Thelma Roe, English pianist, was born in Derby.  After starting her musical studies in her native city she had extensive training in piano performance and teaching.  She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, London when she was twenty years old and has won many first prizes in national and international competitions.   Later she continued her studies in Italy with Rio Nardi and Anna Maria Pernafelli gaining the diploma for pianoforte and also harpsichord at the Conservatory "L.Cherubini" Florence.  She has given concerts in Italy and abroad as a soloist and also with chamber music groups. She plays four hand piano music with her daughter and their repertoire includes pieces taken from different periods and also rarely played compositions as they dedicate themselves to the discovery of unknown duet music.  After giving concerts in Italy and England they were invited to make a tournee in Japan which was so successful they returned again eight times.  Apart from concerts they also gave master classes in the schools which were very much appreciated.   They also had the honour of playing for the Royal family.  Their music has also been transmitted on the Italian and Japanese radio and television.   She teaches piano at the Superior School of Music, Pistoia, which is set in a beautiful 17th.Century villa with five hundred pupils studying a wide range of instruments, and which is one of the most esteemed schools in Tuscany.    She is often invited to take part as adjudicator in national and international piano competitions.   She also belongs to a poliphonic choir "Citta di Pistoia" which gives concerts in Italy and abroad, and in 2007 she joined the Berkshire Choral Society for a thrilling performance of Verdi's Requiem at the Chan Hall.  In her spare time she combines her love of music with travelling, looking after her three grandchildren and her cats and dogs.

 

Frances Roberts is a graduate of the vocal music program at the University of British Columbia and the Professional Development Program at Simon Fraser University.

In the past twenty years she has taught secondary music and is currently at Argyle Secondary School, North Vancouver, where she directs four concert choirs and two vocal jazz/ chamber ensembles. She served as director of choirs for the Kamloops Interior Summer School of Music for four years, and for the past seven years she has directed the vocal jazz groups at the West Coast Summer Music Camp in Langley.

The summer of 2001 she joined the faculty of the Coastal Sound Music Academy as director of jazz choirs at their summer music camp in Coquitlam, and in the summer of 2002 she joined her husband Geordie to direct the youth and young adult choirs at the Naramata Centre - Music Week.

In 1998 her choirs were selected to appear with David Foster for his Organ Donor Foundation campaign, sing backup for Shania Twain , and also appear on the Vancouver Breakfast Show. Mrs. Roberts’ choirs have also appeared on stage with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Marvin Hamlisch, Frank Mills, Vancouver Chamber Choir, and with Dee Daniels at the ’90 Grey Cup Half Time Show. Her choirs have and continue to tour extensively throughout North America and Europe. August 2007 her Senior Vocal ensemble had the privilege of being the workshop choir with Rajaton from Finland for Festival Vancouver.

As a result of her outstanding work, Frances is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor and has been invited to conduct the Kamloops, Coquitlam and Idaho District Honour Choirs, and to present workshops for the B. C. Music Educators’ Association, the Alberta and British Columbia Choral Federations, and the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors. She has also adjudicated the Alberta Choral Festival - South, Festival Nelson, Coquitlam Choral Festival,Courtenay - Comox District Choral Festival, Lulu Island Jazz Festival, Sea to Sky Choral Festival, Grande Prairie District Music Festival, Burnaby District Elementary Choral Festival, Powell River Vocal Summit and the West Coast Concert Choir Festival.

Her success with students is centered on her dynamism and personal skills as a vocal pedagogue who is committed to helping students find their own voice.