Adjudicators 2025
PIANO: 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 toured and broadcast extensively in the UK and abroad as soloist, accompanist and chamber music player. Whilst still a student he developed a special interest in song accompaniment through playing for Masterclasses at Aldeburgh, subsequently partnering such artists as Dame Felicity Lott and Robert White. Teaching forms a major part of his musical life and he works 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 career. An ABRSM examiner since 1991, he is also a Trainer, Moderator and Mentor. Other work for the AB includes selecting the graded Piano pieces and presenting Seminars. He frequently directs Masterclasses for performers and teachers’ workshops in the UK and Far East and is in demand as a Competition and Festival adjudicator.
PIANO: Joseph Tong studied at Wells Cathedral School, Cambridge University and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Much in demand as a soloist, duo pianist and chamber musician, Joseph made his Wigmore Hall recital debut in 1997 as winner of the Maisie Lewis Young Artists Award and now gives regular recitals throughout the UK and Europe. He has been particularly associated with the piano music of Jean Sibelius, having recorded three discs of a complete cycle for the Quartz label to critical acclaim and performing regularly in Finland over recent years. Other recent projects have included a new commission from the British composer David Matthews, a set of Five Trees which Joseph premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in 2022. He also performed the new work at the Sibelius Museum in Turku as part of a collaboration with the Åbo University Foundation, and the third album of Sibelius’s piano music. He has performed at Wigmore Hall in London and at Music Festivals including Cheltenham, Buxton, York and Oundle as well as in Japan and USA.
He also performs regularly with his brother Daniel, having appeared on Radio 3’s In Tune together and giving recent piano duet recitals at Conway Hall in London, St David’s Hall Cardiff, and the Laidlaw Music Centre at the University of St Andrews. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2008 and has been a music adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Festivals since 2019. He tutors at Wells Cathedral School and is coordinator of the Wells International Piano Summer School. Joseph will also be joining the faculty of the Chetham’s International Piano Summer School in 2025 and has recently been invited to adjudicate piano prizes at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
SINGING: Belinda Mikhaïl won the Associated Board and the Queen Mother Scholarships to study piano and singing as a joint first study at the Royal College of Music where she won the Hopkinson Gold Medal for her final recital. She has since travelled extensively performing both as a soloist and as a chamber musician and has appeared as a concerto soloist at the major London Concert Halls. She has made numerous recordings for Sony BMG and Universal and is a vocal soloist on EMI's Vocalise album as used in trailers for ER, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. She appears as the featured soloist on many film soundtracks and her solo piano playing of the theme from Chariots of Fire was heard at every medal ceremony at the London Olympic Games. Belinda is in demand as a Vocal Coach for classical, musical theatre, jazz, pop and rock singers and runs an extensive private and online teaching practice. She has trained performers as diverse as Simone Ashley from Bridgerton, Siouxsie Sioux the rock legend and the Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche. She is also known in the industry as a Voice Over artist. Belinda’s work has seen her travel extensively, most recently enjoying work in Gibraltar and Thailand adjudicating at their annual music festivals. She thoroughly enjoys listening to a wide variety of music and meeting a wealth of musicians as she travels in her role as a British and International Federation adjudicator.
STRINGS: Kay Tucker was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire and began studies on the cello at the age of 12, continuing studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her portfolio career has combined teaching and adjudicating with performing as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Kay’s passion for teaching led her to develop an early years strings and general musicianship system known as ‘Stringbabies’. Since its’ inception in 2004, ‘Stringbabies’ has become well established and accepted as a leading approach in strings teaching and is being delivered throughout the UK and abroad in individual teaching practices, schools and music services. In 2013 and 2014, Stringbabies was shortlisted for the Inaugural Rhinegold Music Teachers Awards for Excellence in music education. In 2014 Kay was also a finalist in the BBC Community Heroes Awards in Education in respect of her work in developing ‘Stringbabies’. In 2016, Musicbabies for Recorder was published, being the first adaptation of Stringbabies for a non-stringed instrument.
Over 2017, Kay worked in partnership with Victoria College Examinations to develop a bespoke Stringbabies Award for beginner string players, now known as the VCM Stringbabies Award. Over recent years, Kay worked as a consultant to Trinity Guildhall, selecting and co-selecting repertoire for graded exams and diplomas. Kay has been a Trustee and member of the Executive council of the European String Teacher’s Association (ESTA), contributing to the development of the ESTA PGCert in String teaching. In May 2019, she was honoured by ESTA with an award in recognition of services to the European String Teacher’s Association. Kay became an Adjudicator Member of the British and International Federation of Festivals in 1997 and undertook the Post-graduate Certificate in Adjudication in 1999/2000.
