Adjudicators 2026: Gloucestershire
Maria Jagusz
Chair of the Jury
Mezzo soprano Maria Jagusz started her career with Opera North and has subsequently worked both as an operatic and concert singer working in the major houses in the UK and Europe. Her roles included Carmen, Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte), Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Rosina (The Barber of Seville) and Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus).
Alongside her singing career Maria coached emerging artists on their interpretation of operatic roles and stage technique. This led to her directing several operas, operettas and musicals for educational purposes. For Longborough Festival Opera she has directed La Bohème, Orfeo ed Euridice, The Little Sweep, Dido and Aeneas and Sweeney Todd.
Maria has always been passionate about introducing young people to opera and has worked as a workshop leader for all the major opera houses in the UK. She has devised several operas for LFO’s Playground Opera Project, through which over a thousand children have been introduced to the world of opera. She is currently Vocal Mentor for Emerging Artists at Longborough Festival Opera and continues to maintain a busy schedule, including work as a vocal adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Music Festivals.
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams is the Director of Artistic Administration at Garsington Opera. She joined Garsington in the autumn of 2023, and works closely with Artistic Director Douglas Boyd on all the artistic aspects of the organisation. Previously, Michelle held a number of roles at Scottish Opera, latterly as Head of Casting, before moving to ENO in 2016 to be their Head of Casting for 7 years.
She studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is a fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme. When not at the opera, she enjoys running around after her toddler and trying her hand at dingy sailing!
William Pool ARCM
William Pool comes from Penzance, Cornwall. He was educated at St Erbyns School, Penzance, Blundells School, Tiverton, and at Birmingham University. He trained as an operatic tenor at The Royal Northern College of Music, and, finally at The National Opera Studio, in London.
His professional debut was in 1979, as Jacquino in Fidelio on The Glyndbourne Tour, and then work followed for The Royal Opera, as well as various opera/concert projects, and significant work with the famous Monteverdi Choir with touring worldwide. Venues in Europe and USA include The South Bank, London, La Scala Milan, The Chatelet Theatre, Paris, The Lincoln Centre, New York, and Palazzo Vecchio Florence, Italy. From 1985, William ‘crossed over’ to musicals and general theatre, performing in West End Shows (Chess, and Bernadette - original casts, and Les Miserables Royal Variety TV Performance) and in repertory theatre nationwide (Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Frederick in Pirates Of Penzance, King Henry in Man For All Seasons, Marcel in Piaf, Eldest Magician in Just So, Tony in West Side Story, Nika Magadoff in The Consul, Pantomime, and many other roles).
Since 1990, singing teaching has been a major part of his professional career, alongside his performing engagements. He has been a singing tutor at many London Musical Theatre Academies - including Mountview, Arts Ed, GSA, Central School, and Laine Theatre Arts. From 2003 to 2012, while living in Brighton, alongside his teaching work, he ran two very successful stage schools (Brighton Young Performers and The Theatre Workshop). Now he is very actively running the singing modules in the Chichester University Conservatoire ‘Triple Threat’ musical theatre degree course, from which many students have found success in The West End, and on prestigious cruise ships in Europe and USA.
