The Burford Singers is a large friendly choir of amateur singers which aspires to high standards of performance.  We perform three concerts each year, usually in the beautiful surroundings of Burford Parish Church:  on a Sunday in Advent, on Palm Sunday and on a Sunday in mid-summer.  There are now around 100 singers, and membership is drawn from a wide geographical area in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.  The choir enjoys the skilful support of the Cotswold Chamber Orchestra and professional vocal soloists.

We are delighted to announce that Sir Philip Ledger has agreed to become President of the Burford Singers from 2011. Sir Philip was Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge, from 1974 to 1982, and Director of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1982 until his retirement in 2001.

Conductor

Our conductor is Brian Kay, who lives locally in Fulbrook. Brian Kay divides his working life between the concert platform and the broadcasting studio. His many presentations for BBC radio have included Brian Kay’s Sunday Morning, Brian Kay’s Light Programme, Three for All, and Choirworks – all for Radio 3 – on Radio 2, the popular programmes Melodies for you and Friday Night is Music Night and for Radio 4, Comparing Notes and Music in Mind. His television appearances have included the competitions to find the Cardiff Singer of the World and the Choir of the Year, and every year since 1996, the New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna. He has twice won a Sony Award as Music Presenter of the Year, including the coveted Gold Award in 1996. Brian is also conductor of Vaughan Williams's Leith Hill Musical Festival and associate conductor of The Really Big Chorus, with which he regularly conducts massed voices in London's Royal Albert Hall, together with recent concerts in Salzburg, Prague, Halle, Venice, Seville, Cape Town, and a performance of Handel's Messiah in Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Our Chorus Master is Hilary Tadman-Robins, founder and former conductor of the Cotswold Children’s Choir.

Our accompanist is Julian Elloway, who studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music and subsequently specialized in piano accompaniment with Paul Hamburger. After university he worked in Brighton as a choir conductor and repetiteur, especially with the University of Sussex Choir, New Sussex Opera and Brighton Festival Chorus, and as Director of Music at St Paul's, West Street, Brighton. He then moved to Oxfordshire to be Music Editor and Manager of the Music Department at OUP. Whilst in Oxford he appeared frequently with the City of Oxford Orchestra and the Academy of Oxford, and became chorus master of the choirs working with both orchestras. He and his wife, Linda, now live in Stroud, where he works as a freelance musician and music editor.

We are a registered Charity, No 1096043, and we are affiliated to the National Federation of Music Societies (“Making Music”).

We welcome sponsorship from local companies and individuals. Why not sponsor a soloist or an orchestral player in one of our concerts? Or why not advertise in our concert programmes at modest rates?