MOZART: 24 Hour Drop-In (February 2024)

Conductors

Ralph Allwood MBE was for 26 years Director of Music at Eton College and is now a freelance choral director, teacher and conductor. Ralph is co-founder and conductor of Inner Voices, made up of singers from state schools in London. He is also a Supervisor for harmony at Jesus College, Cambridge and Director of the only conservatoire chapel choir in the world, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir, He is Chair of the Choral Evensong Trust.

Harry Bradford read music at Downing College Cambridge and was a member of the choir of King’s College under the late Sir Stephen Cleobury. He studied Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Professor Patrick Russill and graduated with distinction, a DipRAM and the Academy Alumni Award for ‘a singularly distinguished studentship’. During his time at the Academy, Harry was also the Genesis Sixteen conducting scholar 2018-19, studying under Harry Christophers and Eamonn Dougan, and the Alec Robertson scholar at Westminster Cathedral. He remains active as a singer and recently performed as part of the Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal at the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Harry was also a course director for the Choir of the Earth, an online choir with a global membership, leading them in their Requiems at Home and Festival of Music courses. He combines his love of music and education as a Teacher/Singer for the Pimlico Musical Foundation.

James Day is Artistic Director of the Pimlico Musical Foundation, Artistic Director of the Barnes Music Festival, and Director of Choral Music at Tiffin School. James is active as both a conductor and chorus master. Recent work includes preparing choirs for performances at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, the Philip Glass Ensemble and London Orchestras.

Peter Allwood read music at Kings College, Cambridge, singing as a choral scholar under the direction of Sir David Willcocks and Sir Philip Ledger. After a year’s study in Durham, where he was conductor of the University Chamber Choir, he became Director of Music first at Leighton Park School in Reading, then Oundle School, Northamptonshire and, from 1985, at Christ’s Hospital in Horsham. Peter was a director of the National Youth Music Theatre from 1978 – 2000.

Nicholas Ansdell-Evans has conducted Handel's Acis and Galatea for English National Opera and is the founder and conductor of the string ensemble Tamino Orchestra, with whom he has conducted Strauss’s Metamorphosen, the UK première of Arvo Pärt’s Greater Antiphons, and premières of his own works. He also has many years of experience conducting choirs. He is in demand as an assistant conductor, for instance assisting John Adams on his recording of Doctor Atomic with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As a result of his wide experience with singers, Nicholas is sought after as an accomplished vocal coach.

Born to a musical family, Marius Stravinsky began playing the violin when he was four at the Moscow Central Music School. He continued his studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Great Britain from the age of ten and three years later became the first former Soviet student to secure a scholarship in music at Eton College in the UK. He is a graduate and a scholarship winner of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Stravinsky’s passion for conducting began through meeting Mariss Jansons and playing Bruch Concerto for him aged 13. The summer of 1998 was spent assisting Claudio Abbado in rehearsals of Peter Brook’s production of Don Giovanni at the Aix- en Provence Festival. Marius is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Glen Dempsey is Assistant Director of Music at Ely Cathedral, where he accompanies the majority of choral services and assists in the training of the boy choristers. He is also Director of the Ely Cathedral Octagon Singers and Organist at King's Ely. Originally hailing from Bury St Edmunds, organ lessons with Michael Nicholas led to Glen's being awarded a répétiteur scholarship to study at the Purcell School of Music and in 2013 he was appointed Organ Scholar at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. A brief spell in the Netherlands followed, where Glen was Assistant Organist of St Nicholas's Basilica, Amsterdam and studied with Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. From 2015-19 Glen was Organ Scholar at St John's College, Cambridge under Andrew Nethsingha, where he read for a degree in Music and accompanied the choir in their busy schedule of daily services, tours and broadcasts.

Max Barley was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge and Organ Scholar at St John’s College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages (German) and was responsible for directing the chapel choir. He was a scholar at the Stiftung Maximilianeum, Munich and studied choral conducting at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater, Munich, where he studied with Michael Glaeser and Andreas Herrmann. Teachers in the UK have included Martin Neary, Ralph Allwood, Neil Ferris, Denise Ham, Rodolfo Saglimbeni and Toby Purser. Max is developing a blossoming career as a choral conductor, holding the following posts:
Music Director: Choir of the 21st Century, Wimbledon Youth Choir, Eltham Choral Society, Principal Conductor: Guildford Chamber Choir, Director of Music at Holy Trinity, Sloane Square and Associate Conductor, Brandenburg Choral Festival.

