ABRSM
Song of Songs welcomes Fall ‘09 ABRSM Examiners!
This fall ‘09 practical examinations welcome 3 special examiners from the U.K.
(left: Mr. Bernard King, center: Mr. Stephen Ellis, right: Mr. Paul Arnell; depicted with the New York Representative on the far left)
Bernard King
Bernard King started to play the piano at the age of five and while still at school achieved both the ARCM and the LGSM Performers diplomas, the latter with the silver medal for the highest score in the UK. Subsequently he studied for five years at the Royal Academy of Music with Frederic Jackson and Vivian Langrish winning several prizes and scholarships, including the highest award – the Recital Diploma. On two occasions he was chosen as soloist for the orchestral concerts. A French Government Scholarship and awards from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust enabled him to spend several years in Paris studying with the distinguished pianists Vlado Periemuter and Marcel Ciampi, who had close links with Debussy and Ravel.
Bernard has had a varied musical career and has been active in many spheres of performing and teaching. As pianist and accompanist he has played throughout Europe including London concerts at the Wigmore Hall and South Bank and has also broadcast for the BBC.
Teaching has always been of great importance to him and he has held appointments both at the Royal Academy Junior Department and the Senior Department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, where he was Professor of Piano for many years. During his time in Scotland, together with his colleague Elisabeth Jacobs, he founded the Scottish International Piano Competition, now an elected member of the International Federation of Music Competitions. In 1987 he was appointed as Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of service to the music profession. His teaching has been strongly influenced by the Alexander Technique and he developed a strong interest in the psychological aspects of performing, exploring new ways to help students unlock places of hidden potential within that would allow them to express themselves in a fuller more authentic way. He is also qualified and active professionally as a Psychotherapist.
Paul Arnell
Paul Arnell was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, where he started learning the violin, viola, piano, and flute. He then went to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied on the GRSM (Hons) course, concentrating on the viola and piano as his main instruments. During this period, Paul also passed LRAM, ARCM, and LTCL diplomas before going to Homerton College, Cambridge, where he gained a PGCE qualification.
Paul’s first teaching post was as Head of Music in a secondary school, and he has subsequently worked for Music Services in Essex, where he was an Area Manager, and for the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Havering. In 1997 Paul completed an NVQ Level 4 course in Management and was subsequently awarded the East Anglian Regional Student of the Year. His most recent post as Head of Strings for Havering Music School gave Paul the opportunity to conduct a massed string group of eighty young people on stage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
The span of Paul’s teaching experience is wide and varied and covers all ages on violin, viola and piano as well as general class music, A-level teaching, orchestral coaching and conducting. He has conducted youth orchestras, string groups, and choirs, and has vast experience in working with Junior String Ensembles. In addition to this, Paul has been Musical Director of Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Groups putting on cabaret-style shows, as well as working with young people in order to musically direct performances of Oliver and Tom Sawyer.
Originally a member of the Essex Youth Orchestra, where he was principal viola, Paul is also the violist in the Westbourne String Quartet and a regular performer with the Riverside Ensemble and the Aurelian Orchestra. Paul has been giving duo recitals throughout Essex for the past seventeen years with the clarinetist Carol Taylor, and together they performed Bruch’s Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with the Essex Chamber Orchestra.
Paul has performed extensively throughout England and abroad, notably in France, Germany, Sweden, Israel, and Russia, and his love of travelling has taken him to most European countries as well as to the USA, Canada, India, Hong Kong and up beyond the Arctic Circle in Norway.
Stephen Ellis
Stephen Ellis studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Alexander Kelly and Rex Stephens, where he graduated with Honours and was awarded prizes for piano accompaniment. He performs regularly throughout the United Kingdom and internationally, and as worked with many distinguished singers including the late Arleen Auger and the famous soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in her master class series at the Wigmore Hall in London.
Stephen has also been closely associated with the renowned theatre company ‘Opera Circus’ and as pianist/Musical Director, has toured throughout the world taking part in festivals and giving educational workshops. Other companies include ‘Les Bons Vivants’ (with soloists from ‘Covent Garden’) and ‘European Chamber Opera’. He has performed in chamber ensembles such as ‘Badinage’, ’ The Doppler Trio’ and ‘The Regency Ensemble’.
Apart from his performances, Stephen has considerable experience as a piano teacher working with all ages and levels in his private practice and in music colleges, also in master class situations. As a vocal coach, he specializes in operatic and song repertoire, collaborating with young professionals as well as established singers. He has adjudicated fro festivals in the UK, Hong Kong and regularly tutors on summer schools.