Competitions 2025 - Meet the Adjudicators!
We’re honoured to announce our brilliant Competitions 2025 adjudicators, who will be judging our four performance categories at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Sunday February 23 2025.
Their experience spans the flute universe - be it playing in the new Wicked movie, recording for Billie Eilish and Hans Zimmer, exploring folk music, performing with top orchestras, or teaching at the Royal Academy of Music!
Everyone who performs at the Competitions live event will receive individual feedback from them - it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn from leading lights of the flute world.
For full Competitions details and to enter, just click below:
School Performer category - Catherine Handley and Dr. Julie Maisel
Catherine Handley © Mari Owen
Catherine Handley
Catherine studied the flute at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Centre for Orchestral Studies. She has a freelance career playing chamber music, including flute and harp duos and small ensembles. In recent years her orchestral work has been with the English Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de Cymru, Ensemble Cambrica, Mid Wales Opera & Ensemble Cymru. She score-reads for televised concerts, mostly for BBC Classical Music productions including the Proms and Cardiff Singer of the World.
She teaches at Cardiff University & regularly coaches youth orchestras, and was a tutor at the Young Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama for 20 years. Solo recordings include Ariel, flute & piano music by members of 'The Composers of Wales'; the Flute Concertino & Spirit of the Mountain by Christopher Gunning with the RPO; Isca & Mearc by Ian Lawson; and A Journey, folk music old & new.
She writes, ‘for over 35 years I have been privileged to experience the effect of music through taking projects to preschool & primary children, through teaching, performing and playing music in care homes and hospitals.’
Dr. Julie Maisel, flutist, educator and academic, moved to Dublin from Florida and has been a lecturer in flute performance at the TU Dublin Conservatoire since 2005.
An active soloist and avid chamber musician, she has presented concerts in Ireland, the US, Sweden and England and has performed with orchestras both in the US and Ireland. Her published output can be found in such professional journals as Flute Talk and Flutist’s Quarterly.
She has performed in the Kaleidoscope Music Series, the Castleknock Music Festival, the Castletown Music Series, Lunchtime Concerts in Hugh Lane Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London) and in the 2013, 2018 and 2020 National Flute Association Conventions in the US. In 2018 she released her debut CD, Flute Music of Luigi Zaninelli.
Young Performer category - Joss Campbell and David Cuthbert
Growing up, Joss studied with some of the UK's leading flute professors; the main influences in her playing and technique being John Francis and Peter Lloyd. At thirteen, she debuted with The London Symphony Orchestra, playing a concerto with them in the Shell/LSO Scholarship competition.
After studying at Chetham's, Joss gained a scholarship to The Royal College, followed by further studies at The Guildhall. As a student, she gained 2nd prize in the wind finals of BBC's Young Musician, 2nd prize in the Shell/LSO Scholarship and was principal flute with the European Youth Orchestra. Her flute playing has taken her all over the world as soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, pit player and educator.
Joss is based in London where her teaching is in great demand. She has recently written and published a series of flute warm up books, enthusiastically received by the flute community all over the world.
David Cuthbert
David studied the flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he was the recipient of the Chris Taylor Flute Award and a holder of the Junior Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellowship; after graduating with 1st Class Honours and a Distinction for Postgraduate studies, he has gone on to have a busy and varied freelance career.
David has been invited to play Guest Principal Flute with orchestras such as Britten Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia. He has enjoyed playing at the BBC Proms on many occasions with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia.
David also works in the West End where he deputises for the Lion King, Wicked, Les Miserables and in the past for Mary Poppins and Les Miserables in Concert. In 2020 David played on Gary Barlow’s album ‘Music Played by Humans’ which reached No 1 in the charts. In the last ten years he has worked more in the studio, recording for over 150 films, TV series, computer games and commercials. A few of the soundtracks that David can be heard playing flute, piccolo, alto and bass flute on are Wicked, Paddington 3, Barbie, Wonka, Matilda, Pinnochio, I,Robot and the most recent James Bond Film ‘No Time To Die’.
David has always balanced his playing career with being a committed teacher. David teaches the flute at Sevenoaks School and at the London Oratory and Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London. In the past he taught at Trinity College of Music Junior Department.
Young Artist category - Laura Jellicoe and Rowland Sutherland
Laura Jellicoe
Laura’s career as a flautist has taken her all over the world. She joined the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra aged 22 as Sub-Principal Flute, has been Principal Flute with the English Symphony Orchestra since 2004, and continues to play as Guest 1st or 2nd flute with orchestras throughout the UK including the Halle, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Mozart Players.
