Adjudicators

We are excited to announce that in 2025, all open grade brass and concert bands will perform for a panel of 3 adjudicators for the first time at an Australian National Band Championships since 2018.

This will be a fantastic opportunity for bands to receive feedback from multiple adjudicators with a range of backgrounds and experiences. The full list of adjudicators for the band sections can be found below:

Open Premier Grade and Open A Grade Brass

Margie S. Antrobus
Margie S. Antrobus is a conductor, teacher at Manger Folkehøgskule, adjudicator and baritone player. She is an experienced conductor and has conducted bands such as Hordaland County Youth brass band, Kleppe Musikklag, is resident conductor at Flesland Musikklag and a member of the conductor team for the Manger folkehøgskule brass band course. Conducting highlights are winning 1st section of the entertainment contest Siddis brass with Flesland Musikklag in 2022, and representing her father by conducting Nimrod at Manger Musikklag’s centenary anniversary. Among contests she has adjudicated are the Dutch Brass Band Nationals, Danish Brass Band nationals, Brass In Concert, and the European brass band championship. As a player, Margie is hugely respected in the brass band community. She got her Bachelor in band musicianship from The University of Salford, a Master of Music at university of Manchester and has played Solo Baritone with the award winning Yorkshire Building Society Band, as well as spending several years with Manger Musikklag. She is also a member of the Yamaha Neo Ensemble and a Yamaha ambassador.

Tyme Marsters
Tyme Marsters is a proud Kiwi and Cook Islander who began his musical journey on cornet at the age of 10 years old in the South Island town of Westport. As a young 17 year old Tyme moved to Christchurch to join the New Zealand Army Band. During his 20-year career with the New Zealand Army Band, Tyme held many positions including acting Bandmaster and enjoyed an array of musical experiences around the globe. After his military career, Tyme became the founder and tutor of Brass Factory Canterbury. Here, Tyme utilises his extensive experience and passion for teaching as a full-time brass educator. Tyme was Music Director of Woolston Brass from 2015-2024 and is very proud of the bands success at multiple contests as well as the many special concert performances during his tenure. As a soloist Tyme has an impressive record of success, including winning eleven national titles with eight of those on flugelhorn, and winning the coveted Champion of Champions title in 2008. Tyme has also represented New Zealand as a cornet and flugel horn player in two National Youth Bands and seven National Bands. Most recently, Tyme has just finished a three year term as the Music Director of the National Youth Band of New Zealand. Outside of music, Tyme enjoys spending quality time with his wife and children and takes a keen interest in all things sport.

Ken Waterworth
As an accomplished euphonium player, Ken Waterworth joined The Salvation Army's premier music ensemble, the Melbourne Staff Band, in 1979 and was a featured soloist on the band's recordings, major concert and overseas tours. He was appointed musical director of the band in June 1994 and retired from that role in 2024 after 30 years of outstanding leadership. As musical director of the Melbourne Staff Band, Ken achieved the highest standards of musicianship and music ministry, providing an outstanding model for The Salvation Army bands throughout Australia and around the world. Throughout his period of leadership, Ken was recognised world-wide as an innovator, which saw the Melbourne Staff Band at the cutting edge of brass band music making in The Salvation Army. Ken’s international reputation for excellence in music ministry, has resulted in conducting opportunities in the United States of America, Africa, China and the United Kingdom. His passion for mentoring and developing young musicians has continued to be a priority following a successful teaching career, where he was recognised with numerous awards for his outstanding leadership and development in music education. Ken established The Salvation Army’s National Youth Band in 2013, nurturing some of our most talented young brass and percussion players. He continues to enjoy the opportunity to share his love for music making with musicians, young and old, both in Australia and overseas.

