Adjudicators

Introducing your adjudicators for 2013………….

NORTHERN REGIONS

Roy Tankersley

Roy Tankersley (Palmerston North) studied music at Victoria University and completed Post Graduate Studies at the Guildhall School of Music, London. Since 2003 Roy has worked as a free lance performer, teacher and adjudicator based in Palmerston North. He is Musical Director of the Parish of St Marks and St Andrews and the Schola Sacra Choir of Wanganui. Roy is President of the New Zealand Organ Preservation Trust, Chairman of the Manawatu/Wanganui branch of the Choral Federation and a member of the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust. In 2005 he was made a Fellow of the NZ Organists Association and received the award ARSCM (Associate of the Royal School of Church Music) at Durham Cathedral in May 2010.

 
CENTRAL REGIONS

Nick Richardson (Auckland) studied at the Royal Academy of Music and London University, and has taught music in schools in the UK, Singapore and New Zealand. Until 2011 he was Head of the Arts and Technology Faculty at Kristin School. A keen singer all his life, Nick has been a member of the London Bach Society and the Monteverdi Choir. In Singapore he conducted the International Festival Chorus, and is currently a Deputy Musical Director of Bach Musica NZ. From 1998 to 2011 Nick was the founding director of Euphony, the award-winning girls’ choir at Kristin.

 
SOUTHERN REGIONS

Rachael Griffith-Hughes

Rachael Griffith-Hughes (Hamilton) is Musical Director of the Hamilton Civic Choir, and has prepared the choir for performances of many of the great works from the choral repertoire: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, Handel’s Messiah, and the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart and Brahms. An early music specialist, Rachael holds MMus in harpsichord and organ performance from the University of Auckland, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York. Rachael performs regularly as an early keyboard specialist with the award-winning early music ensemble Affetto. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Music Department of the University of Waikato, where she teaches Music History and takes the University choir, and is the Musical Director and Organist at St Peter’s Cathedral. Rachael has also established the Buxtehude Group, which performs early choral music, and, a children’s choir based at St. Peter’s Cathedral.

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NATIONAL FINALE

Jonathan Grieves-Smith

English conductor and chorus master, Jonathan Grieves-Smith (Melbourne) has established an international reputation for his compelling performances and artistic leadership. He is Chorus Master of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Artistic Director of Hallelujah Junction, Australia’s national professional chamber choir.

Jonathan has trained choirs for the world’s leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Pierre Boulez, James Levine, and Sir Roger Norrington, and has premiered music by composers including Brett Dean, Paul Stanhope, Gabriel Jackson, Giya Kancheli, Richard Mills, Alfred Schnittke, Ross Edwards, Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks.

Jonathan was Chorus Master of the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Hallé Choir, and Music Director of Brighton Festival Chorus and as guest conductor has worked with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields Chorus, Sydney Chamber Choir, the BBC Singers, Cantillation, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Dartington International Summer School, the Flemish Federation of Young Choirs, and Europa Cantat.

Conducting highlights include tours of Brazil with the Chorus of Rome’s Academy of Santa Cecilia, with pianist Nelson Freire and the London Mozart Players, and with the Melbourne Chorale (now MSO Chorus). With the Hallé Orchestra and soloists Bryn Terfel and Tasmin Little he conducted Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and the Elgar Violin Concerto; and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, he conducted Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2 Lobgesang at the Brighton Festival.

 

Tim Noon

Timothy Noon (Auckland) received his early music education as a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, England, later learning the organ with Dr Roy Massey. At the age of seventeen he was appointed Organ Scholar of Canterbury Cathedral, and the following year became Organ Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, reading for a degree in music. In 1993 he gained his F.R.C.O, winning the coveted Limpus prize. On graduating with First Class Honours, Timothy was appointed sub-organist of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He returned to Canterbury as Assistant Organist in January 1997.

Four years later he moved to Wales to lead the music at St Davids Cathedral, and in 2007 he became Director of Music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. As an organist, he is a frequent solo performer, giving concerts in many prestigious venues across Europe. Timothy is also active as a composer and arranger and has been published by the RSCM, Encore, and, most recently, Novello publications.

Whilst directing the 2011 Summer School of the RSCM in New Zealand, he fell in love with the country and, seizing the opportunity of coming to live here, accepted the position of Director of Music at Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, from September 2011.

 

Christine Argyle (Wellington) is an experienced choral singer and conductor, and a presenter with Radio NZ Concert.

In a previous life she was Head of Music at Tauranga Girls’ and Macleans Colleges and was an itinerant vocal teacher and choral conductor in schools. Christine has an LTCL diploma in singing, a BA in languages, and studied conducting at Auckland University with Karen Grylls and Uwe Grodd. She has been a member of numerous choirs, including the NZ National Youth Choir, London Symphony Chorus, and the Tudor Consort, and currently sings with Voices New Zealand.

In 2004 she formed a new choir, Nota Bene, which has quickly established itself as one of Wellington’s finest choirs. Christine is a member of the Governance Board for the NZ Choral Federation and was a regional adjudicator for The Big Sing in 2003, 2006 & 2007.

 

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SOUNZ COMPOSITION COMPETITION

Anthony Ritchie

Anthony Ritchie studied composition at The University of Canterbury, and the Liszt Academy in Hungary. He moved to Dunedin in 1988 as Mozart Fellow in composition at Otago University, and later was Composer-in-Residence with the Dunedin Sinfonia completing his Symphony No. 1 “Boum”. In 2000 his Symphony No.2 was premiered at the International Festival of the Arts. In 2004 his opera, The God Boy, was a critically acclaimed success at the Otago Arts Festival. In the last five years he has had 6 CDs of his composition released, including his album NZ Poets in Song and his latest CD, A Bugle Will Do featuring the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He has written many choral works, and Anthony has conducted choirs as well, including The Southern Youth Choir and Southern Childrens Choir. He is now Associate Professor at The University of Otago in Dunedin. For further information: www.anthonyritchie.co.nz