Conference Speakers

Penelope Price Jones was a scholarship holder at RAM and she studied with Marjorie Thomas, Thomas Hemsley and Paul Hamburger. She sang extensively with choral societies and had a longstanding recital partnership with her ex-husband Philip Martin. She made regular visits to the USA where she has performed and given masterclasses. Currently she teaches at Dauntsey’s School in Wiltshire and choral scholars at Oxford University. She is a voice mentor for the CT ABRSM and is a Federation of Festivals Adjudicator. In 2010, she was administrator of the EVTA European Vocal pedagogy week.

Marian Bryfdir was born in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, North Wales and studied at the RAM. She sang with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden before specialising in opera-in education and voice teaching. In 1991 she was awarded the Lord Harlech Memorial Fellowship for her work with young singers. She established Opera Gogledd Cymru and was head of Singing at the University College of Wales, Bangor before moving to Andalucia .She has now returned to live and work in Wales but continues to give presentations on Spanish Song and zarzuela.
After taking a degree in French and German at King’s College Cambridge and training as a pianist and singer at the RCM, where he was a scholar and subsequently a member of staff, Gordon Stewart has performed and broadcast over the years in both roles. He worked at BBC Radio 3 as producer of six operas and many live and recorded programmes. In 1986 he received a Sony award for bringing the first live broadcast from the Soviet Union. As Head of Vocal Studies at RSAMD he wrote the Vocal degree Syllabus and drew up the plans for the Opera School. Since his return to freelance work in London he has worked as a private teacher, broadcaster, panel member of International jury work and producer of programmes for the BBC and CD’s.

Nigel Argust read music at Birmingham University and studied the organ at Birmingham Conservatoire. In 1975 he won the Turpin Prize for organ playing in the FRCO Diploma. In 1984 he became Director of Music at King Edward Vl High School in Birmingham. For several years he was accompanist of Birmingham Bach Society. In the last 20 years he has been involved in music at Lichfield cathedral where he directed the Chamber Choir. He is now honorary Assistant Organist and a deputy Lay Vicar Choral. He is a senior examiner with one of the public examining Boards.

Susan Yarnall (Dr. S.J. Monks) initially trained as a music teacher at the University of London but maintained a singing career performing with opera and choral societies .She has recorded with the BBC West of England Singers and BBC2’s The Late Show. In 1999 she began her MA in the Psychology of Music at Sheffield University with research into the adolescent singing voice. In 2007 she was awarded her PH.D. She has presented papers at the international Voice Congress in Helsinki, Vancouver and Paris. Currently teaches at Chichester University, St Paul’s Girls’ School, London and privately.

Ivor Flint is a tenor soloist and voice teacher. He has performed operatic roles with Handel Opera, Barezzi Opera and the Northern Ireland Operatic Trust. In addition to this he has given recitals with, amongst others, Betty Roe. He teaches at London College of Music to foundation and undergraduate students and is currently Warden of the Private Teachers section of the ISM.

Lawrence Broomfield graduated at Birmingham Conservatoire. As a soloist he has performed in many different styles including choral and oratorio work – Mozart’s Requiem with the CBSO, the Five Mystical Songs of Vaughan Williams, Judas Maccabeus and the Durufle Requiem. Operatic roles include Bartolo, Mr Gedge (Albert Herring) and Ashmodeus (Tobias and the Angel). He has played Marius in Les Miserables and Raoul in Phantom of the Opera as well as and worked as a backing singer for Chris de Burgh. Currently he is on the staff of Mountview and Arts Educational at Tring Park.

Alison Mary Sutton trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she won several prizes and awards. She has performed vocally at most of the London Concert halls and worked as part of a harp/voice duo fulfilling many engagements at Music Clubs. She has performed with Kent Opera and Opera de Lyon. Busy as a teacher and adjudicator, she has examined for Trinity Guildhall. She is now an ABRSM diploma examiner and mentor for the CT ABRSM Course. She has been Director of Music at Rendcomb, an annual residential singing Course and has tutored at Hereford International Summer School and Benslow Music Trust .At Cheltenham General Hospital’s Voice Clinic, she is vocal adviser.

Victoria Simmonds studied at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She quickly established her career by singing many roles for ENO including Rosina, Cherubino, Dorabella, Zaide, Zerlina and Hermia. She has performed in opera and concert in the UK and Europe including Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, Garsington, Grange Park, Buxton, Edinburgh, BBC Proms, Concertgebouw, Berlin, Salzburg, Stuttgart and Aix en Provence. She has worked with the LPO, LSO, and the London Sinfonietta. In demand as a performer of Contemporary Music, she has performed Henze’s Voices in Krakow and created the title role in Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio. In 2012/13 she will take part in the World premiere of a new opera by George Benjamin in Aix en Provence with subsequent performances at the Netherlands opera, Toulouse, Covent Garden, La Scala Milan, the Wiener Festwochen and the Bavarian State Opera.

Paul Deegan trained as an elementary School Teacher, took an arts degree at University College Dublin and at the same time built a national reputation on the Recital platform as a tenor soloist. He worked in the USA as Vocal supervisor at the Education department of the State University College in Cortland N.Y. Continuing with vocal studies, he left the schoolroom to become a soloist and teacher at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he was later Head of Vocal Studies.

After coming through a career threatening operation on her vocal cords, Sophie Garner is happy to be back singing regularly and ready to unveil a new album of her songs. Suffolk born, she sang as a child on the amateur stage and then became a member of the National Youth Theatre. Singing took over from acting and she was the first performer at the London OZ Arena .She has been supported in her vocal rehabilitation by Mark Meylan, vocal consultant and Claire Wells, speech therapist. Together they have formed the group Voxop to provide support for singers who have experienced severe vocal issues requiring surgery. The venture is supported by the Musician’s Benevolent Fund.