Advisory Board

The Art of Piano Education Awards Advisory Board is an invitation-only organisation for the leading members of the music educational market in the United Kingdom. The Advisory Board was created to provide strategic advice, act as a sounding board to shape decisions on new opportunities, and support long-term growth for the awards. From 2026, Advisory Board members will vote on the Legacy Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Amy Driscoll, Chairwoman
Publisher & Event Director
Mark Allen Group

A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Amy Driscoll has enjoyed an almost 20 year career in performing arts media and events and is currently the Publisher of Music Teacher, Drama & Theatre and Classical Music magazines and the Event Director of the Music & Drama Education Expo.

Amy Driscoll: “As a keen advocate of music education, I recognise the importance of supporting and inspiring pianists of all ages and standards and I am truly honoured to be part of the judging panel for the Art of Piano Education Awards 2026.“

Ellena Spirrett
Presto Music,
Sheet Music & Books Manager 

Based in Leamington Spa, Presto Music is the UK’s leading e-commerce site for classical and jazz recordings, printed music, music books and musical instruments. 

Ellena Spirrett is currently holding the position of Sheet Music and Books Manager. She graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire with a first-class BMus (Hons), and before her role at Presto Music, Ellena was a peripatetic and classroom music teacher across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Viki Smith
PMLL,
Managing Director 

Viki Smith is the Managing Director of Printed Music Licensing Limited (PMLL). PMLL provides a licence on behalf its music and print publisher members for the photocopying and arranging of sheet music within education and leisure. 

Viki SMmth: “Music is at the heart of everything that PMLL does. We focus on ensuring publishers, composers and writers continue to earn a living from the creation of sheet music. I am delighted to be involved in these awards”

Mark Armstrong
Musician and Educator

Mark Armstrong is the Chief Examiner for the ABRSM and a Jazz Professor at the Royal College of Music. With over 20 years of experience, he is an accomplished jazz educator and served as the Artistic Director of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) for 10 years.
 
Throughout his career, Mark has taught at Key Stages 4 and 5, as well as extensively at the undergraduate level at both the LCCM and the RCM. He also leads workshops in schools and conducts a variety of jazz courses for adults both in the UK and internationally.
 

David Halford
Coach House Pianos,
Education Business
Development Manager 

David Halford :’It is a privilege to be invited to be a member of the Art of Piano Education advisory board, an organisation that recognises the vital contribution of practitioners who create the pathways to help the development of pianists at every level and age.’ 
 
Championing piano playing in music education is at the heart of David’s role as Education Business Manager at Coach House Pianos, and before that as Education Manager for Yamaha Music. The Coach House Pianos mission is ‘to engage more people in music making and support those that help others to learn music‘. In his education activities with Coach House Pianos, David always aims to help nurture the next generation of pianists and strengthen music education across the country.
 
David started learning the piano at the age of 4 and went on to graduate with a BA (Hons) in music from Nottingham University in 1989. Since then he has always worked in the piano industry and in his spare time has played piano in multiple bands, accompanied singers and instrumentalists, and more recently run a community choir.