2008 Australian Band Championships

The Adjudicators

Who they are and what will they be adjudicating...

Chief Adjudicator - Stephen Roberts, United Kingdom

Sections:
A Grade Brass and Concert Bands
B & Junior B Grade Concert Bands
Concert and Brass Solos

Stephen Roberts

Stephen Roberts is a British composer, arranger, conductor and teacher, with a particular reputation in brass circles. His first musical studies were with composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle, who encouraged him to take up the horn. He then studied at the Royal College of Music with hornist Alan Civil and gained a PhD in composition at the University of Birmingham.

For twenty years he was the hornist with the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble, with whom he gave over two thousand concerts and broadcasts in sixty countries. He was also responsible for arranging much of the group’s repertoire, which is now played and recorded by ensembles around the world. His repertoire of arrangements has been featured on over a hundred CD recordings.

During his performing career Roberts also had the distinction of playing with nearly all of the UK’s top orchestras, from the BBC Big Band to the London Symphony, as well as hundreds of commercial recording sessions.

His involvement with brass bands began in 1980, when he became Musical Director of the Jones & Crossland Band, enjoying exceptional success in contests. He subsequently became MD of the Desford Colliery Band, with whom he is still associated as a guest conductor. He has also been a guest conductor with just about all the top bands in the UK and his arrangements for brass band are now played worldwide. Roberts’ version of Holst’s Planets Suite (recorded by the Black Dyke Band) was chosen for the British Open Brass Band Championship of 2003, at which he was one of the adjudicators.

Recently, Roberts composed and conducted the theme and incidental music for the six-part Carlton TV series “The Real Brassed Off” featuring the Desford Colliery Brass Band. This was made into a feature album by EMI Records.

Roberts is also developing a reputation as a composer of orchestral and wind band music. Recent works for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the Kosei Wind Band and others have been broadcast on BBC Radio and he is currently writing a large-scale orchestral work for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (to feature the orchestra’s brass section) for 2006.

In 2002 Roberts was appointed Professor of Music at the Royal Military School of Music, London, and he has also held other academic positions with the University of Birmingham (as lecturer in conducting, composition & orchestration) and Birmingham Conservatoire (as professor of horn). In 2004 Roberts was appointed Associate Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra and he also undertakes conducting engagements in Europe, most recently at the Zurich Festival, Switzerland, with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

Peter Adams, New Zealand

Sections:
B Grade Brass
C & Junior C Grade Concert Bands
Concert and Brass Solos

Peter Adams is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Otago.

Academic Qualifications:

M.Mus King's College, University of London   1982
Mus.B Hons, 1st Class University of Otago   1981
F.T.C.L Trinity College of Music, London   1980
L.R.S.M. The Royal Schools of Music, London   1978
L.T.C.L. Trinity College of Music, London   1977

Significant performances:

    * Musical Director of the City of Dunedin Choir (formerly the Schola Cantorum) for ten years 1987 - 1996. Numerous public concerts in the Dunedin Town Hall with the Dunedin Sinfonia orchestra accompanying.
    * Musical Director for four Opera Otago opera productions and five university opera productions.
    * Musical Director of Music department performing groups the Marama Singers (1998 - 2001), the Marama String Orchestra (2002 - present), and the Staff and Student University Choir (2002).
    * Musical Director of St Kilda Brass from 1991 - 1995, and 1999 - present, leading the ensemble to one national championship and two second placements in the elite A grade section of the New Zealand annual brass band championships.
    * As a guest conductor Peter has given many public concerts with the Dunedin Sinfonia (now renamed the Southern Sinfonia), New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Orchestra of Christchurch, Invercargill Sinfonia, South Island Youth Orchestra, Dunedin Youth Orchestra, Kaikorai Brass Band and the Otago/Southland Youth Band.

Recent Creative Work as Composer:

    * When day turns to dusk for Tenor Horn, Vibraphone and Strings completed March 2004 and premiered in Dunedin in August.
    * Triptych; the Garden of Earthly Delights completed February 2002 and premiered in Dunedin and Invercargill in April.
    * Idle Moments duet completed August 2002 and premiered in October.
    * Clarinecho electroacoustic soundscape of 1999 revised and remastered as 8' film soundtrack to short film of Lloyd Godman's artwork shown in Dunedin, October 2002 and to show at the Melbourne flower Show in 2003.
    * The Tides of Time for large choir and orchestra completed December 1999.
    * 2000 to present: many arrangements of music for brass, including four song accompaniments for concerts with Jonathan Lemalu and Anna Leese, three hymn arrangements and three Carols, and two light music numbers.

(excerpt from http://www.otago.ac.nz/music/staff/peteradams.html)

John Thomas, ATCL, Queensland

Sections:
C Grade Brass and Junior Brass Bands
Brass Solos and Ensembles

Coming from a strong Brass Band family background John began playing Tenor Horn at an early age.

In 1972 at the age of 13 John won his first State tenor horn championship and to date holds 14 State and numerous National titles. Five times John has represented Queensland in the Ern Keller memorial Contest and he has been invited twice to represent Australia in the “Brass Musician of the Year” competition held in Auckland New Zealand.

As the winner of The World Brass Soloist competition held in connection with the World Expo in Brisbane 1988, John received an invitation to compete in the British Open Solo Contest held in Manchester England.

In 1993 John travelled back to England where he studied for six months at Salford College under the guidance of Professor David King. During this time he accepted a position with the Black Dyke Mills band performing on concerts, CD recordings and in the British Open and Nationals Band competitions.

Upon his return home John commenced teaching music at Matthew Flinders Anglican College where he has built an outstanding instrumental music program. He has a great passion for assisting young musicians in achieving their goals and he enjoys the many rewards that music has to offer.

( From http://www.qba.org.au/nationals2008/pages/adjudicate/j_thomas.html)

Dr Peter Morris, Queensland

Sections:
D Grade Brass

Dr Peter Morris was appointed Conductor of the QYO Wind Symphony in January 2007 and he is also the Director of Music at Villanova College in Brisbane.

Peter has held university teaching positions in America at UCLA, the University of Houston and Colorado State University, where he conducted instrumental ensembles, taught courses in Instrumental Conducting, Brass and Music Education, and lectured in Music Business and Entertainment Management. He currently lectures in Instrumental Conducting at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University and assists with their post-graduate conductors.

Peter received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from UCLA in Instrumental Conducting, studying with Dr. Thomas Lee. During his post-graduate studies at UCLA, he was employed as a Teaching Fellow, and spent much of his time in the university's renowned Center For the Digital Arts. At this facility, he undertook innovative projects working on film scores with animation, the cross-disciplinary programming of music with silent film, and the study of conducting film music with Hollywood composers including Jay Chattaway and Jerry Goldsmith.

Peter has performed internationally on trumpet in a wide variety of genres from Baroque orchestras to commercial session work in Los Angeles. He has played professionally in orchestral and stage productions, including The Phantom of the Opera in Sydney, and the Australian revival production of South Pacific on tour in Asia. He was a session player in Los Angeles for commercial recordings as well as orchestral playing, and has complemented this by playing in jazz, funk, salsa and swing bands.

Peter has been a clinician and adjudicator with many schools throughout the United States, Australia and Asia and he is sought after as an adjudicator and guest conductor for young musicians. In August 2006, he was one of the invited workshop delegates for the National Review of School Music held in Melbourne by the Australian Music Association.