Performing Arts Festival 2024
The 2024 Festival took place from 3rd – 10th March 2024. The event has now finished.
Due to works taking place there will be no festival in 2025. Keep checking back for details of the 2026 Festival.
Details of the 2024 Festival were as below:
Drama – Sunday 3rd March
Vocal – Monday 4th March, Tuesday 5th March
Piano & Instrumental – Thursday 7th March
Dance – Saturday 9th March, Sunday 10th March
The Festival Accompanist was Julie Aherne – julieaherne@msn.com
Audience Entrance Fees for 2024 were:
Weekly pass (for all Drama, Music and Dance sections) – £18
Two discipline Entry (covering you for two out of three disciplines i.e. drama and music, drama and dance, dance and music) – £15
Dance Pass (all dance sections) – £12
Music Pass (all music sections) – £10
Drama Pass (both sections) – £5
Individual section pass (sections are approx 2.5 hours, 4 sections a day on full days) – £3
Please read below for more information about our adjudicators for the 2024 event.
For further queries, please email: lvsfestival@lvs.ascot.sch.uk
Janet Shell – Vocal Adjudicator
Janet Shell has had a busy career as a mezzo soprano, winning prizes both in the UK and in France, and was the first person to sing live on ‘Classic FM’. A qualified teacher, she left a full-time post after 5 years to retrain as a singer and has worked for most for the major opera companies in the UK, however it is for recital and oratorio that she is best known. Janet teaches singing at Eton College and runs a busy private Practice. She gives masterclasses and is a vocal coach for choirs who wish to add vocal technique into their work and regularly works with the choir of Lloyds of London in this capacity, however also travels around the country. Janet has adjudicated for various Music festivals including Chester, Cheltenham and Worthing. In recent years, she has adjudicated school competitions at Marlborough College, Shrewsbury School, Eton College and Tiffin Girls’ School. Janet is in demand as a coach for trainee teachers in using their voice efficiently and creating that classroom presence.
Away from singing and teaching, Janet takes a keen interest in family ancestry and has presented many online talks about her WW1 family hero which attracted world wide interest and resulted in several radio and television appearances. Her discovery of a composition by her 4 x great grandfather, Thomas Shell, who was a singer and composer in Georgian Bath, appearing in one of the Jane Austen music books, copied out by either Jane or her sister, is now included in her online presentation about him.
Janet is the communications officer for AOTOS (Association of the Teachers of Singing). To find out more about Janet please visit her website: www.janetshell.co.uk
Wendy O’Dowd – Dance Adjudicator
Wendy started her full time Dance training at the Dance School of Scotland after being a junior associate at Scottish Ballet. She then continued her studies at Laine Theatre Arts. Her professional career as a dancer took her around the world as well as performing in London. Returning home, she embarked on her teaching career.
After continuing her teaching qualifications, Wendy became a dual examiner for the ISTD in 2004 and has progressed to examining at Vocational and DDE level exams. Wendy is also on the teaching teams for both ISTD Modern and Tap faculties and has delivered student and teacher courses both in the UK and Internationally, allowing her to teach in many countries all over the world.
Wendy has extensive teaching experience, and she has taught at many schools and full-time colleges. She currently teaches at Italia Conti, Wilkes Academy, and is a teacher training tutor at Bird college and Laine Theatre Arts. She also coaches Licenciate Tap at Dance Teachers Inc.
Wendy has always had a passion for conditioning for dancers, injury prevention and rehabilitation which naturally led her towards Pilates, and she became a qualified Pilates Mat teacher in 2019. Wendy is also a qualified RAD teacher and certified PBT teacher.
Deirdre Laird ARAD, RAD RTS, RAD – Dance Adjudicator
Following a formative dance training in Brighton and scholarships to The Royal Ballet School and Arts Educational, Deirdre enjoyed a long professional career. Her West End debut was in the original ‘CABARET’, (Palace Theatre) directed by Hal Prince, followed by many hit shows including ‘MY FAIR LADY’ (Adelphi Theatre) directed by Alan Jay Lerner and ‘FOLLIES’ (Shaftesbury Theatre) for Cameron Mackintosh.
Deirdre recorded numerous programmes for BBC and American TV including many Royal Variety performances, and worked with world famous artists such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior and Judy Garland. Film credits include ‘TCHAIKOVSKY’ directed by Ken Russell and the classic Spielberg movie ‘INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM’ in which she is a featured dancer. Whilst Head of Ballet tuition at Arts Educational London on the Musical Theatre Course, Deirdre also directed the Arts Ed Saturday School courses, a position she held for over 25 years. Having previously taught ballet at Elmhurst, Rambert and Laine Theatre Arts, she has directed Laird Academy in Surrey and London W3 for over twenty years.
Deirdre is an approved mentor for students wishing to attain the Royal Academy of Dance Certificate in Ballet Teaching Studies (CBTS) and is in demand as an adjudicator for nationwide dance festivals, recently serving on the panel for The All England Dance Competition Finals 2019. Deirdre brings her vast experience of professional ballet and stage performance to the direction and teaching within Laird Academy, this proving especially valuable to young aspiring students wishing to continue full-time performance courses at colleges of Further Education.
Anthony Williams MMus GRSM (Hons) LRAM ARAM – Piano/Instrumental Adjudicator
Concert pianist, writer, lecturer, examiner and adjudicator, Anthony Williams studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and then at Reading University.
Following international competition success, he embarked on a career as a concert pianist and alongside this quickly established an international reputation as a piano teacher and a passionate educator of pianistic musicianship at all ages and levels, giving piano masterclasses, public lecture-recitals and seminars on performance and the art of teaching both in the UK and abroad, including China and Hong Kong. He also coaches on International Summer Schools and Residential Courses.
Anthony has given talks on piano performance for Radio 3 and is author and editor of various publications including The Best of Grade and Fingerprints (Faber), Teaching Notes (ABRSM), EPTA Piano Journal, and the highly acclaimed Piano Teacher’s Survival Guide (Faber).
He is an ABRSM examiner (diploma, jazz and classical), educational consultant, and a member of the examiner training and review team. He is also a member of BIFF, Chair of EPTA Europe and President of Chipping Norton Music Festival. He was Head of Keyboard and Instrumental at Radley College, Oxfordshire for 34 years until recently retiring to focus on his freelance and consultancy work.
Laura Rogers – Drama Adjudicator
Laura has been acting since finishing her training at RADA and has extensive acting experience in both plays and television programs. Most recently she appeared in ‘When Winston went to war with the wireless’ at the Donmar Warehouse and in 2022 she appeared in the acclaimed ‘The Ocean at the end of the lane’ at the National Theatre. Laura has also appeared in various notable television programs such as Granchester, Doctors, Eastenders, Holby City, New Tricks and Law & Order.
Laura is also an accomplished singer and took part in Magic FM – Magic of the Musicals Concert.
Most notably Laura was nominated for Best Actress at the English Riviera Film Festival 2020 for ‘16 Days’.
Visit Laura’s spotlight to find out more about her experience and latest performances: https://app.spotlight.com/9736-9085-7369