Simon Brown was the director of music at King's College School in Cambridge from 1999-2014. [1] [2] and was the director of King's Voices from 2001 to 2013. [3] He was a choral scholar in King's College Choir in the late 1970s, and since then has sung in the choirs of New College, Oxford, Winchester Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapels Royal (St James' Palace). His teaching career began at Bradford Grammar School in Yorkshire, and was followed by 12 years as Head of Academic and Choral Music at the Purcell School. His time at the Purcell School included conducting the youngest ever choir to sing Tallis' 40-part choral work Spem In Alium . [4]
Brown's work with King's Voices included evensongs in chapel on Mondays in full term, visits to Ely Cathedral and St George's Chapel, Windsor, and tours to Venice, Florence, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Copenhagen, Bologna, Rome, Malta, Barcelona, Toulouse and Berlin. Simon is a keen composer (the introit Thee We Adore, O Hidden Saviour, Thee was premiered on BBC Radio 3's Choral Evensong in 2006 [5] and his new carol There is no rose was sung in the Advent Procession at York Minster in 2011[ when? ]) and enjoys playing many instruments including recorder, viola, clarinet and harp.
From 2015 to 2022, Brown was Director of Chapel Music at Robinson College, Cambridge.
John Blow was an English composer and organist of the Baroque period. Appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in late 1668, his pupils included William Croft, Jeremiah Clarke and Henry Purcell. In 1685 he was named a private musician to James II. His only stage composition, Venus and Adonis, is thought to have influenced Henry Purcell's later opera Dido and Aeneas. In 1687, he became choirmaster at St Paul's Cathedral, where many of his pieces were performed. In 1699 he was appointed to the newly created post of Composer to the Chapel Royal.
Nine Lessons and Carols, also known as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, is a service of Christian worship traditionally celebrated on or near Christmas Eve in England. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings or lessons from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems.
The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Truro, Cornwall. It was built between 1880 and 1910 to a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson on the site of the parish church of St Mary. It is one of three cathedrals in the United Kingdom featuring three spires.
Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing a cappella or accompanied by an organ.
Sir Stephen John Cleobury was an English organist and music director. He worked with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where he served as music director from 1982 to 2019, and with the BBC Singers.
King's Voices is an English choir, and is the mixed-voice chapel choir of King's College, Cambridge. It is a resident choir to the college's chapel, alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his Chapel, which remains the main task of the choir to this day.
Charles John Grayston Ives, also known as Bill Ives, is a British composer, singer and choral director.
Simon Lole is well known as a choral director, organist, composer, arranger and broadcaster. He was organist of Barking Parish Church (1978–80), Croydon Parish Church (1980–85), Director of Music at St Mary's Church, Warwick (1985–94) before becoming Organist and Director of Music at Sheffield Cathedral (1994–1997) and then at Salisbury Cathedral (1997–2005), He spent two periods as Acting Director of Chapel Music at Jesus College, Cambridge. He has composed over 60 published works. Best known are "The Father's Love" (RSCM), "The Journey" (RSCM), "I am the bread of life" (RSCM),"Shall we not Love Thee, Mother dear?" (RSCM), "The St David's Service" (Encore), Angels (Banks) and "Jesu, the very thought of Thee" (OUP). Much of his music has been recorded and broadcast on radio and TV. He is now Director of Music at St Mary's Church, Swanage.
David Ogden, is a conductor and composer, directing choirs, choral and church music workshops, courses and festivals in the UK and abroad.
Winchester College Chapel Choir is an historic British boys choir that sings in the Chapel of Winchester College. It contains boys under age 12 as well as older students from Winchester College. The Choir has performed on the radio and on international tours.
The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge is part of the English cathedral tradition, having been founded to sing the daily liturgy in the College Chapel, though it is set apart from other English choirs of this tradition by the frequent inclusion of Continental works in its repertoire and its emphasis on polyphonic interpretations. Alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, it is one of the two most famous collegiate choirs in Cambridge, having had over 90 recordings published. The choir consists of fifteen Choral Scholars and twenty Choristers and Probationers, all of whom are members of St John's College, many of whom have proceeded to become distinguished musicians.
The Choir of Leeds Minster is the choir of Leeds Minster, Leeds, England, which became a Minster in September 2012. The choir was founded by vicar, Richard Fawcett probably as early as 1815, and was certainly in existence by 1818. The church's choir - boys and men - was, from its origins, a charge on the church rate; and, in what was then a largely non-conformist town, a none-too-popular one. By the 1830s, the choir's resourcing had been taken over by a list of voluntary subscribers. On arrival as Vicar of Leeds in 1837, Walter Farquhar Hook said he found "the surplices in rags and the books in tatters". Additional to its extensive commitment in the provision of choral services, the choir is known to a wide public through many recitals, recordings and broadcasts and by its regular choir tours - the first tour was held in July 1968 and the 40th anniversary tour, from 22 to 27 July 2008, included singing in Ely Cathedral, King's College, Cambridge, the National Musicians' Church St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, All Saints Pastoral Centre London Colney and the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
The Southern Cathedrals Festival is a five-day music festival held in rotation among the English cathedrals of Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury, in the penultimate week of July. The festival was restored in 1960 after initial attempts to create the annual occasion were followed by 28 years without it. The respective director of music acts as festival director when it is that cathedral's turn to host the event.
Sarah Elizabeth Arwen MacDonald is a Canadian-born organist, conductor, and composer, living in the United Kingdom, and currently holds the positions of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of the girl choristers at Ely Cathedral. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. In 2018 MacDonald was given the honorary award of Associate of the Royal School of Church Music (ARSCM).
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, is a mixed-voice choir whose primary function is to lead services in the chapel of Clare College, Cambridge. Since its founding in 1972, the choir has gained an international reputation as one of the leading university choral groups in the world.
Ben Parry is a British musician, composer, conductor, singer, arranger and producer. He is the director of London Voices and was formerly artistic director of the National Youth Choir.
Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word vesperas as æfensang, which became 'evensong' in modern English. Typically used in reference to the Anglican daily office's evening liturgy, it can also refer to the pre-Reformation form of vespers or services of evening prayer from other denominations, particularly within the Anglican Use of the Catholic Church.
The Choir of Somerville College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, is mixed voice and is led by a Director of Chapel Music, currently William Dawes, incumbent since 2017. In conjunction with the organ scholars, the choir is central to the musical life of the college and, in its present form, was founded by Francis Knights and Sam Bayliss in 2001. Previous Directors of Chapel Music include David Crown, who directed the choir between 2007 and 2015. The choir sings in Somerville College Chapel every Sunday during term and performs regularly in concerts organised by Somerville Music Society. The organ of the college chapel is a traditionally voiced instrument by Harrison & Harrison. Somerville offers up to five Choral Exhibitions each year to applicants reading any subject.
Janet Wheeler is a British composer and choral conductor, based in Saffron Walden, Essex.