Ben Parry studied Music and History of Art at Cambridge University, where he was a member of King’s College Choir. Later he was a singer with The Swingle Singers, with whom he toured the world and performed with some of the greatest musicians, including Pierre Boulez, Stephane Grappelli and Dizzy Gillespie. He composed and arranged over fifty pieces for the group and co-produced their albums for Virgin Classics and EMI. Ben recently stepped down as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Youth Choir after nearly 11 years, and is currently Director of the professional choir, London Voices. He was formerly a course director for the Rodolfus Choral Courses for 20 years, Director of Music at St Paul’s School and the Junior Royal Academy of Music in London and Assistant Director of Music of King's College, Cambridge. With London Voices, he has performed in concert halls and festivals worldwide. He worked closely with Sir Paul McCartney on his classical choral work, Ecce Cor Meum, as well as conducting on the soundtracks of major films such as The Hobbit, Avengers and Harry Potter. London Voices performed the premiere of Stockhausen’s Mittwoch for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in Birmingham Festival and Berio’s Sinfonia with the National Youth Orchestra in 2009 and at the BBC Proms in 2014 and 2018.

Robert Quinney is Organist of New College, Oxford. In addition to the daily direction of New College’s world-famous choir, his work comprises teaching, lecturing, and examining, as a Tutorial Fellow of the college and an Associate Professor at the University Faculty of Music. Robert read music at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. After four years as Assistant Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, he became Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey in 2004. While at the Abbey he performed on concert tours to the United States, Australia and Russia, at several televised services – including the Marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – and on the BBC TV documentary Westminster Abbey. In April 2013 he moved to Peterborough Cathedral, where he was Director of Music for sixteen months. Between 2009 and 2014 he was Director of Oundle for Organists, whose residential courses continue to attract young organists from all over the world.

Tim Brown was a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and later an alto choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, under the direction of Sir David Willcocks. Following his time in college, Tim became a lay clerk at New College, Oxford. In 1979 he succeeded John Rutter as Director of Music at Clare College, Cambridge and Director of the college choir. In his time at Clare he released several acclaimed recordings with the choir (largely on the Naxos label) by composers including Rutter, Vaughan Williams and Stainer. In 1986 he re-founded the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, directing annual performances of all the major Bach and Handel oratorios. He later founded the London-based professional chamber choir, English Voices. In 2011 he founded The Zürich Singing Academy and he now divides his time between Zurich and Cambridge.

Hilary Campbell is a British choral conductor based in London. She is Associate Conductor of Ex Cathedra, and her guest work includes directing and preparing ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Chorus, whom she prepared for a performance of Mozart's Mass in C Minor at the Proms, The BBC Singers, Trinity Laban Chamber Choir, the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Chorus, BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service Singers, the University of Greenwich Choir and the Fourth Choir. She is Musical Director and Founder of professional chamber choir Blossom Street, and Musical Director of Bristol Choral Society, West London Chorus and West London Chamber Choir; she also runs projects with Master of the Queen's Music Judith Weir at the Royal Academy of Music, in conjunction with Blossom Street and the RAM composition department. Hilary also leads workshops for the Royal Opera House, is a course director for Helicon Arts, and runs an annual choral week for Music for Everyone. In 2021, Hilary was honoured to be awarded the Making Music 'best vocal group music director' prize, and she and Bristol Choral Society were jointed awarded the RPS Inspiration Award.

Stephen Rice is a freelance choral director, singer, and writer on music, who has held academic positions at the universities of Southampton and Bristol, and at several Oxford colleges. In 2004 he took a doctorate at Oxford University with a dissertation on the motets of Nicolas Gombert; he then held a Junior Research Fellowship at Wolfson College, Oxford (2004–8). As well as founding and directing The Brabant Ensemble, he has conducted extensively in the choral, oratorio and operatic fields, both freelance and as Director of the New Chamber Opera Studio between 1999 and 2004, and as Director of Music at the Oxford church of St Mary Magdalen from 2003 to 2011. As a scholar he has published on the music of Gombert, Morales, Thomas Tallis, Clemens non Papa, Josquin Desprez, and Victoria, and on Renaissance music theory. In 2008 he was awarded a three-year Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, held at the University of Southampton.

