2019 Adjudicators
Helen Russell
Woodwinds
Helen Russell holds an Associateship in Clarinet Performance from the Royal College of Music in London, England, a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario.
She has performed extensively both as a soloist and a chamber musician throughout North America. Most recently she has performed in concert with Canadian pianist Robert Silverman and violinist Atis Bankas at both the Music Niagara Festival and the Stirling Music Festival. She has appeared with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Cincinnati Percussion Ensemble, the Colorado Opera, the Greeley Philharmonic, Orchestra London and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Russell has also performed at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Sandpoint Music Festival, the Brott Music Festival, The Schweitzer Institute and the National Repertory Orchestra.
Ms. Russell has been a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Concert Orchestra, the Cincinnati Contemporary Ensemble and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra. She has recorded with the Cincinnati Wind Symphony, the Cincinnati Contemporary Ensemble and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. In 2011, she performed with the Ontario Festival Symphony Orchestra on a two-week tour of China. She has performed with the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra in their long running production of Anne of Green Gables and in the 2013 world première of Ted Dykstra’s new musical Evangeline. Ms. Russell is currently on faculty at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She has been a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music College of Examiners as a Senior Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion Examiner since 1999. Ms. Russell is also a Senior Examiner for the Music Development Program (USA) and has been an adjudicator with the Glenn Gould Professional School.
She was the Woodwinds adjudicator for the 2014 Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival. As a clinician/ visiting artist, she has worked extensively with students at the Claude Watson School for the Arts at Earl Haig, ARTS at Alexander Mackenzie, and Westmount Collegiate ARTS. Ms. Russell is a Chief compiler and editor of the thirteen volume 2014 RCM Clarinet Series and compiler of the 2014 RCM Clarinet Syllabus.