People
Musical Director
Gordon Pullin
A distinguished tenor soloist, Gordon Pullin has sung all over the United Kingdom, in many European countries and in the USA. He has given a number of solo broadcasts on Radio Three (including a complete programme of Coleridge-Taylor, for which he also wrote the script), and on various local Radio Stations, mainly of English Song.
His interest in English Song began at school in Norwich, where his Maths master (a friend since schooldays of Gerald Moore) accompanied him singing Warlock and Purcell, as well as Schumann. When he was awarded a Choral Scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge, his Norwich choirmaster gave him his own bound collection of Parry’s English Lyrics.
Apart from his wide knowledge of the standard tenor repertoire in all fields, he has given first performances by modern composers of opera, oratorio, songs and song-cycles. Philip Wilby, Carol Barratt, John Jeffreys, Roy Teed and Tony Noakes are among composers who have written songs for him, several of which he has recorded. He has devised programmes around such poets as Blake, Blunden, Clare, Graves, Hardy, Housman, Shakespeare, Edward Thomas and Tennyson. He has also edited a volume of settings of Hardy and Volume VII of ‘A Century of English Song’, both of which are available from the publisher William Elkin.
His latest CDs are settings of the poets Christina Rossetti (including Coleridge-Taylor's 'Six Sorrow Songs') and Charles Causley, as well as one of the songs of Roy Teed to celebrate the composer's 80th birthday and a disc of Light Music for Piano and Voice.
A Past Warden of the Performers and Composers Section of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, he is also an Honorary Life Member of the City Glee Club in London. In the past he was a member of the choirs of Coventry Cathedral, York Minster and St Paul's Cathedral. He now sings as an occasional deputy with Wells Cathedral Choir.
President
Raymond Warren
Raymond is a renowned composer and teacher, having held posts at Queen's University, Belfast, where from 1966 he held a personal Chair in composition. From 1966-72 he was Resident Composer to the Ulster Orchestra, writing for them a number of orchestral works and also conducting the Orchestra in a series of concerts of contemporary music. In 1972 he was appointed Professor of Music at the University of Bristol, a post from which he retired in 1994. He is the composer of numerous operas, oratorios and three symphonies. Recent works include his Symphony No. 3, a commission from the Brunel Ensemble. He is also author of the book Opera Workshop (Scolar Press, 1995).
Chairman of Committee
Greg Smart
I joined the chamber choir in 1991 and have been singing first tenor ever since. My singing career started at the age of eight, when I joined the Cirencester Parish Church Choir and I'm proud to say that I've sung all four parts in my time. I enjoy singing with the choir, not just because of the fascinating range of pieces that we perform, but also because of the friends I have made over the years. There have been some notable performances I have taken part in, including Bach's Komm Jesu, Komm, Martin's Mass for Double Choir and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Our visits to Copenhagen, Cork and Newcastle have also been memorable.
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