Orchestral highlights to date include playing in BBC Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, and at the Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; touring Europe with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; and recording with conductors such as Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Andrew Davis, Marin Alsop and Sir John Rutter. She has broadcast on radio and TV many times, and can be heard on recordings such as the Complete Beethoven Symphonies with Sir Charles Mackerras and RLPO; Bax Symphonies conducted by Vernon Handley and BBC Philharmonic; and Delius with Richard Hickox and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
As a soloist, Laura has performed Jolivet’s Flute Concerto with the City of London Sinfonia, Chaminade Concertino with the BBC Concert Orchestra, CPE Bach D minor Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and will soon be playing Weinberg’s 2nd concerto with the English Symphony Orchestra at Kings Place, London. She also loves playing chamber music, and collaborators over the years have included pianists Steven Osborne and Peter Donahoe, baritone Roderick Williams, clarinettist Emma Johnson and members of the Lindsey Quartet.
Alongside playing, Laura cares deeply about teaching. She had 10 wonderful years teaching at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and in 2021 was delighted to become a Professor of Flute at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She also continues to teach flute and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, having led the flute department there for several years. She regularly gives masterclasses, both face to face and online, and she runs an annual flute course, the ‘Grasmere Flute Retreat’, in the beautiful surroundings of the English Lake District. She has coached many orchestral Wind sections, working with groups from Chetham’s, the National Youth Orchestra and the RNCM, and she has been on the panel for competitions such as BBC Young Musician of the Year and the Feis Coeil competition in Dublin.
Rowland Sutherland © Richard Kaby
Rowland Sutherland
Flautist Rowland Sutherland enjoys an international career performing in many different fields of music. He regularly plays and guests in jazz groups, new music ensembles, improvised music, symphony orchestras, various non-Western groups, pop outfits, and as a soloist.
Sutherland has collaborated with numerous esteemed Jazz and World Music artists, such as Frank Wess, David Murray, Flora Purim, Henry Threadgill, Carla Bley and Manu Dibango, and has played and recorded with various new music ensembles and dance companies. As a freelance musician, Rowland is also active in the orchestral field, having played with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, American Composers Orchestra, BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.
Rowland has performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the globe such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York, North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands and the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His composition "Enlightenment" (Inspired by “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane) received much acclaim and was featured at James Lavelle's Meltdown Festival 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, with sell-out audiences. It was also featured on Jez Nelson’s “Jazz on 3” on BBC Radio 3 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Coltrane’s iconic album, “A Love Supreme.”
As bandleader, Sutherland's Brazilian-influenced jazz band Mistura has an album titled “Coast to Coast” on the FMR label. Additionally, his London Art Collective focuses on spatial, cosmic, and spiritual jazz, drawing influence from Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, McCoy Tyler, and Joe Henderson. Rowland has recorded for a diverse range of pop artists and producers such as Incognito, George Benson, Joss Stone, Billie Eilish, Mezzoforte, Hans Zimmer, Us3, Fightstar, Keziah Jones, Omar, William Orbit, Marc Almond, and MC Solaar.
Rowland lectures at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and tutors at the University of Southampton and Goldsmiths, University of London. He has also tutored at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Trinity Laban, Royal Northern College of Music, and University of Kent. He has held workshops, masterclasses, and coaching sessions at various conservatoires and universities both in the UK and abroad.
Flute Ensemble category - Carla Rees and László Rózsa
Carla Rees © Nick Romero
Carla Rees has developed an international reputation for her innovative work and in 2021 was appointed the first Professor of Low Flutes and Contemporary Flute at the Royal Academy of Music. Her multi-faceted career encompasses performance, collaboration, recording, composing, arranging, editing and teaching. Carla leads rarescale Flute Academy, an acclaimed flute ensemble for university students, young professionals, and advanced amateurs, for whom she arranges numerous works. The ensemble has performed in Greece, Poland and the United States, and is currently collaborating with a number of composers to create new repertoire.
László Rózsa © Jonathan Stow
László Rózsa
László Rózsa leads a versatile career as a recorder player, researcher, and educator. He is a principal player with Scotland’s Dunedin Consort, and he is a founding member of the chamber groups Ensemble 1604 and Scots Baroque, exploring new music, improvisation, and folk styles. As a researcher his primary interest is the stage behaviour and interaction of performers in various musical cultures. In the autumn of 2023 he took up a lectureship and the position of Director of Performance at the University of Nottingham.
