opéra de Caen and a world tour in the title role of Rigoletto including Singapore and Malaysia. Other rôles include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Figaro and Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Escamillo (Carmen), Onegin and Balstrode (Peter Grimes).

David has appeared at many of the major British Festivals including Bath, Buxton, Nottingham and Kings Lynn. Other concert venues include The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh and The National Arts Club New York. His wide repertoire of Oratorio and concert works includes Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew passions, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and Messiah, Mozart, Brahms and Fauré Requiems, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana.

He has worked for the education departments of Opera 80, D’Oyly Carte Opera, the Royal Opera and English National Opera’s Baylis Programme. He has given master classes and workshops throughout the UK including for Una Voce Opera, Maryland College, and as a return visit to BIFF Festivals as well as abroad for The Jakarta Academy of Music and The Hong Kong Cultural Centre and recently alongside adjudicating in Sri Lanka. David has always enjoyed teaching in conjunction with his performing career and maintains a thriving practice with students from teenagers to professional singers, as well as running his own vocal summer school ‘Summer Song’ and directing Choirs.

In addition to being an adjudicator for the Festival movement David has been Chairman of his local Festival and advises on repertoire for many festivals. In 2007 he was Vocal and Choral director at European Youth Summer Music.