Open B Grade Brass

Dr. Heather Aitken
Dr Heather Aitken (BAMus, AMusA, GDipEd, MME, PhD) is an experienced music educator, clinician and adjudicator. After teaching in Queensland and Western Australia, Heather completed post-graduate degrees at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. She worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where she taught classes in Music Education, directed the Tuba/Euphonium studio, and conducted the Symphonic Band. Dr Aitken has been engaged as a clinician and adjudicator in the USA and
Australia at events including Wisconsin School Music Association festivals, the Victorian Schools Bands Festival, and the Australian National Band Championships. She has presented research papers at State and National conferences including the Wisconsin Music Educator’s Association Conference and the Australian Society of Music Educators Conference. Heather has presented at multiple Maryborough Music Conferences and was commissioned to write several articles on low brass pedagogy and instrumental music recruiting practices for Yamaha Australia’s Music Education Guide. Heather’s tuba performance highlights have included winning the Queensland Brass Band Eb Tuba Championship (1993), and touring the USA as Principal Tuba of the Australian Wind Orchestra, performing at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, and Carnegie Hall in New York City. In Wisconsin, Dr. Aitken performed with the UWO Faculty Brass Quintet and Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra. Since relocating home to Brisbane, she has played with the Queensland Wind Orchestra and Brisbane Brass. Growing up in Townsville, the local brass band was Heather’s first quality ensemble experience. The intersection of her brass band background, experiences as a tuba player, research interests in gender-stereotyping in musical instrument selection and conducting, as well as instrumental music recruiting practices have culminated in Heather dedicating herself to advocating for community banding, as well as working to increase the number of tuba players in the world. Heather currently works for Education Queensland, teaching brass, and conducting wind and brass bands at Brisbane State High School. She is also the Brass Pedagogy Coach for North Coast Region. Heather is the Musical Director of Sunshine Brass.

Brian Hogg
Brian has been involved in music making since the age of 10 when he migrated from England with his family. Being raised in The Salvation Army meant that music was always present and appreciated in the house and personal involvement was encouraged. After High School Brian completed a diploma of Music and a Bachelor of Education and has
worked as a music teacher in Government and Private Schools. He has been conducting since the age of 17 and has worked with vocal & instrumental groups of all levels of ability and ages. Though now retired from full time work he continues to work as a guest conductor within schools and community organisations. He has twice been awarded the Australian Band And Orchestra Directors (ABODA), Composer of the Year Award and received a Citation of Excellence from ABODA in 2016 for his “outstanding body of work as a composer of quality literature for young bands”. Brian was also awarded a Life Membership of ABODA in 2018 in recognition of his service and commitment to the music community. Brian continues to write for bands of all levels and is a firm believer in the value of music making for all ages; and works to help musicians reach their best no matter what level.

Bryan Hurdley
British born conductor and performer Bryan Hurdley has been repeatedly praised for his clarity and effortless authority on the podium. His expressive and incisive interpretations have endeared him to ensembles and audiences alike. Bryan was awarded a scholarship from the Birmingham Conservatorium where he studied Trombone and Euphonium with the legionary Denis Wick and conducting with Adrian Leaper. He was the recipient of many performance prizes and was the first brass player to be awarded the coveted college concerto prize with his performance of the Horovitz Euphonium Concerto. Bryan performed frequently with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and was a founding member of the English Tuba Consort. As Music Director of the Sunlife Band he was awarded the inaugural British Bandsman Magazine award for most innovative programming. Successful partnerships followed with the Williams Fairey Band and The Foden’s Band with over 30 commercial recordings, performances for BBC television Songs of Praise, BBC Radio Festival of Brass, Listen to the Band and Bandstand programs. Bryan has conducted many of the most famous names in the banding including Black Dyke, Brighouse, Grimethorpe, Cory and a little closer to home, current Australian National Champions, Brisbane Excelsior. He is a frequent guest conductor at the Brisbane Conservatorium State Honours Ensemble Program and is the recipient of the Docemus medal for his services to Music Education.

Open C Grade Brass

Dr. Joanne Heaton
Dr. Joanne Heaton’s career encompasses over three decades as a music educator and conductor, with international engagements in Australia, the United States, Asia, and Europe. Her previous appointment was as Band Director at Eastmont Middle School in Utah, where she also earned her Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Utah. She later completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Band Conducting from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Dr. Heaton’s contributions extend to major clinic presentations, including the 2012 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the 2019 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Spain and the 2019 Oxford University International Conducting Studies Conference. Acknowledged for her dedication to music education, Dr. Heaton received the Jordan (Utah) Education Foundation’s Outstanding Educator of the Year award in 2000, an ABODA Victoria Excellence in Music Education award in 2017, and a Life Membership award from the Victorian branch of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors' Association in 2020. Dr. Heaton regularly serves as an adjudicator, conductor, and guest lecturer at institutions such as the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Colorado Pueblo, Monash University, The University of Melbourne, the Defence Force School of Music and Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Currently, Head of Bands at Haileybury College in Melbourne, and serving as an Education Outreach Clinician for Yamaha Music Australia, her mission is to inspire young musicians and support ensemble directors.

