The Choir was founded on the demise of The St
Mary's Singers in 1965. Depending on the balance between the voices and on the need
to keep to about 40 singers, membership is open to all. Entry is by a short,
informal audition. Present members include a number of teachers of music as well as
numerous instrumentalists together with others with no such qualifications, all bound by a
common enthusiasm. Cameraderie is second to none.
The Conductor, John Naylor has recently taken
over the role of conductor.
John
Naylor, conductor, singer and organist, combines extensive performance experience in
world-class choirs with a lifelong passionate interest in choral music and its
performance. His original training was as a choral scholar at St John’s College,
Cambridge with the great Dr George Guest after keyboard studies with Conrad Eden at Durham
Cathedral where he was a chorister, a music scholarship at Rossall School and singing
studies with Wilfrid Brown and Lyndon van der Pump from The Royal College of Music.
He
subsequently became a professional member of the Chapel Royal Choir of St Peter ad Vincula
at H.M. Tower of London and worked with John Eliot Gardiner, Louis Halsey, Neville Mariner
and Richard Hickox, appearing under their direction at The Proms, The South Bank, The
Aldeburgh Festival and in numerous broadcasts and recordings. He has sung in the cathedral
choirs of Christ Church Oxford, Chester and Carlisle.
John
has been Director of The Lydian Singers since 1980 with whom he has performed
extensively in the North West, in most of the cathedrals in Great Britain and Eire, (with
several return visits to many of them), and in
recitals throughout Castile, Umbria and Catalonia. He gave his final performance as
conductor of the renowned Newport & District Male Voice Choir in September 2009.
He
was appointed Music Director of Nantwich Choral Society in September 2005 for whom he has
conducted highly acclaimed performances of Mendelssohn's 'Elijah', Bach’s ‘St
John Passion’ (in Chester Cathedral), and Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers of
1610’, Bernstein’s ‘Chichester Psalms’ and Fauré’s
‘Requiem’. In July 2007 he
conducted a memorable joint performance in Nantwich of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man
with Ensemble Vocal Arpège de Mâcon and in November a much-praised performance of Mozart’s
Requiem with the 18th Century Concert Orchestra.
2008
included a recital of a capella English Pastoral Music, Tewkesbury Abbey, recitals in
Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto, Spoleto and Todi cathedrals and Hexham abbey and Bangor
Cathedral with The Lydian Singers, together with recitals, a new CD recording and filming
an excerpt from ‘Miss Saigon’ with Newport & District MVC. With NCS he
conducted Brahms Requiem in March, a highly enjoyable Opera Gala Evening in
July and a memorable performance of Bach’s B minor Mass in November with The
18th Century Concert Orchestra. Most recently he conducted Messiah as
the last ever concert in the former Nantwich Methodist church in January, Gounod’s
Messe de Saint Cecile and John Rutter’s Psalmfest in March, and in June
a complete performance of Haydn’s ‘The Seasons’ with the Northern
Concordia Orchestra.
From
September 2009 John has been appointed conductor of The Phoenix Singers of Shrewsbury and
will first conduct them in their December Christmas Concerts in St Mary’s Shrewsbury
and then in a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Shrewsbury Abbey in
March 2010.
The Secretary is Jill Hallam, 3 Greyfriars Road, Shrewsbury,
SY3 7EN (01743 245771)
Rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings in
Shrewsbury from 7.30 to 9.30.
