Patron: Cecilia McDowall
People
Dominic Ellis-Peckham :
Musical Director
Dominic Ellis-Peckham is a conductor, chorus master, education specialist, author, workshop director and presenter. A Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Dominic has been commended by reviewers as 'a latent star' and praised for his dedication to unique performance experiences and equality and access in music making, whilst also passionately championing new music and delivering inspirational collaborations on stage and in the education sector. Dominic has prepared choruses in opera houses, festivals and on the concert stage for BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his role with London Oriana Choir, Dominic is Chorus Master
for Opera Holland Park, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of Chamber
Choir of London and Associate Principal Conductor of the National Youth
Choirs of Great Britain. He has conducted projects at Abbey Road Studios,
Air Studios and Angel Studios as well as for Deutsche Grammophon, Whistle Records, Signum Records, Sky and the BBC. His recent collaborators have included Pete Townshend, BAFTA, Sir Paul McCartney, Rachel Fuller, Disney and Will.I.Am. His releases have reached No. 1 in both the US Classical Billboard Charts and the UK Specialist Charts.
He holds the position of Chorus Director and Visiting Artist at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. Dominic makes regular appearances on TV and radio as a presenter and choral expert, notably for BBC2, BBC Radio 3 & 4 and SkyArts, and performances and appearances have taken him recently to the USA, the Middle East, Kenya, Nepal and China. In 2016 he published his first book entitled ‘Inspire your Choir’ (Bloomsbury Publishing).
Recent performances include projects in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Italy,
Germany and Oman. Last summer Dominic rejoined Opera Holland Park
as Chorus Master for Janáček’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ and Mascagni’s
‘L’Amico Fritz’ and enjoyed collaborations with Southbank Centre, a world
première with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Choir of
London. His second season as Music Director of Aldeburgh Voices began in August 2022 with a return to the Aldeburgh Festival for a performance of choral settings by Zoltan Kodaly, Florence Price, Imogen Holst, Benjamin Britten and Charlotte Bray.
Nicholas Chalmers :
Associate Conductor
Nicholas Chalmers is one of the leading conductors in the UK. Founder Artistic Director of Nevill Holt Opera and Senior Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House, Nicholas is widely recognised as having established some of the most exciting and highly successful artistic and education projects in recent years. His work is driven by a passion to bring classical music to the next generation and to ensure that people in areas of under provision have better access to training and engagement in the performing arts.
Nicholas made his BBC Proms conducting debut in 2020 with the BBC Singers. He has programmed and conducted numerous broadcasts and concerts throughout the UK with the group and helped establish the Singers’ partnership with youth choral groups in Stratford East, the future home of the BBC performing groups.
Educated at the University of Oxford and Piacenza Conservatoire, Nicholas has held positions at major UK musical institutions including Chichester Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, English National Opera and the Royal Opera House.
From 2011, Nicholas was conductor of Northern Ireland Opera and established the chorus and partnership with the Ulster Orchestra and conducted The Medium, Tosca (Best Opera - Irish Times Theatre Awards), The Turn of the Screw, The Bear, Macbeth, The Flying Dutchman, Salome, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte, Powder Her Face and Noye’s Fludde (Belfast Zoo, Beijing and Shanghai).
In 2013, Nicholas founded Nevill Holt Opera and established an award-winning education and associate artists programme. The company has introduced countless young people to opera in the East Midlands and its year-round education programme works with schools across the region. The rapid success of the company under his leadership led to a new opera house being built at Nevill Holt in Leicestershire. It opened in 2018 with Le nozze di Figaro. The exquisite new building has won plaudits for its acoustic design and reached the final of the RIBA Stirling prize in 2019. With Nevill Holt Opera, Nicholas has conducted The Magic Flute, La bohème, The Turn of the Screw, Carmen, Rigoletto, The Elixir of Love, Tosca, Noye’s Fludde, Le Nozze di Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cosí fan tutte and La traviata.
Nicholas works with leading orchestras and opera companies in the UK and overseas: Royal Northern Sinfonia; Britten Sinfonia; Manchester Camerata; BBC Concert Orchestra; The CBSO; The Ulster Orchestra; The English Chamber Orchestra; London Mozart Players; China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra; Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra; Zurich Opera; Opera National de Lyon.
Nicholas’s education and community projects aim to impact thousands of people. He runs award winning education projects in the East Midlands and is curator of - Opera Nation - (a book of famous opera aria arrangements for young people) at the Royal Opera House. At Covent Garden, Nicholas also leads the Sing at ROH programme and works with the youth opera company. 2022 marked his involvement in the BIG SING with Britten Pears Arts.
David Smith :
Accompanist
Born in Stockport, David completed a BMus at the University of Birmingham before moving to the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Michael Dussek and Vanessa Latarche. After graduating with distinction he was awarded Junior Fellowships working with the vocal department at both the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music.
Numerous competition successes include the Birmingham Accompanist of the Year, Vivian Langrish accompanists’ prize, Michael Head and Bliss prizes for accompaniment as well as the Christian Carpenter prize, awarded in recognition of his achievements at the Academy. In 2009 David was one of the first pianists to be invited to work with the prestigious Samling Foundation under the tutelage of Sir Thomas Allen.
He has collaborated with many exceptional singers of his generation including James Rutherford, Sarah Tynan, Benedict Nelson and Allan Clayton, in addition to significantly established artists such as Sir Willard White and Sir Thomas Allen, and has appeared at many of the major UK venues including Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Colston Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham and Pittville Pump Room as well as some of the major UK music festivals.
Further afield David has performed in a number of countries including France, Spain and Germany, and has developed relationships with the Heidelberg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals. In 2012 he was invited to become an HSBC Laureate of the Aix Festival, performing in a number of concerts around Europe.