Brentwood International Music Competition

A renowned piano pedagogue, with many international competition prize-winners amongst her students, Vanessa has been Head of Keyboard at the Royal College of Music since 2005. Awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music in 2010, an honour conferred on her by HRH Prince of Wales, in September 2011, she was granted a Personal Chair at the RCM, which gave her the title of Chair of International Keyboard Studies. As an extension to her keyboard faculty work, Vanessa was appointed as the Associate Director for Partnerships in Asia, which involves managing the RCM’s collaborative work in China and the RCM’s degree programmes at Nangyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. Vanessa was previously a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music for 14 years, where she was made an Honorary Associate in 1997.

After studying at the Royal College of Music with Kendall Taylor and completing her training in the USA and Paris with Claude Franck and Vlado Perlemuter, Vanessa was awarded many scholarships and prizes from international piano competitions. Her concert career has taken her to Europe, the USA and the Far East, as well as many festivals within the UK.

Vanessa’s interest in Bach led to a performance of the complete 48 Preludes and Fugues at the Lichfield International Festival in 1992, the performances being given over four consecutive evenings. She has performed as a soloist with international orchestras and those in the UK including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, and BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, working with many leading conductors. She is a Steinway Artist and has broadcast for over 30 years for BBC Radio 3 and has also broadcast extensively on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4. To celebrate Queen Victoria’s 200th birthday in 2018, Vanessa appeared on BBC 2’s documentary on the Queen, Prince Albert and Felix Mendelssohn with Lucy Worsley, which was filmed in Buckingham Palace.

As this year’s Head of the Jury for the Internationaler Bach Wettbewerb, Leipzig, Vanessa is also the Artistic Director of Hastings International Piano in which capacity she chairs the jury for HIPCC and oversees the artistic programme for HIP concerts. She has been a juror and jury chair for numerous other international competitions in China, Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Italy, New Zealand, USA, Singapore, and Hong Kong and has adjudicated the national keyboard final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year. In 2007 she was an advisor to the BBC TV programme ‘Classical Star’.

As an advisor to Lang Lang Music World in Shenzhen, China, from its inception, Vanessa has always demonstrated a passion for supporting young musicians worldwide. She now holds the honour of being Artistic Advisor to the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. Vanessa frequently travels to give masterclasses, to such institutions as Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Beijing Central Conservatory, China Conservatory, Tokyo College of Music, Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, Seoul National University, Piano Texas, Oxford Piano Festival, as well as to other UK conservatoires and specialist music schools, and international summer schools.

Representing the professoriate, Vanessa has served four terms of office on the Council, the RCM’s Governing body. As a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, in January 2023 she was elected to the WCoM Court as a Court Assistant. She is a member of the editorial board of Classical Music Magazine and Director of the Eileen Rowe Musical Trust. She has contributed to the RCM’s publication, Inside the Conservatoire, published in 2025.

Gerard Le Feuvre is an outstanding British cellist, chamber musician, composer, and Director of the Kings Chamber Orchestra. He studied on scholarships at Charterhouse, the RAM (Florence Hooton), Banff (Canada), the US (Aldo Parisot), and in Finland with Arto Noras, as well as in masterclasses with Paul Tortelier. During his student years as principal cellist of the NYO, he was awarded the Lloyd’s Bank National Award for “outstanding musicianship and musical attainment,” gained first prize (CBS Records Award) in the Royal Society of Arts National Competition, and was awarded a public performance at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, where he was described in the international press as “a cellist of the highest class.”

Gerard went on, as a member of the English String Quartet led by Diana Cummings, to be Director of Education for the London Festival of Chamber Music, performing over several years the greatest chamber works with many of today’s leading chamber musicians. In 1985, Gerard founded the Kings Chamber Orchestra, and nearly 40 years later, he has directed over 800 of their concerts, pioneering new audiences in the UK and across the world. As a soloist, Gerard has given over 500 recitals with British pianist Nigel Clayton and performed concertos in Europe, the UK, and North America to critical acclaim.

His many compositions have been wonderfully received, and in 2007, his largest symphonic work The Rock, for a vast orchestra, choirs, and additional bands, was performed on his home island of Jersey to their largest-ever audience of 8,000. His works for narrator and orchestra have received scores of performances.

Gerard has a special interest in music for reconciliation and has initiated a number of projects for Ukraine, for Channel Island friendship with Germany after their occupation in WWII, and undertaken many other musical diplomatic missions for peace.

In 2000, Gerard was awarded an Honorary ARAM (Associate of the Royal Academy of Music) for his “outstanding contribution to the music profession.”

International press and reviews:
“A master of his instrument.”
“Outstanding musical, artistic, instrumental, and human qualities.”

Rosie’s vast experience as a performer, teacher, examiner and presenter, teamed with an innate love of music, underpins her unstoppable drive as a dedicated campaigner for music in education.

Her natural ability to captivate audiences and inspire young musicians to achieve their dreams stems from an unquestionable belief that music can change lives.

Rosie studied oboe with Michael Winfield at the Royal College of Music achieving an Exhibition Award in her first year. She went on to study at Durham University and gained a PGCE in 1996.

As an experienced adjudicator member of The British and International Federation of Festivals, Rosie is regularly called upon to adjudicate in the UK and abroad and has forged long-standing links with specialist music schools in Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Venezuela, Costa Rica,Dominican Republic, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Her positive, interactive adjudicating style inducing young musicians to participate, year on year.

As Director of Music at Whitgift School, Rosie devised numerous educational projects and regularly presented interactive concerts and masterclasses to thousands of primary school pupils.n Instrumental in developing the Whitgift International Music Competition in 2013, she continues to support and mentor young musicians hoping for a career in the profession. As an International Consultant, Rosie has worked with numerous families to assist them in finding the perfect UK school and applying for Music Scholarships and funding.

Rosie was appointed as Head of Junior Guildhall in January 2020.

Since his debut as a soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova at the age of 15, Grig has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the King’s Chamber Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra, the National Philharmonic and the National Youth Orchestras of Moldova.

He has given recitals and chamber concerts across the UK, Russia, Europe, Central America and the Middle East and performed solo in halls including Cadogan Hall in London, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Murmansk Philharmonic in Russia and Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem. Enthusiastic about humanitarian causes, Grig has been invited to perform in Israel and the West Bank as part of an initiative to bring reconciliation and dialogue to the region.

Besides performing as a violinist, Grig Cuciuc has appeared as a conductor with orchestras in the UK and Italy and regularly directs the Kings Chamber Orchestra. Other collaborations include recording and performing with Emmy-nominated experimental composer Robert Logan and recording solo violin for award-winning film director Alex Gibney.

Much in demand as an educator, Grig has given masterclasses in the UK and Central America and is currently the Artistic Director of Specialist Music at Brentwood School. Previously, he taught at Junior Guildhall and Whitgift School where he helped set up the Whitgift International Music Competition.

During his musical studies in London, Grig was awarded the Dip RAM prize for an outstanding final recital at the Royal Academy of Music, where he completed his MA with distinction on full scholarship, having previously earned his Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music. In his development, Grig has benefited from the Auer, Galamian, Ysaye and Yankelevich traditions learning from esteemed pedagogues such as Maciej Rakowski, Anne Shih, Clio Gould, Remus Azoitei, Taras Gabora and Tamara Kaftanat.

He is fluent in several European languages and plays on a fine Nicolo Gagliano violin, made in Naples in 1780.