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 Esther was appointed as the Society’s Assistant Conductor and Chorus Director in September 2008. Since then she has worked the choir hard, setting a demanding pace at rehearsals and inspiring them to new standards. In May 2009 the choir was joined by her Esterhazy Singers when she conducted Choir and Orchestra in the performance of Haydn’s Oratorio The Seasons. Seeking opportunities to attract new chorus members, she ran a “Come & Sing” event in September of Fauré’s Requiem, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all who took part, and she is planning an informal summer choral concert.
Esther’s childhood in Crowborough, E. Sussex, saw her musical skills develop through singing and playing the organ at the parish church. She played the viola in various ensembles, including the East Sussex Youth Orchestra, and was a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, joining them in time for their tour of the Pacific in 1996.
Esther read music at Oxford University, where she was organ scholar of University College. She studied choral conducting with Patrick Russill and Paul Brough at the Royal Academy of Music, where she won the Irene Burcher and Thomas Armstrong prizes and became the first Open Academy Fellow. As well as directing the chapel choir there, she also conducted the 200-strong University College Chorus and Orchestra, sang with the university chamber choir, Schola Cantorum of Oxford and was Principal Viola in the Oxford University Orchestra.
She now teaches part-time at the RAM, both as vocal ensemble tutor and the choral conducting specialist for the LRAM teaching diploma. She has also been a London Symphony Chorus Conducting Scholar and the first Stanley Vann Church Music Scholar.
Esther is also Assistant Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and conducts a number of adult and youth choirs in London and the South East including the Esterhazy Singers and UBS Choral Society. She is Director of Music at Christ Church, Epsom Common and is also in demand across the UK as a vocal animateur and workshop leader. She is a founder-member of Vox Angelica vocal trio.
Click here to discover more about Esther on her website.
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