David Musk
David Musk was born in the South of England and took up the trumpet at the age of nine. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London completing a Bachelor of Music Performance along with a Post Graduate diploma in Orchestral training. David left the Guildhall in 1999 and worked as a freelance around London. During this time, he performed with Orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and The Philharmonia Orchestra. Since moving to Melbourne in 2001 David has worked with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Opera Victoria and the Australian Baroque Brass, of which he is a founding member. In 2006 David joined the staff of Scotch College in a full-time role as teacher-in-charge of Trumpet. Since then, he has maintained a busy schedule at Scotch, as a freelance performer and as a visiting tutor at both Monash and Melbourne University.

Richard Shirley
Richard is a New Zealand born trombonist. He grew up in brass bands and spent his formative years in the Westport Municipal Band before joining the New Zealand Army Band straight out of school. After six years with the Army, Richard went to the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington to study Performance Trombone under Dr Rodger Fox and David Bremner’s guidance. After graduation, Richard crossed the ditch to study towards his Masters of Performance at the University of Melbourne under Michael Bertoncello. Prior to securing his job in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2016, Richard held positions with the New Zealand Army Band, Central Band of the Royal New Zealand Airforce, Orchestra Wellington and New South Wales Police Band. Richard has also appeared as a guest musician with Orchestra Victoria, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic to name a few. Richard has featured as a guest soloist with ensembles throughout Australasia, and is currently a guest Trombone Tutor at the University of Melbourne, Conservatory of Music. Richard is a S.E Shires performing artist.

Open D Grade Brass

Louisa Trewartha
Louisa Trewartha leads a diverse career as a composer, trumpet player, and educator. As an orchestral trumpet player Louisa has performed with the Melbourne, Tasmanian and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, and since 2009 has played in over 40 operas, ballets, and musicals with Orchestra Victoria. Louisa has been a Yamaha artist since 2022. After studying at ANAM in 2013, she completed a Master of Arts in Scoring for Film and Visual Media in 2016 at Pulse College, Dublin and in 2017 participated in the Australian Composers School with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Louisa has since been commissioned to write works for Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and ANAM Set '25. In 2024, her EP Suite Water for brass quintet was released as an ABC Classic Commission. Louisa's solo works have been selected as test pieces for state and national band competitions, and are also on the VCE and AMEB music performance repertoire list. www.louisatrewartha.com.au

Andrew Power
Andrew is a trumpet player, conductor and educator from Melbourne, Australia. As a young Music Performance graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts Andrew enjoyed performing with the Melbourne Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Melbourne Opera Company for multiple operas in the company’s early years. Following a childhood dream, Andrew moved to live in the United Kingdom and perform with some of the world’s greatest brass bands. As a member of the Leyland Band, Andrew performed across England and Scotland to audiences most weekends, and enjoyed performing and recording under brass banding greats Richard Evans and Philip Harper. Upon return to Australia, Andrew undertook a Masters of Teaching (Secondary) at the University of Melbourne, and shortly afterwards became the Head of Performing Arts at The Academy of Mary Immaculate in Fitzroy. During this time Andrew reunited with old school friends and became the trumpet player of the Melbourne based traditional jazz ensemble, Shirazz. In this band Andrew performed across the southern hemisphere at festivals such as the National Jazz Festival of New Zealand, Port Fairy, Eltham, Phillip Island, the Australian National Jazz Convention, and toured the East Coast of Australia. Over several new years eves Andrew even performed over Antarctica for the guests of the Antarctica Flights New Years adventure. As a conductor Andrew has worked with many community brass and wind bands, winning multiple State and National titles. Simultaneously Andrew has enjoyed playing both cornet and flugelhorn with some of Victoria’s best brass bands, Victoria Brass, Darebin City Brass and Kew Band Melbourne. Currently Andrew works as the Head of Instrumental Music at Ballarat Clarendon College, conducts the Ballarat Memorial Concert Band, and performs as a freelance trumpet player/conductor. Andrew performs locally as the trumpet player of New Orleans style street band Ballahornication, the European Jazz/folk ensemble Twilight Gypsí, and as the principal cornet of Eureka Brass.

