Armagh 17th - 24th August 2008

Staff

DAVID HILL

Director—Charles Wood Singers; Conductor—Ulster Orchestra

David attended Cheetham’s School in Manchester and gained his FRCO at the age of 17. He became organ scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge and then sub-organist at Durham Cathedral. This was followed by becoming Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral. In 1987 he was appointed to Winchester Cathedral. In 2003 David returned to St John’s as Organist and Director of Music where he maintained the tradition of choral excellence which has made the college choir renowned throughout the world.

David’s experience as organist, orchestral and choral conductor ensures his popularity in Great Britain and abroad. He is also a choral advisor to the music publishers Novello. In 2007, David left St John's to become the Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers.

DANIEL HYDE

Assistant Director - Charles Wood Singers

A student of Dame Gillian Weir and Nicolas Kynaston, Daniel gained his FRCO at the age of 16. In 2002 he won Second Prize and the Audience Prize  in the RCO Performer of the Year competition. He also appeared as a concerto soloist in the Bruges Festival as well as regularly recording for CD, television and radio.

Since 2004 Daniel has been Director of Chapel Music at Jesus College, Cambridge. He is also a tutor in the Music Faculty of Cambridge University, and co-director of Cambridge University Chamber Choir. Recent solo and conducting work has included his debut with the Britten Sinfonia, a recital tour to the USA and various concerts across the UK. He has recently masterminded the fundraising for and design of a new organ at Jesus College. Alongside his regular commitments in Cambridge, Daniel is Musical Director of the Harlow Chorus.

Vocal Coach

Paul studied voice and piano at the Birmingham Conservatoire. During his career as a singer, choral conductor, musical director and freelance vocal consultant, Paul has worked with some of the world’s leading Opera and Concert singers. He has given workshops with the casts of West End shows, including Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, and for 5 years taught on the Music Theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music. He regularly coaches principal artists for all of the National Opera Companies as well as Glyndebourne Festival. Widely recognised as one of the foremost ‘vocal troubleshooters’ in the business, he is one of only two NHS Clinical Vocal Consultants in the UK. Paul has assisted Jo Estill in teaching courses in the UK, USA and Netherlands and was among the first people in the world licensed to teach her work.

During the last two years, Paul has given a number of masterclasses on Spanish Television’s version of Fame Academy, ‘Operacion Triunfo’. He has recently returned from Finland, where he gave a series of masterclasses to members of the Helsinki Opera and talks to the Sibelius Society.

IAN KEATLEY

Director - Boys' Choir

Nigel was educated at Methodist College, Belfast and the Royal College of Music where he was a prize winning student. While in London he was organ scholar at Mill Hill School and St Alban’s Abbey. In 1994 he became Organist and Master of the Choristers at the Parish Church of St George, Belfast. His choral and organ work inspired many young people, some of whom hold scholarships at several Oxford colleges.

From 2000 Nigel was Director of Music at Croydon Parish Church, a post which he combined with teaching piano and organ at Whitgift and Cumnor House Schools. At the beginning of this year he moved to Belfast, becoming Director of Music at St Peter's Cathedral. Nigel is a respected recitalist having played recently at the Fairfield Halls with John Scott and Carlo Curley, Westminister Abbey and Magdalen College Oxford. He has been conducting choirs for twenty years.

NIGEL MCCLINTOCK

Assistant Director - Boys' Choir

Ian is currently Organist and Director of Music at St John Beaumont School, Old Windsor. He recently graduated from the Royal College of Music where he was awarded the Haigh prize for organ playing and the ARCO diploma. He was previously Choral Scholar at Downside Abbey School and Wells Cathedral, and Organ Scholar at Southwark Cathedral where he was the founding Director of the Cathedral Merbecke Choir.

As Organ Scholar at Westminster Abbey he performed regularly in the organ recital series and played for a number of royal and state occasions, including the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII and the memorial services for Lord Callaghan and Ronnie Barker. Recently he has performed at St Paul’s Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, St Alban’s Cathedral and Truro Cathedral.

