Musical Direcor for 2024/25: Nicholas Hurndall Smith

We are delighted that Nicholas Hurndall Smith is able to remain as our MD for our 2024/25 season which will celebrate the choir's 50th anniversary. Nick is a professional singer, music teacher and voice coach and brings a great range of skills to the choir during Jen Hartley's absence. You might recall that we had to say "au-revoir" to Jen for a while due to her work commitments, but we are extremely fortunate in having Nick available to lead us for such a significant event in the choir's history. You will see elsewhere on this website that we will be performing Handel's "Messiah" on Saturday 26th April 2025 - a suitably fitting major work for a major moment for the choir!

 

Musical Director for 2022/23: Jen Hartley

Starting from September 2022, we are delighted to have Jen Hartley as our new director of music. She comes very well regarded and has invigorated the choir. Jen studied piano with Graeme Humphrey in London before going on to read Music at Cambridge University. Following her PGCE, she has taught in secondary schools for the past 24 years, and has extensive experience in working with choirs, orchestras, and smaller ensembles. She is an experienced accompanist, and enjoys performing as one half of a piano duo. Her compositions have included works for theatre and ballet and several standalone pieces for choir, orchestra, and chamber groups, and she is the current Associate Composer for the Cumbria Opera Group. Jen completed her MA at York University in 2017 on the subject of Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony. In mid 2023 Jen was awarded her PhD at RNCM, for researching (broadly speaking) ways of nurturing creative autonomy in A-level composition students through group improvisation and imaginative listening.

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