The new season is underway and already we have some exciting news.  Richard Wilberforce – our current choir master, has been offered an important career opportunity by the Cambridge University.  The Cambridge University Music Society (CUMS) Symphony Chorus has invited him to conduct a performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt on Saturday 25th November.  He will take over from Stephen Cleobury in October as choir master for two months, as well as conducting the full-scale concert in Cambridge with this excellent and famous choir.  We wish him all the best in this venture.

So what about the Phil this term ? Well we are extremely fortunate in this regard as Stephen Jackson, for 26 years Chorus Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus, is available and willing to take over from Richard.  Stephen has chorus mastered hundreds of Proms, and has worked with practically all of the greatest conductors of the past two decades, including David Hill (our music director) on numerous occasions.