Vocal Section
| Section Secretary: | Seamus Singh |
| Adult Vocal Date: | 17 March 2012 |
| Junior Vocal Date: | 24 March 2012 |
| Venue: | St Peter’s Church, , Henleaze, BRISTOL, BS9 3AW |
Adjudicators For 2012
Elizabeth Stafford
Elizabeth Stafford was born and educated in Birmingham. She studied for a BA (hons) in music at Durham University, following this with a PhD in Performance Studies at Sheffield University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Vocal Studies at Trinity College of Music and a PGCE in Primary Music at Birmingham City University.
As a solo soprano Elizabeth has won many competitions and awards including First Prize and 'Most Promising Young Female Singer' in the David Clover Competition & finalist representing Sheffield University in the Musica Britannica Competition. She has appeared as an oratorio and opera soloist with numerous ensembles in venues including Symphony Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, and most of the major cathedrals in England. She has given recitals in many prestigious locations including the CBSO Centre, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Malta Cultural Centre, and has broadcast as a soloist on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.
As a choral conductor, Elizabeth has conducted numerous youth and adult choirs in venues including Symphony Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Tewkesbury Abbey & St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. She currently directs the award-winning St Paul's Girls' Centenary Choir, based at St Paul's School in Birmingham, where she also teaches singing, and is Musical Director of the Sutton Coldfield-based community choir Blackwood Acappella Singers. In 2009, Elizabeth was selected for a choral conducting Masterclass with David Hill and the BBC Singers, and in 2010 was invited to conduct a massed choir for the Music for Youth Family Prom in Birmingham.
Elizabeth has worked for numerous Local Authority Music Services as a vocal and curriculum teacher, and is currently North West Area Leader for the KS2 Music CPD Programme, the government's national CPD programme for music teachers. She also examines GCSE and AS level Composition and Performance for Edexcel and is an Adjudicator Member of The British and International Federation of Festivals.
David Bruce-Payne
Formerly a chorister at King's College, Cambridge, and later studied at the Royal College of Music with Herbert Howells and Douglas Guest. Whilst there, he was awarded the W.T.Best Memorial Scholarship given by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, enabling further organ study in Germany.
Appointments held include Second Assistant Organist at Westminster Abbey and Music Master at the Choir School, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Birmingham Cathedral and Director of Music at King Edward's School. He was formerly Senior Lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire and Director of Music at St. George’s Church, Edgbaston. Organ recital and Choral conducting tours have been undertaken in the United States, Canada, Germany and West Indies. He has also performed as soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Improvisation is one of his particular interests.
He is retired examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. He is also an adjudicator member of the British Federation of Music Festivals and works extensively throughout the United Kingdom and abroad. Many compositions of Church music by him have been published with several performances on BBC Radio.
He is now living in Dorset where he is continuing to freelance as a performer and adjudicator. He has been asked to direct a new choir, Harmonia Singers who sing in southern cathedrals and churches. He is now involved as a Trustee of The Lyme Regis Organ School.