Adjudicator Spotlight: Adrian Goss ARAM, GRSM, FTCL, LRAM, LGSM, ARCO(CHM), FRSA
Tenor soloist, vocal coach and teacher, pianist, organist and choral director, Adrian studied piano and clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music & singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He subsequently studied organ and composition with Dr Arthur Wills OBE gaining a degree in compositional techniques from the University of Durham, and also diplomas from the Royal College of Organists. He continued his organ studies with Professor Douglas Hawkridge.
Subsequent to his London debut at the Queen Elizabeth hall in 1985, he has enjoyed a successful thirty year solo tenor career in concert and recital, including recordings and broadcasts. A former Lay-clerk at Ely Cathedral, deputy at St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey he was a professional member of the City Glee Club for thirty years. An organist, he works principally as an accompanist in many of our cathedrals and major churches but he has given many recitals in many of the UK’s cathedrals. Since 2006 he has held the post of Director of Music at St Swithun’s, East Grinstead.
Work as a performer has also led on to a parallel career in education. Adrian was Director of Music at two independent senior schools for nearly twenty years, Director of the Kent Music Academy for gifted young people for nine years, and Head of Kent's County Groups and their Staff Conductor. Adrian was also an examiner for grades and diplomas for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in piano, organ, singing and woodwind for fifteen years.
Adrian has thirty-five years’ experience as an adjudicator member of The British and International Federation of Festivals, for International, National and Local festivals, including the National Festival of Music for Youth. He has been an elected member of the Adjudicators Council since 2010, and has been its Chair since 2014 where he also is an Assessor and Mentor for potential new adjudicators.
He currently teaches at Brighton College, Cranleigh and also privately, as a highly experienced vocal teacher and organ teacher to diploma level. In addition to his successful solo singing career, Adrian directs workshops and master classes for singers and speakers at summer schools. He is Director of the Chamber Choir Quorum.
In 1999 he was awarded the ARAM, an honour granted to past students of the Royal Academy of Music who have achieved distinction in the profession. He is a member of the Royal Society of Musicians, the Association of Teachers of Singing (AOTOS) as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.