Richard was appointed Music Director of Dartford Choral Society from January 2025.
A finalist in the 2024 Kathleen Ferrier Awards at the
Wigmore Hall, Richard is a 26-year-old countertenor, conductor and pianist
hailing from Sidcup. He graduated in 2024 with an MMus in Vocal Performance with
Distinction from the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Ben Johnson,
and previously read languages and linguistics at St John’s College, Cambridge,
specialising in Italian, French and linguistics.
As a highly
sought-after countertenor, Richard has been described by OperaNow magazine as a
‘countertenor star of the future’, with recent operatic roles including Joad (Athalia),
Lucifer (The Fall of Lucifer), Arsamene (Serse), Orlovsky (Die
Fledermaus) and Didymus (Theodora). In 2024, Richard appeared in
the critically-acclaimed production of Purcell’s Fairy Queen with
Hampstead Garden Opera, as well as premiering three new roles in the RCM's
'Revolutions' opera series in conjunction with Tête à Tête. He has sung solos in
many of the great oratorios, including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas
Oratorio, and Vivaldi’s Gloria, amongst many others. He also frequently gives
song recitals, alongside duo partner Firoze Madon, and occasionally with
lutanist Daniel Murphy. Recent competition successes, in addition to the Ferrier
Awards, include the finals of the Schubert Song Prize, and Third Prize and the
Early Music Prize at the AESS Dame Patricia Routledge National English Song
Awards. He has worked in masterclasses and coachings with some of the UK’s top
singers and conductors, including Dame Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance CBE, James
Platt, Laurence Cummings and Robin Blaze.
As a conductor, Richard has
worked around Europe in both a choral and orchestral leadership role. He is the
current Director of Music at St Augustine’s Church, Tooting Broadway, where he
also runs a local community choir, and currently assists in training the
choristers at the King’s Chapel of the Savoy (where he himself was once a treble
until 2014!). He has previously held Choir Director positions at All Saints’
Church, Orpington, and St Mark’s English Church, Florence, Italy, where he also
coordinated ‘virtual choir’ videos during the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing
together singers from all around the globe. As an orchestral conductor, Richard
has conducted three operas: The Yeomen of the Guard and The
Gondoliers (both Sullivan) and Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, and last
year he was the Assistant Conductor for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Orchestra and English Voices choir for a Mozart celebration concert at the
Cambridge Summer Music Festival.
Richard is passionate about encouraging
everyone to sing, no matter their previous experience, and is a champion of the
mantra that ‘anyone can sing’. He has worked with various groups local to Kent
and South-East London throughout most of his life, including Erith Operatic
Society, Ferrier Operatic Society, Gravesham Choral Society and various churches
in the local area. He was appointed as Music Director of Dartford Choral Society
from January 2025, taking on this post from Michael Bell, and is delighted to be
working with such a friendly and enthusiastic choir.
Previoius Music Director - Michael Bell
Our previoius Music Director was Michael Bell who took in this position in 1984 taking over the baton from David Atkinson. A graduate of Bristol University, Michael Bell trained additionally as a music teacher at the London Institute of Education. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Organists and has been conductor of Dartford Choral Society since 1984. He was Director of Music at Dartford Grammar School for Boys from 1975 to 1992 and was appointed Rochester Diocesan Organ Adviser in 1989. First prizewinner of the 1983 West of England Organ Festival, he has subsequently given recitals at St. Paul's, Southwark and Rochester Cathedrals, and in may churches in London and the provinces (not to mention Scotland). A former organist of Dartford Parish Church, Michael is currently Organist and Choirmaster of St. Nicholas Church, Chislehurst, Kent.