Performing at AFYM provides the unique opportunity to receive expert feedback from our incredible team of world-class adjudicators. Expect supportive and thorough adjudication designed to take your technique for future performances to the next level.
A regular at major festivals and concert halls, Robin Green performs a wide solo and chamber music repertoire from the Renaissance to ambitious contemporary repertoire including ‘Lieux Retrouvés’ by Thomas Adès, Ligeti’s Horn trio, Mantra by Stockhausen and Rzewski’s ‘The People United Will Never Be Defeated!’
Highlights for the 2024/25 season include recitals with Mayumi Seiler, Aurora orchestra’s Stravinsky Firebird (from memory) and a tour of the complete Beethoven works for cello and piano with the cellist Christian Elliott.
Past performance highlights include multiple appearances at Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein and major festivals including Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Interlaken Classics Festival, Davos Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, Penarth Chamber Music festival and the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier.
His discography includes works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert, Kurtág, Huw Watkins and Helen Grime. He has recorded for Claves, Gramola, Ty Cerdd and Prima Facie labels to critical acclaim. He has performed Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ on the popular Netflix show ‘The Crown’.
Robin is a solo piano professor and chamber music lecturer at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is much in demand for masterclasses across the UK and Europe. The focal point of his studies was working with György Kurtág, Rainer Schmitt and Ferenc Rados. A natural collaborator and passionate programmer, Robin has been an artistic director and guest curator of major festivals, include the Harrogate International festival and the Vale of Glamorgan festival.
Away from the piano, Robin has collaborated with actors, comedians, dancers, has sung his own arrangements of Tom Waits songs and has learnt how to play the Hurdy Gurdy.
Ben is a London based cellist and enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher and festival director. This September he performed in Bern and Basel, once again with the Basler Madrigalisten, giving the world premiere of ‘Stone Mountain’ by Christian Henking for cello and choir after premiering his work 'How do I love thee?' with them last April in Schwarzenburg, Switzerland.
In 2020, as a part of a BBC Radio 3 “Total Immersion” Concert in Milton Court Concert Hall, Ben gave the UK premiere of Anders Hillborg’s “Duo” for Cello and Piano in 2020, on which The Guardian commented, “playing with extraordinary precision and insight.”
Other concert highlights include Recitals at Wigmore Hall, St James’s Church Piccadilly, St Martin-in-the-Fields and Concerto performances at Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square, West Road Concert Hall, BBC Hoddinott Hall and Dora Stoutzker Hall. In 2022, he performed in Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” in The Barbican Hall, which was broadcasted on BBC Radio 3 and reviewed by The Guardian as “sensationally played”.
Born in Wales, Ben studied with Sharon McKinley and Alexander Baillie before attending the Yehudi Menuhin School to study with Thomas Carroll. He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Louise Hopkins, supported by Help Musicians UK and The Countess of Munster Trust.
During his time at The Guildhall School, Ben was selected as a Fellow to participate in the 2016 Piatigorsky Cello Festival in Los Angeles, reguarly performed in the BBC Radio 3 “Total Immersion” projects and performed as a soloist with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra for The LSO’s Donatella Flick Conducting Competition Semi-Finalists and also as a Finalist in the 2020 Guildhall Gold Medal concerto competition. Whilst a student, Ben regularly gave performances as a Concordia Foundation Artist and a Park Lane Group Artist in major London venues and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the “Suggia Gift” from Help Musicians UK and the “David Goldman Award” from The Worshipful Company of Musicians, as well as receiving their prestigious “Silver Medal Award” in 2020, nominated by the Guildhall School.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Ben has performed in other venues and Festivals such as Musikfestival Bern, the Tonhalle in Zurich, Casa da Musica in Porto, Cadogan Hall, The Millennium Centre, St David’s Hall, IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Seminar, London Cello Society concerts, both Buxton and Harrogate International Festivals, Temple Music Foundation, Thames Concerts Series, King’s Lynn Festival, Cowbridge Music Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Fidelio Cafe, Marden House, Banstead Arts Festival, High Barnet Chamber Music Festival and Alderney Chamber Music Festival.
Ben is Festival Director of the Llantwit Major Chamber Music Festival and was awarded the "2022 Master's Award" from the Livery Company of Wales, contributing to the Festival's educational work. He is a cello teacher at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, regularly performs chamber music concerts across Wales for Sinfonia Cymru and was invited to be guest Course Director for the Pro Corda 2022 Cello Course in Suffolk.
He currently plays a William Forster cello generously loaned to him by The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain.
Kevin Price was born in Wellington, New Zealand and studied at Otago University and the University of Auckland whilst working as sub-principal trombone with the Auckland Philharmonia and as a freelance player with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
He moved to London in 1989 after winning an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) scholarship for postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, leading to freelance work with several London orchestras. Kevin was subsequently appointed Principal Trombone of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and taught trombone for Chetham’s School of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.
