I'm currently a Research Fellow in Mathematics at the University of Bristol; I studied mathematics for four years at Trinity College, Cambridge, and completed a Ph.D. in 2005 at the University of Nottingham. However, this site isn't about that; it's about music, which takes up most of my spare time.
I started choral singing (treble, then tenor) at Spalding Grammar School, and went on to sing tenor with various choirs in Cambridge. Despite this, for various reasons, I never got involved with the chapel choir ‘scene’.
It wasn't until I moved to Nottingham that I discovered the joys of Anglican church music. Soon after I joined the university's ensemble Viva Voce, their conductor Charlie Jenkins suggested that I join the choir of St Mary's in the Lace Market, and give countertenor a try. Over time I've decided that countertenor is much more suited to my voice, as well as much more fun. (Since I don't use falsetto, my voice is more accurately described as haute-contre.)
I held a Choral Scholarship at St Mary's for two years, and made various solo appearances (both countertenor and tenor) with St Mary's, Viva Voce and Nottingham's University Choir. I recently sang the part of the Sorceress in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and I was the countertenor in the premiere of ‘Domestic’, an electronic opera by Nottingham composer Stephen Crowe.
In 2006 I sang with the Chapel Choir and Mixed Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge. When I moved to Bristol, I joined the choir of Bristol Cathedral, and was appointed a countertenor Lay Clerk in April 2007.
I began composing choral music as an undergraduate in Cambridge, writing two pieces which were performed by the Trinity Singers in Trinity College Chapel. These were both secular works, as was my next offering – an a capella arrangement of ‘It's Raining Men’ for Cadenza …
Soon after joining Viva Voce, I offered to write a piece for them, and produced Ad Maerentem, a setting of a text in Latin which I wrote at school. This was well received and led to two commissions: a setting of a Henry Vaughan poem for St Barnabas RC Cathedral in Nottingham, and an anthem ‘Like as the Hart’ for a christening at St Mary's.
Since then, I have focussed on writing for St Mary's and their Director of Music, John Keys, producing a set of Preces and Responses, and a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis entitled ‘The Fast Service’. These appeared together, along with Like as the Hart, at evensong at St Mary's on 6th March 2005.
There is a full list of my compositions here.
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