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PRESIDENT - MARCUS FARNSWORTH
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Baritone Marcus Farnsworth, the Choir’s President, is now much lauded for both his singing and his conducting. Marcus studied at Manchester University before going to the Royal Academy of Music in London, and won the 2009 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Song Prize at the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Competition. He now sings all over the world (his most recent engagement overseas was Beijing), and is renowned both as a recitalist, and for his work as founder and Artistic Director of the Southwell Music Festival. Last year he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, a singular honour for one so young. |
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VICE PRESIDENT - Sasha Johnson-Manning
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Sasha Johnson-Manning first came to our attention of St George’s Singers when, in 2001, we commissioned her to write a piece for the choir. Sasha’s three-movement setting of Psalm 91 made her an SGS favourite. In later years we asked Sasha to write a Christmas piece. She chose Wendy Cope’s The Christmas Life, performed in December 2005. When Stephen Williams left the choir in 2006, he was presented with the gift of another of her commissioned works, a setting of Dryden’s A Song for St Cecilia’s day. Our librarian, Gwyneth Pailin also received a commission. On a special birthday, her husband, David, asked Sasha to set Blake’s Divine Imageand this was performed at Christmas in 2008. Most recently, the Choir collaborated with the Wittingham Lives Project to commission War's Embers for performance at the RNCM marking the 100th annivesary of the end of the Great War.
As a composer Sasha specialises in writing for voices and held the position of composer-in-residence of the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus of Missouri for eight years, culminating in a Requiem for St.Louis. Sasha has composed for Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Lynne Dawson, Claron McFadden and the London Baroque. Sasha became a Vice President of the Choir in 2018. |
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VICE PRESIDENT - STEPHEN WILLIAMS
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Musician and education consultant
Musical Director of St George's Singers, 1996-2006 |
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MUSICAL DIRECTOR - NEIL TAYLOR
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Neil Taylor is a sought after and renowned choral director, organist, piano accompanist, teacher and coach, based in the North West of England. After winning a Scholarship to the Royal College of Music, Neil held cathedral appointments in St Albans, Norwich and Sheffield. During his time in Sheffield, the cathedral choir toured both at home and abroad, and broadcast frequently on BBC Radios 2, 3 & 4. His recordings include Music for a Millennium, a Classic FM Magazine Disc of the Year Award Winner, and numerous releases as organist and conductor, all to high critical acclaim.
As solo organist, he has played at major UK venues, and has worked with the Hall , Northern Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Orchestra of Opera North, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, John Rutter, Huddersfield Choral, and the Exon Singers. He is Music Director of St George’s Singers in Manchester, Keele Bach Choir, and organist and keyboard studies teacher at Rossall School. He appears regularly with the BBC as musical director and accompanist on Songs of Praise, Young Chorister of the Year, Daily Service and Sunday Worship. |
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ACCOMPANIST - PETE DURRANT
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Peter Durrant is the accompanist of St George’s Singers, the Hallé youth and training choirs, N-choir, and is the deputy accompanist for the Hallé choir. He works at the Royal Northern College of Music and is head accompanist at the Junior RNCM. Pete was a chorister at Westminster Abbey, touring worldwide and singing at many high-profile events, including Princess Diana’s funeral. In 2004 he studied music at The University of Manchester, where he learned piano with Tom Scott, and was awarded the Proctor Gregg prize for performance at the end of his second year.
In 2010 he completed a Masters in Piano Performance at the RNCM, studying with Jeremy Young and Colin Stone. Pete has played with the BBC Philharmonic and the Hallé, has been accompanist of Stafford Choral Society, Keele Bach Choir, Manchester University Chorus, has directed and played for Manchester Chamber Choir, and has accompanied the BBCSO Chorus, RNCM chamber choir, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield Chorale, Salford Choral Society and Marple Choral Society. He was also conductor of Leek Choral Society (for whom he wrote his Requiem for in 2018), the University of Manchester’s chamber choir, Ad Solem, and Keele Bach Choir in the second half of 2016. |
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ASSISTANT ACCOMPANISTS - TIM KENNEDY, JULIA MAYALL
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