ABOUT
An invitation to music.
I'm a singer, conductor and teacher based in the North of England.
My work takes different forms, but the idea is consistent: music isn't something reserved for the gifted, or something simply to be consumed. It's a tradition you can enter, a craft you can practise, and something you can participate in.
For much of my own life, singing felt like a closed door.
I was sixteen before I first sang in front of an audience. Before that, I wanted to sing, but lacked both the confidence and the tools to know how to begin.
That experience has stayed with me.
Over the years I've built a life in music: performing as a baritone, teaching singers, conducting choirs and opera, and increasingly writing about music, craft and attention.
What interests me is not simply producing better performances. It's what happens to us when we stop standing outside something and begin learning how to do it.
Competence is deeply satisfying. Craft rewards attention. Music gives us something to participate in with other people.
And none of those things require you to have been born knowing how.
That's the invitation.
MY WORK
LEARN
Acquire the craft.
Singing lessons for beginners, choral singers and experienced performers looking for greater understanding and direction.
LISTEN
Experience the craft.
Baritone performances in oratorio, concert and opera.
READ
Explore the ideas.
The Noble Letters: occasional writing about music, craft and attention.
CONDUCTING
Alongside my work as a singer and teacher, I conduct choirs and opera across the North of England.
I am Musical Director of Richmondshire Choral Society and Opera Nova, and work regularly with the Military Wives, Associates, Girlfriends and Servicewomen choir at Catterick and the Service Children's Community Choir.
Recent repertoire has included Haydn's The Creation, Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Fauré's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Goodall's Eternal Light and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
With the Catterick Military WAGS Choir, I conduct annually at the Festival of Remembrance in Durham Cathedral. My work with the Service Children's Community Choir has also included preparation for the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, with rehearsals filmed for a BBC television feature ahead of their performance.
