Ridgeway Ensemble

The Ensemble was formed in 2008 to bring both popular and less widely performed music to churches and communities within Bucks, Beds and Herts. With their innovative and unusual themed programmes they have more recently performed further afield, including for the National Trust at Wimpole Hall and at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, as well as two tours of southern France. Other engagements have included concerts for Roseland Music Society in Cornwall, Matlock Music Society, Girton College, Cambridge and Calne Music and Arts Festival.

Judith Sheridan
Hailing from the north of England, Judith studied in Manchester and Lancaster before heading for Germany where she spent ten years happily treading the boards as an Opera Diva! Since returning to the UK she has performed regularly at home and abroad with the Midgard Ensemble, Duality and Twenty21. She has taught voice at Exeter University, Queen’s University Belfast and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and currently teaches in Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire. She regularly leads workshops at Gresham House Studios and conducts the Beacon Community Choir and Ivinghoe Singers. Recently Judith was appointed conductor of Halton Military Wives Choir, and as musical director of the chamber choir and ensemble Sabrinensis she was guest conductor in the 2019 and 2023 Three Choirs Festivals. Her special interest in the music of Jewish composers banned by the Nazis has led to performances and lectures in the UK and USA, and a CD entitled “Forbidden Voices” is available on the Divine Art label.

Margaret Richards
Margaret is a graduate of Girton College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. For six years she played opera, operetta and symphony concerts in the orchestra of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, Germany, before returning to the freelance world in London to pursue her interest in baroque music in particular. She has appeared as both cellist and viola da gamba player with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles including the Hanover Band, London Festival Orchestra, Florilegium, and Cambridge Baroque Camerata. With the Apollo Consort she has recorded works by the 17th century composer John Jenkins on the Somm label. She also has a long standing interest in music education and has taught in both the maintained and independent sectors as well as coaching ensembles at summer courses. She now combines performing with private teaching.

Daniel King Smith
Daniel has given concerts all over the world as soloist and collaborative pianist. He has been broadcast on BBC TV and Radio as well as NHK TV and radio in Japan, and has recorded a number of CDs including releases with Yuki Ito for Sony and with Anna Hashimoto for Meridian. He has frequently been a featured Solo Classical Artist on many Cruise Lines around the world. Chamber music is a major part of Daniel’s life and he has held staff accompanist posts at the junior departments of the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music and at the Purcell School, as well as being an official accompanist for the Countess of Munster Trust.