TIMOTHY BARRATT studied on a Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, winning many major awards, and completed his studies with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris and Geoffrey Parsons. 

He has enjoyed a career as soloist, accompanist and chamber music player throughout the UK and abroad for over thirty years and, in recognition of his work, was elected ARAM in 1996, an honour awarded to former students who have distinguished themselves in the profession.

Teaching forms a major part of his musical life and he enjoys working with pupils of all ages and levels from beginner to post-graduate. He was Head of Keyboard at Dulwich College for almost 25 years whilst also teaching at the RAM and TCM and now pursues a busy freelance practice.

Formerly a member of the examining, training and review panel for the ABRSM, he now acts as a Piano Syllabus Consultant. He regularly directs Masterclasses and Residential Courses for performers and teachers and is in demand as a Competition and Festival adjudicator.

Gerard began acting professionally at the age of 9 and has been teaching Speech and Drama to all age ranges for 25 years.  He has been a LAMDA examiner for 9 years which has taken him all over the world.  Gerard is passionate about the festival movement having entered as a child for many years.  He is really looking forward to adjudicating at North London Festival.

Louise began ‘treading the boards’ when only 5 days old and has never looked back.  She has had a varied and very interesting professional career as an actress touring the UK in rep. musicals and appearing in films and on television.  She is a renowned, teacher, director and writer and is the speech tutor at St John’s school in Billericay.  Louise travels extensively as an adjudicator all over the UK and abroad for British Federation and GoDA.  Louise is really looking forward to returning the North London Festival where she finds competitors full of creativity and enthusiasm.

John Crawford has had extensive experience as a performer, teacher and adjudicator.

After holding a Foundation scholarship at the RCM he studied further in Vienna before joining the BBC Symphony orchestra.

A growing interest in teaching gradually took over, and as well as holding a position at TrinityLaban conservatory he spent many years also at the RCM Junior Department and the Purcell school.

John is also a qualified Alexander technique teacher, and works extensively on freedom of movement for string players.

He leads the Forest Philharmonic, Ernest Read and Camden Symphony orchestras.

Eleanor Turner is a passionate ambassador for the harp. She made her London concerto debut aged just fifteen, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Daniel Harding and broadcast live on Classic FM. Praised by The Times for her “scrupulous attention to the harp’s dynamic and rhythmic possibilities”, Eleanor has performed solo at the Berlin Philharmonie, Musiekgeouw Aant Ij in Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall in London.

Eleanor has won numerous prizes at international harp competitions, including the Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition. Her principal tutors were Daphne Boden and Alison Nicholls, and she has also benefited hugely from study courses with harpists Ernestine Stoop, Erika Waardenburg and Marisa Robles.

Eleanor composed the music for Ballet Wales’ 2007 production ‘The Bride of Flowers’, wrote pop songs with Dutch artist Angela Moyra (Dutch International Harp Festival 2013) and created an original show entitled ‘Elusive Symmetry’, with hip-hop dancer Lizzie Gough and guitarist- composer Alan Thomas. Recent projects include ‘Wild Bird’ for harp and ensemble, performing Indian-western improvised fusion music with tabla player Mendi Mohinder Singh and touring with the band Ranagrí. Eleanor has also been working with Music Interaction Designer Balandino Di Donato on their ‘HarpCI’ gesture-controlled electronic music project.

Eleanor’s artistic development has been supported by awards the Tillett Trust, Ambache Charitable Trust, PRS Foundation for New Music, Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, Musicians Benevolent Fund, Park Lane Group and a Wingate Scholarship.

Eleanor also loves to teach and enjoys sharing her wealth of experience with students at Birmingham Conservatoire (where she is Head of Harp), Uppingham School and Stamford Endowed Schools as well as at her home in Lincolnshire.

Heidi Krutzen is celebrated for her versatility as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral performer and teacher. She is principal harpist of the Philharmonia Orchestra and Vancouver Opera, former principal harpist of the CBC Radio Orchestra, and has been guest principal harpist with numerous orchestras notably the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. A member of several acclaimed chamber groups – COULOIR with cellist Ariel Barnes, Trio Verlaine with flautist Lorna McGhee and violist David Harding, the Krutzen/McGhee Duo, and the Turning Point Ensemble, Heidi has toured extensively throughout North America, in the UK and Asia, with performances broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, NPR in the US, and CBC Radio. She is also a regular guest at major chamber music festivals such as the Edinburgh International Festival, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Festival Vancouver, and Music in the Morning.

On disc, Heidi has can be heard in several unique combinations including a double concerto written for her and yangqin virtuoso, Vivian Xia, recorded with the Latvian National Symphony. Her most recent releases “MAXWELL, MUHLY, COULOIR” garnered «Artist of the Year» for COULOIR at the 2016 Western Canadian Music Awards.

Alongside recording new works, Heidi is dedicated to expanding the repertoire for harp. An upcoming highlight in the autumn of 2018 will be the world premieres of two new double concertos written for COULOIR.

Passionate about humanitarian work, Heidi devotes her free time with a small but formidable team to fundraising, volunteering and running Malambo Grassroots, a charity dedicated to community development in southern Zambia.

Diana is one of the most distinguished violinists in Great Britain, her career spanning a wide spectrum of musical activities. Born in London, she studied with David Martin at the Academy, with Remy Principe in Rome and Louis Persinger in New York . After winning prizes in the International Competition ‘Nicolò Paganini’ and the International Violin Competition ‘A. Curci’, she  developed a busy international solo career as a recitalist and concerto soloist, playing an extensive repertoire from the Baroque to the Contemporary. She gave the first performance in Finland of the Violin Concerto by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and is dedicated  to the promotion and performance of  new works.

As leader of the Cummings String Trio and the English String Quartet Diana has performed widely both nationally and internationally.  The English String Quartet was also the resident ensemble of the London Festival of Chamber Music, a month-long event which during the course of thirteen consecutive years (1995–2007) gave over 200 concerts, bringing an extensive repertoire of both familiar and rarely heard works to audiences London-wide.

Orchestrally, Diana has guest-led the London Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the Liverpool Philharmonic and the Halle Orchestra, and has played with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra. With the London Bach Orchestra she performed several times the complete concerto repertoire of Bach at London’s South Bank, and she was leader and soloist of the Northern Chamber Orchestra.

In all these capacities Diana has broadcast frequently, and has made many recordings for  major labels.

Diana is a Fellow and professor at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is also the specialist for the LRAM Teaching Diploma. She is also a professor at TrinityLaban Conservatoire for Music and Dance. She is violin coach of the National Youth String Orchestra. She is frequently invited to give masterclasses and workshops, and to participate as adjudicator and jury member at competitions and festivals both nationally and internationally.

Liz was educated at RAM junior and on a scholarship at Trinity College of Music, where she won many prizes for solo playing and chamber music. A founder member of the Court string quartet, she then went on to hold positions in the BBC concert orchestra, at ENO and as sub- principal first violin in the orchestra of the Royal Opera House. For many years now she has freelanced in London and around the world.

Teaching, coaching and mentoring have played a big part in her career, as have solo recordings, organising and leading orchestral and chamber music concerts, examining and adjudicating. She spent 6 years on the ISM council and has presented at conferences and spoken on various musical topics for ESTA.

Publications include 4 Strings, a set of freshly commissioned string quartets for learners and a soon to be published set of Grade by Grade books for string players, in her role as a commissioning editor for Boosey and Hawkes.