Meet our adjudicators

Sian Evans
Adjudicator for String and Vocal Classes

Siân Evans enjoys a wide spectrum of music teaching, examining and performing. She studied and later taught at the Guildhall School of Music, London. Sian is a professional freelance chamber and orchestral violist and also the viola specialist and orchestral coach at Oundle School. Siân has been an examiner since 1994 and has enjoyed working for Trinity in India, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, South Africa, Namibia, Malaysia, Malta and Thailand.

An education project and concert tour with a string quartet took Siân to the Grenadine islands of St Vincent and Mustique in the Caribbean, working for the government. For twenty years, she was also a member of the eight-piece orchestra of The Bootleg Beatles tribute band, touring Europe and the UK.

Siân has an eclectic performing career, ranging from performances with English National Ballet and Holland Park Opera, to Robbie Williams and Deep Purple. As well as a violin and viola player, she is also a singer and performed for many years with the BBC Symphony Chorus, singing soprano at many Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, and also on European BBC tours. Siân is also a member of the European String Teachers’ Association. She lives in Cambridgeshire. 

Beate Toyka
Adjudicator for Piano

Beate Toyka is a successful and highly experienced Anglo-German piano performer, teacher and communicator. She graduated from Cologne Conservatoire and then undertook postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Beate regularly plays concertos with UK Midlands orchestras, as well as further afield, especially in her native Germany. These include all 5 Beethoven concertos, and concertos by Brahms, Schumann, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Ravel. Elsewhere in Europe, she has performed in France, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. In Africa, she has performed in Botswana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and

Zimbabwe, often under the auspices of the Goethe Institute. Aside from solo performance Beate delights in the teamwork of chamber music with her Mercian Piano Trio, and accompaniment. She has been coach and accompanist for Nottingham University Music School. She has a particular interest in multi-piano playing, and formed the Derby Piano Quartet, with 4 pianists, 8 hands on 2 pianos.

Beate teaches at every level and adjudicates nationwide. She was on the staff of the International Piano Summer Music School at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. She has been principal tutor for the Piano Teachers Course UK, at the Purcell School in Bushey, London.

Beate serves on the National Management Committee of EPTA, the European Piano Teachers Association; she also runs the Derby Teachers’ EPTA group.

To make them accessible to the learner, Beate is currently recording, with spoken introductions and technical hints, all of Bach’s Preludes and Fugues of the ‘Well Tempered Clavier’. The project is called ‘Step into the 48’ and is available on the Piano Online Academy. Her youtube channel is @beatetoyka9281.

James Rae   
Adjudicator for Woodwind and Brass

James Rae was born on Tyneside in 1957. He studied clarinet, bass clarinet, piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1975-79. His professors were Yona Ettlinger, Stephen Trier, Meriel Jefferson and Patric Standford respectively. Since leaving the Guildhall, James Rae has pursued a highly successful and varied career in music. His work falls into three areas, performing, writing and teaching.
As a player, James Rae has worked in many West End and Royal National Theatre productions including Sir Peter Hall’s award winning ‘Oresteia’ with music by Sir Harrison Birtwistle. He has also received many freelance engagements with some of the country’s leading orchestras and ensembles. Projects have included the EMI album ‘Classic Ellington’ with Sir Simon Rattle and the C.B.S.O.
Saxophone Quartet playing has featured strongly in James Rae’s career. He is the leader of the Phoenix Saxophone Quartet who over the years have given many recitals and broadcasts. They have also recorded the complete works of Carey Blyton on two albums ‘The Return of Bulgy Gogo’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes meets Dr Who.
As a composer, James Rae is one of Europe’s most published writers of educational wind music,  having over 200 publications to his credit. He is mainly published by Universal Edition but also has several publications with Faber Music, Reedimensions, Woodwind Plus, Queen’s Temple Publications, ABRSM and recently Trinity Guildhall. His music includes instrumental study books, tutors, transcriptions and volumes of duets. Many of his publications are to be found on all the major wind examination syllabuses. He as also written five full-length musicals in partnership with Mike Cornick.
One of his larger commissions was a major work for concert band called ‘The Turn of a Wheel’ which has received performances in many parts of the world since its premier in November 1999. This was written for the North Tyneside Concert Band of which he was a founder member as a boy with funds from the Arts Council of England via the National Lottery.
As a teacher, James Rae has held many posts in both the state and independent sector. He currently works at King’s College School Wimbledon and Shrewsbury House School in Surbiton. He is the director of the King’s College School Wind Orchestra, Concert Band and Wind Band and coaches three large jazz groups at Shrewsbury House. He has also adjudicated at many music festivals and competitions throughout the country.  
James Rae has tutored and conducted on many courses over the years including the highly popular Northern Saxophone Course and Jazz Zone.
James Rae lives in Carshalton Beeches in Surrey with his wife Sue and two sons Andrew and Stephen. His interests are food, drink and anything at all to do with railways! 

Jeffery Wilson 
Adjudicator for Ensemble and Community Classes

Composer, performer and educator, Jeffery Wilson's career has spanned over four decades. His prolific output ranges from dance scores—34 to date—and stage works, including an opera and several musicals, to recent concert commissions such as the Saxophone Concerto Testament for the Docklands Sinfonia, Gather Round and Cèilidh for the London Youth Wind Band, and the forthcoming Piano Concerto Liberate Anima set to premiere in 2026.​ 

As a performer, Jeffery has played with prestigious ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia and the European Community Jazz Orchestra and worked with artists such as Cliff Richard, Kate Bush, Barry Manilow and Elvis Costello. He was a member of Saxology for many years and is a central figure in groups like Triptych, and Electric Alchemy. He continues to explore his own projects such as The Reduced History of Jazz. His education legacy is equally distinguished. 

After studying privately and at the Royal College of Music, Cambridge and in Paris under mentors like Olivier Messiaen, John Lambert, Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob, Jeffery spent 32 years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, recently retiring as Coordinator and Professor of Composition at Junior Guildhall. He remains actively involved as Creative Director of the national competition Release, workshop leader for Guildhall Young Artists Online and as composition consultant to the GYA family.​ 

An experienced adjudicator and syllabus designer, Jeffery served as Principal Examiner (Jazz) for Guildhall Exams and advisor to Trinity College London for nearly three decades. He has also taught at Cambridge University, Utrecht Conservatorium, Colchester Institute and was the last Professor of Saxophone at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall until its closure in 2021. 

As director of Environ Music, Jeffery has led community music and education initiatives for over 35 years, promoting accessibility and special-needs awareness. He is currently Head of Academic at The Learning Machine, where he and the team lead innovation at the intersection of music, technology, and AI to expand global educational outreach.