Adjudicators
Matej Lehocky
Prof. Matej Lehocky was born in Prague and started playing the piano at the age of four.
He was later admitted to the prestigious Prague Conservatoire, where he studied under Professor Radomir Melmuka and gained three diplomas, one in each of piano (performance), composition and conducting.
In 2001 he won the International Gustav Mahler Competition in Eglau, Czech Republic. In 2003 Matej embarked on his professional career tour with the North Bohemia Philharmonic of Teplice, performing in major cities across Europe to huge numbers of classical music fans, including Golden Hall in Vienna.
Matej moved to the UK (Plymouth) in 2005, and soon acquired a name in the South-West for his virtuoso recitals. After relocating to Windsor in 2008, he repeated his success as a solo pianist at premier venues in the South, including several invitation-only performances at Vicars’ Hall, Windsor Castle.
Prof. Lehocky is now a keen adjudicator and also an educator of young musicians, which includes teaching piano, composition and arrangement at the helm of TVPS – his students are enjoying local, national and international acclaim.
Andrew Dibb
Andrew has enjoyed a successful twenty-year career in music education, latterly as Director of Music at St. Paul’s Cathedral School, London. In 2022 he was appointed to the shared role of Chief Examiner for ABRSM, which he undertakes alongside a varied freelance career encompassing performing, adjudicating, presenting and consultancy.
As an engaging and experienced provider of INSET and workshops, he has presented to conferences in the UK, Spain, Malaysia and Thailand. His adjudicating work has taken him to many of the UK’s leading schools and BIFF festivals.
Andrew won the Organ Scholarship to The University of Hull, held in conjunction with the post of Assistant Organist at Beverley Minster, before undertaking performance studies in organ with Margaret Phillips and Gordon Stewart at the RNCM.
In addition to directing and playing on BBC broadcasts, he has performed as both soloist and accompanist in major venues across the UK, including the cathedrals at Bradford, Carlisle, Chichester, Ely, Lincoln, St Asaph’s, St Paul’s London, Ripon and Rochester.
Timothy Barratt
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.
James Kirby
As a soloist and chamber musician James performs regularly throughout the UK and Europe. His recital work includes appearances at major concert series in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland, the Czech Republic, Bermuda, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia and in the UK at Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals. Having studied at the Moscow Conservatoire (during which time he reached the semi finals of the International Tchaikovsky Competition) he frequently returns to perform in the former Soviet Union. Highlights have included performances at the Sakharov Festival in Nizhny Novgorod and the Omsk Festival. His orchestral performances include concertos with the Moscow, Khazakh and Belorussian Symphony Orchestras, and the Arad and Oradea Philharmonic Orchestras (Romania), and the English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire and Astana Opera House. He has performed both Brahms Concertos in Russia and Romania.
He has been a member of the Barbican Piano Trio since 1992, performing regularly at Wigmore Hall and in major UK festivals and concert series, and throughout Europe and the USA. Highlights include Carnegie Recital Hall and many cycles of Beethoven’s complete Piano Trios including the Master Concert Series at Wigmore Hall. The Trio’s repertoire consists of over seventy works and their discography includes trios by Lalo, Tchaikovsky, Taneyev, Rachmaninov and Schnittke.
James has worked with the Vanburgh Quartet, BBC Singers, Lydia Mordkovitch and the mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly and has made several recordings for Chandos. He is a dedicated teacher and enjoys posts at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and Royal Holloway, University of London. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Rachmaninov Institute, Tambov, Russia where he makes frequent visits to perform concertos, give recitals and masterclasses and lead chamber music courses.
He has served on the Juries of several international Piano competitions, notably in Romania, Latvia, Russia and Slovenia and gives many masterclasses, both in the UK and overseas, most recently in China and Hong Kong. He is in considerable demand as an adjudicator and is a member of the ABRSM examining panel, which has taken him to Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Indonesia and many European countries.
Gill Cracknell
Gillian Cracknell studied the piano with Marjorie Clementi as a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal Northern College of Music in her hometown of Manchester. While still a student she gave recitals with the leader of the Hallé Orchestra, Martin Milner, who had been her violin teacher from the age of ten.
Gill continued her musical education at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she also studied singing, and since graduation she has worked as a chamber pianist, piano accompanist and recitalist, her concert engagements taking her to many European countries and the United States.
For the Independent Television series entitled “Will Shakespeare” she played in scenes with Tim Curry and Patience Collier, and she has performed in theatre as Clara Wieck in the duo “Schumannic” devised and played by the actor Michael Wilcox. Gill collaborates with singers on the interpretation of French Classical Song and German Lieder, and she is deeply committed to working with young musicians preparing for scholarships, competitions and recitals.
She has taught at Harrow School, The King’s School Canterbury, King’s College Choir School Cambridge, St Paul’s Girls’ School, South Hampstead High School, The Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Gill has adjudicated piano prizes for the Worshipful Company of Musicians at the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican, for the North London Festival and post-graduate piano prizes at the Royal Academy of Music. She was a Governor of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain until 2019, she is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and she plays an active role in the work of the Friends of the Musicians’ Chapel.
Gill has been happily engaged as piano accompanist in residence for the Royal Free Music Society since 2000. In any remaining spare moments she enjoys good red wine, the Restoration Comedies and summer cycling in the Outer Hebrides.
