The 2018 judges are:
John Holloway
John is a choral trainer and organist who was for twenty years Director of Music at Wellington College in Berkshire. He currently directs Tewkesbury Choral Society and Cantores Chamber Choir and is the Director of Music at St Peter and Saint Paul Church, Upton upon Severn.
He has been a judge at all the Upton Choir Festivals since 2014.
John is a choral trainer and organist who was for twenty years Director of Music at Wellington College in Berkshire. He currently directs Tewkesbury Choral Society and Cantores Chamber Choir and is the Director of Music at St Peter and Saint Paul Church, Upton upon Severn.
He has been a judge at all the Upton Choir Festivals since 2014.
Seb Farrell
Seb is an emerging composer and conductor. Having been the student conductor of Coventry University Performing Arts Orchestra for the academic years 2012-2014 he was awarded with a First Class Degree in Music Composition.
Seb leads other choirs in and around Warwickshire and London - and also teaches brass and percussion. He has a passion for music-making as an enjoyable but beneficial tool. His compositional work has been played and recorded by ensembles across the world.
Linda Parsons
Linda Parsons is a professional musician who spends her life teaching, conducting, composing and performing.
She began her musical studies at the Bromley Music Centre with Mavis Dean (Vocal) and Reginald Jeavons (Piano) and progressed to the Royal Academy of Music where her vocal coach was Bruce Boyce, the celebrated Canadian baritone.
She has also continued her piano studies with Geoffrey Pratley gaining her diploma for piano accompaniment from the Guildhall School of Music.
Linda has also studied conducting technique with Anthony Negus of the Welsh National Opera and has pursued her vocal studies with John Mitchinson.
Linda has been Music Director for a number of choirs in the past notably The Jubilee Singers, a 50 strong mixed choir based in Cropredy, Oxfordshire and The Vocal Score, a chamber choir founded by Linda herself.
Now, having returned to live in Gloucester, she is the Conductor of Philomusica, directing works of many genres from Bach to Jonathan Willcocks as well as continuing the choir’s affinity with the English greats such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams.
Linda Parsons is a professional musician who spends her life teaching, conducting, composing and performing.
She began her musical studies at the Bromley Music Centre with Mavis Dean (Vocal) and Reginald Jeavons (Piano) and progressed to the Royal Academy of Music where her vocal coach was Bruce Boyce, the celebrated Canadian baritone.
She has also continued her piano studies with Geoffrey Pratley gaining her diploma for piano accompaniment from the Guildhall School of Music.
Linda has also studied conducting technique with Anthony Negus of the Welsh National Opera and has pursued her vocal studies with John Mitchinson.
Linda has been Music Director for a number of choirs in the past notably The Jubilee Singers, a 50 strong mixed choir based in Cropredy, Oxfordshire and The Vocal Score, a chamber choir founded by Linda herself.
Now, having returned to live in Gloucester, she is the Conductor of Philomusica, directing works of many genres from Bach to Jonathan Willcocks as well as continuing the choir’s affinity with the English greats such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams.