In 2005, Kevin was appointed RWCMD Head of Brass and Percussion Studies, enabling him to build on a rich tradition of high-level performance and to oversee the development of vocational activities in brass chamber music, historical performance, educational outreach, brass teaching methods and healthy practice.
Kevin examines at specialist music schools and UK conservatoires and works as a reviewer, competition judge and festival adjudicator. He is a Diploma examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2012. He is a member of the Court of Assistants for the Royal Society of Musicians and supports the work of the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund and British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), aiding performing musicians to pursue active and healthy careers.
From 2016, Kevin served as RWCMD Interim Director of Music, leading to his appointment as Deputy Director of Music in 2019. The role requires him to balance and blend professional training of music students with the vibrant and diverse RWCMD arts programme, ensuring that each world-class artist visiting RWCMD brings with them a significant benefit to the student’s training experience. Whilst developing and facilitating cross-disciplinary performance opportunities and ongoing enhancements for students, he also supports the development of the College’s profile as the National Conservatoire of Wales, and its participation within music education in Wales and international music industry networks.
Kevin is an ABRSM Diploma examiner (Conducting, Teaching and Instrumental), and is also a Diploma Syllabus Advisor (2013-). He has served as external examiner at Chetham’s School of Music and is the Brass Assessor for the Purcell School. He has been the external brass examiner at the Birmingham Conservatoire (2017) and the Royal Northern College of Music (2016). He is also on the Advisory Committees for the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (2012-), and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales (2009-).
Kevin chairs audition panels for BBC Young Musician of the Year is a regular adjudicator and examiner throughout the UK.
He is a trustee of the Mavron String Quartet and sits on the Education Advisory Committee for The Benedetti Foundation. He presented ‘Institutional Relevance’ at the AEC Annual Congress and General Assembly, Graz (2018).
Kevin has collaborated with Dr Alan Watson (Reader in Anatomy and Neuroscience, Cardiff University) in several studies on the physiology of brass performance. These cover posture, breathing and embouchure function. They have involved students at RWCMD and the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, as well as professional players associated with RWCMD. The work has been supported by funding from a Wellcome Trust People Award (2007-2009) and a multi-conservatoire AHRC grant ‘Musical Impact’ (2013-2017).
Described as 'thrilling', 'highly original' and 'immediately appealing', Lynne Plowman is a composer whose music ranges from delicate instrumental solos and duos, to bold, theatrical vocal and orchestral works.
She is perhaps best known for her award-winning chamber operas for young audiences, created in collaboration with the writer, Martin Riley. 2023 saw two new productions - The Face in the Mirror (commissioned in 2011 by Welsh National Opera) in a new French translation, by Opera-Theatre Junior in Geneva, and Captain Blood's Revenge (a 2012 Glyndebourne commission) at the Norfolk Into Opera Festival.
Living in rural Wales, Lynne Plowman's music is often directly influenced by the natural world. A BBC Radio 3 lockdown commission, Songbird for solo flute, initiated a series of pieces featuring bird-song, including Bird Music for recorder and piano, commissioned by James Brookmyre and Elisabeth Williams and Dances with Bells and Birds - five movements for solo piano which was premiered by Elena Cholakova at the 2023 Prague Piano Festival, ahead of a new CD recording on US label, New Focus Recordings, planned for 2025.
A series of larger ensemble works reflects on the climate crisis. Life Cycles is a new work for solo harp and string orchestra which was co-commissioned by the Presteigne Festival in Wales and the Grand Teton Music Festival in the USA. The world premiere was given by harpist Anne Denholm with the Presteigne Festival Orchestra conducted by George Vass in August 2024. The USA premiere will take place in June/July 2025 in the Grand Teton Music Festival, Wyoming. The first work in this series was Carbon Sky, commissioned and premiered by The Berkeley Ensemble in 2019, performed most recently during their 2023 birthday celebrations at St John's Smith Square in London. Clarion Call was commissioned by Ensemble Telemaque for performances in and around Marseille in 2021 and 2024, and Small World, commissioned by the Merian Ensemble, received its premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2022 and was recorded on their 2024 album, The Book of Spells.
Lynne Plowman's music is featured on several recordings by various labels including Prima Facie Records’ 2020 release, The Beachcomber, an album of songs, solos and duos spanning twenty years of her music.
In addition to her composing work, Lynne Plowman is a passionate advocate of creative music education in schools. A highly experienced teacher and mentor, she is a composition tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the resident composer for the pioneering Dyfed Young Composers scheme, which, in partnership with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, encourages and supports music composition in schools across West Wales. Her music is featured in the WJEC A level music syllabus. In 2022, Lynne was awarded the Welsh Music Guild's prestigious Joseph Parry Award "for her exceptional contribution to musical education in Wales".
Lynne Plowman's music is published by Composers Edition and Wise Music Classical. She is Chair of the ISCM Wales Section, a Vice-President of the Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.