Suzi Digby was born in Japan and lived in Hong Kong, Mexico and the Philippines before settling in the UK, in London, Cambridge and now Bath. She is an internationally renowned choral conductor and music educator. She has trail-blazed the revival of singing in UK schools and the community over three decades. Suzi founded the following pioneering National Arts/education organisations: The Voices Foundation (the UK’s leading Primary Music Education Charity); Voce Chamber Choir; Vocal Futures (nurturing young [aged 16-22] audiences for Classical Music); Singing4Success (leadership and ‘Accelerated Learning’ for Corporates) and London Youth Choir (a pyramid of 9 choirs, [aged 8-22], serving multiple diverse communities in London’s 33 boroughs).
Suzi has conducted major choral-orchestral works with, amongst others: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, BBC Symphony Orchestra; London Mozart Players; the English Concert and Brandenburg Festival Orchestra. Suzi has conducted annually 2,000 voices in the Royal Albert Hall in a scratch Youth Messiah. Other Venues at which she has conducted include: St John’s Smith Square, Ambika P3, St Martin in the Fields, St James’ Piccadilly, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge and (with the Rolling Stones) O2, Glastonbury Festival Main Stage and Hyde Park. Suzi is the official choral conductor for The Rolling Stones and fixed and coached 70 local choirs for 70 cities internationally for their 50th Anniversary Tour.
In 2007 Suzi was appointed an OBE by the Queen for services to music education.

Clover read music at the University of Cambridge and now works as a soprano and teacher in London. She sings with various church choirs and consort groups across London and also works for the singing in prisons charity, Sing Inside, where she delivers workshops in prisons and runs their musical leadership training programme. After a period spent as Head of Music at a secondary school in Tottenham, she is now putting more of a focus on singing and singing focused outreach and education work. She is particularly excited to lead a new choir with PMF this year; Sing Out Pimlico.

Timothy Garrard graduated in the summer of 2001 from King’s College, Cambridge where he read Music and was the recipient of the College’s Gollin Prize. He taught at Eltham College before taking up the post of Head of Academic Music at Trinity School, Croydon and Associate Director of Trinity Boys Choir. In 2011, Timothy was appointed Director of Music at Westminster School.
As Director of Music at Westminster, recent conducting engagements have included Bach Magnificat at St John’s, Smith Square, Bernstein Chichester Psalms, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Britten Saint Nicolas, Fauré Requiem, Puccini Messa di Gloria and Rossini Petite messe solennelle at the Barbican, Handel Messiah with the London Mozart Players, Bach Lutheran Mass in G minor and Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen with the London Baroque Sinfonia, and directing the Queen’s Scholars of Westminster School during their singing of ‘Vivat Regina Elizabetha’ in Parry I was glad at a service in Westminster Abbey marking the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Fiona Fraser first began singing as a chorister at St Andrews Cathedral, Inverness, before studying Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. While completing a Masters degree in Choral Conducting at Jesus College, Cambridge, she sang with Trinity College Choir. An experienced consort singer, Fiona appears regularly with some of the UK’s finest vocal ensembles including Tenebrae, Alamire, The Marion Consort, Siglo de Oro, Sansara and Ensemble Pro Victoria. Future engagements include projects with the Ora Singers, Polyphony and the OAE. Recent solo appearances include Bach’s B Minor Mass, Bach’s St John Passion, Buxtehude Membra Jesu Nostri and Pärt’s Stabat Mater at St John’s Smith Square. Fiona is also a music educator, working as a curriculum music specialist for Southwark Music Service and Ark Music, and managing Learning and Participation for Sansara Choir.

— THIS EVENT IS NOW IN THE PAST AND WAS A GREAT SUCCESS —

Conductors

Ralph Allwood MBE

Harry Bradford

James Day

Peter Allwood

Nicholas Ansdell-Evans

Marius Stravinsky

Glen Dempsey

Max Barley

Ben Parry

Robert Quinney

Tim Brown

Hilary Campbell

Stephen Rice

Suzi Digby

Clover Willis

Tim Garrard

Fiona Fraser