Music Adjudicators 2026

Amanda Roocroft graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in 1990 and quickly gained international acclaim as one of Britain’s most exciting singers. She has enjoyed a close relationship with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival, the English National Opera, the Welsh National Opera, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, performing leading roles ranging from Handel to Wagner. Amanda has also sung at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Houston, Amsterdam, Berlin, Salzburg, Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris.

Amanda is a professor of vocal studies at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She is passionate about teaching and believes in developing young singers into unique, well-rounded artists through solid technique and vivid imagination. She has conducted masterclasses at various esteemed institutions, including RNCM, RCM, GSMD, Pembroke College Cambridge, and the Royal Opera House for the Young Artist Programme. Amanda has also been a visiting tutor at the Sammling Foundation, Abbingdon summer school, Jackdaws, Leeds Lieder Festival, and the Mediterranean Opera Studio Festival.

Amanda has received several prestigious awards, including The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for an operatic debut and a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. In 2007, she was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for her portrayal of Jenufa at the English National Opera.

She is a fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music and University of Lancashire and was made an honorary doctor of Manchester University.

Joanna gained a First Class Honours Bachelor of Music degree from Manchester University in 1996. She also won the Hargreaves Music Prize and the Sir Thomas Beecham Medal for outstanding achievement throughout the course.

Following this she continued her studies at the RNCM with Paul Jones and Renna Kellaway, obtaining the sought after Professional Performance Diploma and a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance. She won the Granada Chamber Music Award, the Song Cycle Accompanist's Prize, an Allcard Award and an English Speaking Union scholarship to study piano in France with teachers from the Paris Conservatoire.

Joanna has a busy teaching schedule as director of the Garcia Piano School and works with students internationally. She is also a pedagogy coach with her own associate tutors as well as other instrumental teachers and works as freelance staff pianist at the RNCM. Joanna also enjoys working with singers as a coach.

biography imminent.

to be announced