ADJUDICATORS

University New York, and music education hubs across England.

He has conducted the BBC Symphony Chorus, London Bach Choir and the London Symphony Chorus and collaborated with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Edward Gardner and Sir Colin Davis. He has conducted the National Youth Orchestras of Ireland and Ulster, the City of London Sinfonia, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra in a range of performance and education projects.

An avid collaborator, with a Masters degree in composition, Greg has commissioned new music for choirs, electro-acoustic musicians, Irish folk ensembles, traditional Indian musicians, dance companies, pop stars and jazz bands.

Greg Beardsell is a leading light in music education and performance; his ability to inspire people of all ages to explore new musical horizons has created new and exciting music-making opportunities, particularly for children and young people.

He is Music Director of the London Youth Chamber Choir, Principal Conductor of the National Youth Training Choir and Associate Conductor of London Voices. He is also Musical Director of the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland, an ensemble established in 1995 as a peace initiative and composed of exceptionally talented young musicians from all over the island of Ireland. Every year, in collaboration with the orchestra, he conducts over 35,000 school children across Ireland and the UK in a concert series called the Peace Proms; performances which help to build and nurture vital cross community relations.

He has held directorships with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, the Irish Youth Choir, the Ulster Youth Choir and the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir and has presented seminars on conducting and teaching strategies for organisations such as Cambridge University, the Association of Swedish Choral conductors, Cornell

He enjoys a very close association with Royal Albert Hall, devising the inaugural International Youth Choir Festival there in 2017. The festival, produced in collaboration between the RAH Education & Outreach team and the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, featured seminars, workshops and performances in the Hall and across the city from some of the finest choirs in the world. Greg also hosts the ‘Carols at the Hall’ shows, a series of multiple sold out performances across the festive period.

He is a guest presenter for BBC Radio 3’s Live in Concert, Inside Music and Choir and Organ programmes, and this year he featured as a choral music expert for the BBC Proms television broadcasts.

Zlatan Fazli

Zlatan graduated with first-class honours from the Music Academy in Sarajevo. His music and teaching education continued at the Guildhall School of Music and Kingston University in London. His teaching career spanned over 25 years during which time, he taught at and led some of the finest music and performing arts departments in the UK. His choirs won numerous local, county and international choral competitions in the UK between 1995 and 2019, covering a wide range of repertoires from The Beatles to Bernstein, and from Handel to Bruckner. Zlatan is now the Director of Qatar Music Academy.

Olga Protopopova

Olga graduated with distinction from the world-acclaimed Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music (Kyiv Conservatory), and subsequently worked as a professional accompanist to world-renowned vocal tutors, and has extensive experience working with international singers. She has built considerable experience in the Middle East, including four years in Jordan, where she taught numerous high-level students and staged many classical concerts. Since 2006, Olga has been Principal for the International Centre for Music in Doha, where she continued to be a munificent mentor with a passion and commitment to excellence.