Karina Filipi
Starting her tuba playing at the Kensington and Norwood Brass Band (SA), Karina followed her passion for music through to the Elder Conservatorium of Music where she completed her Bachelor of Music in 2010. She continued her studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, graduating in 2013 with a Masters in Music Performance. Karina’s playing led her internationally to the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) in Zürich, Switzerland, gaining a Master of Arts in Music Performance and a Masters in Music Pedagogy under Professor Anne Jelle Visser. Here she performed regularly with the Philharmonia Zürich, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen and the Südwestdeutsch Philharmonie Konstanz (DE). Karina returned to Australia in 2018 to take up the position of Acting Principal Tuba with Orchestra Victoria. Aside from performing, Karina is passionate about music education. She is part of the Brass Faculty at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and at Monash University, a casual staff member at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and is also on the Board of Directors and Artistic Advisory Committee of the Australian Youth Orchestra.

Open Premier (A) Grade and Open B Grade Concert

Fiona Gardner
Fiona has spent her life being a passionate performer, conductor and advocate for the wind band. Her tertiary study has included a broad range of studies in the arts, including a major in Musicology from the University of New England, and a Masters Degree in Music Education with Orchestral Conducting and Performance Pedagogy at the University of Melbourne. She has had the privilege to conduct ensembles on stages all over the world from LA, to the Great Wall of China, the Sydney Opera House and locally around Geelong and Melbourne. She believes every rehearsal is an opportunity to encourage and serve the musicians she directs. She is the Director of Music at Christian College Geelong, developing the music program alongside a hardworking and committed team of music educators for the past 40 years. As well as being a busy administrator, looking after the more than 50 music teachers in her team, she also enjoys teaching Instrumental Music (woodwind), overseeing an extensive music curriculum from kinder through to year 12, and directing the Colleges Senior Wind Symphony. She has toured extensively with her band taking them to festivals and competitions locally, interstate, to the USA, and Asia where they have been recognized for excellence and received numerous awards. Fiona is passionate about music making in the community and the tremendous benefits it gives to the participants and the broader community. She is also an advocate for music being available to every student in every school! She sees music education, and the opportunities it offers, as a wonderful vehicle to educate students deeply and richly for their lives. Fiona is also the director of the Geelong Summer Music camp, a day camp run by a volunteer committee providing opportunity for over 200 students to make music and learn new things for a week in January each year. Please find details at https://www.gsmc.org.au/

Dr. Steven Capaldo
Dr. Steven Capaldo is currently an Associate Professor of Music Education & Conducting, the Wind Symphony and Concert Band Conductor, and Head of Music Education and Graduate Wind Conducting at the University of Victoria. Dr. Capaldo has previously held conducting positions at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and UNSW. Distinguishing himself as one of the most respected music educators, wind conductors, and conductor educators in Australia and Canada, he has earned academic and musical recognition locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Capaldo has won many teaching awards throughout his career, including the 2018 UOW Teaching and Learning Award and the 2023 UVic Faculty of Fine Arts Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Capaldo has extensive conducting experience working with symphony orchestras, wind orchestras, and chamber ensembles. As an active writer, he composes, arranges, and transcribes music for wind orchestras, symphony orchestras, festivals, and concerts. His work Invictus Fanfare was performed at the closing ceremony of the 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver, with other works having been performed by groups in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States, recorded on Klavier records (US), and published with Brolga Music and Murphy Music Press. An Assistant Producer and Co-Editor for eight Klavier Records CDs, Dr. Capaldo has been also Chair of the Australian Jury Panel for the 2017 International Eurovision Song Contest and has been a full voting member of the Grammy Awards. Dr. Capaldo is in demand as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Having been a conducting clinician for ABODA Queensland, ABODA NSW, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the BCMEA, he has now established the new UVic Conductor Educator Symposium with Prof. Allan McMurray demonstrating his commitment to providing professional learning opportunities for music educators and conductors.