Ian has performed in a number of RCM concerts and master classes and recently played continuo in the RCM Baroque Ensemble’s performance of the Christmas Oratorio conducted by Peter Schreier. He studies organ with Timothy Bond, harpsichord with Robert Wooley and singing with Ashley Stafford.

STEPHEN BEET

Stephen graduated in history from Sheffield University and is a schoolmaster of some 25 years' experience. He has been a housemaster and has taught mainly in private preparatory schools, though he began his career in the middle and secondary schools of Derbyshire.

His experience as a choirmaster began in those Derbyshire schools in the early 1980s and at the same time he ran two church choirs (an all-male and a ladies' choir) until he left to teach in Berkshire in 1989. At Stubbington House Preparatory School, Ascot, and later at North Bridge House School, and Northcote Lodge, London, he trained boys' choirs and soloists, entering many pupils for local music festivals. He contributes regularly to several journals and publications, mainly on musical and educational matters.

EAMON MANNING

Eamon comes from Portaferry, County Down, and is graduate in Byzantine Studies and Scholastic Philosophy from Queen’s University, Belfast. He has been involved in church music from an early age and is passionate about Gregorian chant and polyphony being used in the liturgical contexts for which they were written. He most recently spend six months studying chant with the monks of St. Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough.

Eamon directs Schola Gregoriana Belfast, which describe themselves as ‘an itinerant liturgical choir’. They sing music mainly from the traditional Catholic repertoire with an emphasis on Gregorian chant and organise regular workshops and retreat days for parish choirs. Their work has been featured on BBC Radio. Eamon lives in Belfast and is currently reading for his second degree in Theology.

WILLIAM DUTTON

William (13) is a pupil at St. Aidan’s Church of England High School and a Chorister of St Mark’s Church, Harrogate. In October 2006 he won the title of BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year. Since then he has had regular broadcasts for BBC Radio 2 and 4. He sang with José Carreras in his 2006 Royal Albert Hall Christmas Concert. William made his BBC Proms debut in July 2007 as treble soloist in Faure’s Requiem with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer.

William’s recent performances have included Handel’s Messiah, Faure’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s St Nicolas and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and concert recitals and BBC broadcasts, some in partnership with the UK’s leading soloists, orchestras, conductors and celebrities, including Simon Wright and the Leeds Festival Chorus, Opera North and Northern Sinfonia, Donald Hunt, the Elgar Chorale and the English Symphony Orchestra, Simon Lindley and the St Peter’s Singers, Michael Chance, Alfie Boe, Natasha Marsh, Aled Jones and Ken Dodd. In October 2007 William was invited to sing for HRH The Prince of Wales at the opening of the historic Royal Hall in Harrogate.

CIARAN TACKNEY

Accompanist

Ciaran is a conductor, organist and composer. He studied under Shane Brennan as a member of the Schola Cantorum in Mullingar. At Maynooth, he studied with Gerard Gillen and John O'Keefe. More recently he established the Music Department at St Patrick's College, Cavan, leading the choirs and orchestras to huge success throughout the country. He is active as a composer and has undertaken commissions for the Irish Youth Choir as well as the NUI Maynooth Chamber Choir. He now has a busy schedule as a freelance musician and recording engineer.

THEO SAUNDERS

Accompanist

Theo Saunders is Organist and Master of the Choristers at the Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh. He began receiving formal tuition on the organ from Tim Harrison whilst at school at King’s College, Taunton. He obtained his FRCO at the age of 20. He was awarded the Organ Scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford and obtained a degree in music under Simon Preston. It was here that he started the Chapel Choir which is still flourishing today. He later became Assistant Organist at the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, following which he became the Director of Music at the Cathedral School, Exeter. Before coming to Armagh, he was Director of Music at St James the Greater, Leicester.

PAUL FARRINGTON

Guest Tutors/Performers