Dr. Jemima Bunn (Open Premier (A) Grade Concert only)
Over several years, Jemima has directed vibrant and dynamic music programs in several Victorian government secondary schools, coordinating the classroom, instrumental and ensemble components of their Programs. Jemima has a passion for ensemble direction, having conducted ensembles at school level from beginner to advanced levels, University level and honour bands with Melbourne Youth Music and the Sisters of the Church Festival with Canberra Girls’ Grammar School and also, at the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Wisconsin. She was privileged to take the Blackburn High School Symphonic Band at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in 2017. As a casual academic in music education at tertiary level, she has been involved in preparing pre-service teachers with knowledge and understanding of pedagogical approaches in general music across middle and senior years, instrumental pedagogy, conducting and composition. Jemima is Leader of Learning in music curriculum at Carey Grammar School, working with both teachers and students to develop positive experiences in all things instrumental, classroom and ensemble. She is Director of Brolga Music Publishing Company in Melbourne, Australia where, through this role, she promotes the work of Australian composers writing for Concert Band, String and Full Orchestra, Jazz Ensembles and Chamber Groups. Jemima has been active in the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association (ABODA) over several years, serving as a committee member, president and vice president at state and national levels. In 2006, she received an ABODA Victoria Excellence Award and in 2018 a National Citation of Excellence for her work in music education.

Dr. Joanne Heaton (Open B Grade Concert only)
Dr. Joanne Heaton’s career encompasses over three decades as a music educator and conductor, with international engagements in Australia, the United States, Asia, and Europe. Her previous appointment was as Band Director at Eastmont Middle School in Utah, where she also earned her Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Utah. She later completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Band Conducting from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Dr. Heaton’s contributions extend to major clinic presentations, including the 2012 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the 2019 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Spain and the 2019 Oxford University International Conducting Studies Conference. Acknowledged for her dedication to music education, Dr. Heaton received the Jordan (Utah) Education Foundation’s Outstanding Educator of the Year award in 2000, an ABODA Victoria Excellence in Music Education award in 2017, and a Life Membership award from the Victorian branch of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors' Association in 2020. Dr. Heaton regularly serves as an adjudicator, conductor, and guest lecturer at institutions such as the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Colorado Pueblo, Monash University, The University of Melbourne, the Defence Force School of Music and Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Currently, Head of Bands at Haileybury College in Melbourne, and serving as an Education Outreach Clinician for Yamaha Music Australia, her mission is to inspire young musicians and support ensemble directors.

Open C Grade and Open D Grade Concert

Lara Wilson
Originally from Perth, Lara attained a Bachelor of Music from WAAPA before moving to Melbourne to undertake a postgraduate diploma at the University of Melbourne followed by
a Master of Music (performance). Lara plays regularly with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. As well as orchestral percussion, Lara is also passionate about musical theatre and has been the percussionist on “Hairspray” naHonal tour (John Frost), “Shrek” (John Frost), “Rag0me” (ProducHon Company), “Muriel’s Wedding” (Global Creatures), “Mama Mia” (Michael Coppel), “Wicked” (Crossroads/John Frost) and “TINA, The Tina Turner Musical” (TEG Dainty). Lara teaches percussion at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak and is a regular percussion tutor at Melbourne Youth Orchestras.

Junior Brass

Junior Concert

Dr. Jaclyn Hartenberger
Dr. Jaclyn Hartenberger (Winner of the 2023 American Prize in Conducting; Fulbright scholar, 2023 – 2024) is a highly sought performer, with artistry that has attracted significant invitations throughout the world. Under her leadership, ensembles consistently perform at a high level, and her programs are enthusiastically received. Performances have been described as “superb,” “praiseworthy,” “terrific,” “impressive,” and displaying “artistry.” Jackie is the newly appointed conductor for the University of Melbourne’s Wind Symphony at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne, Australia. She is also engaged by the Australian Defence Force as the principal instructor of officers who are training to be conductors for the service bands. Prior to her move to Australia, Jackie was the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Georgia in the United States where she conducted the Wind Symphony and taught conducting.