Our Musical Director is Cole Bendall
Our inspirational new MD C
ole joined us in January 2020. A dynamic musician and an imaginative creative leader, Cole Bendall is a conductor and vocal specialist based in London. His philosophy of coaching aims to empower musicians with the technical skills required to perform well and develop a passion for the stories behind the music.
As well as Brockham Choral, Cole is Music Director of Woking Choral Society & Holmbury St Mary Choral Society; and Director of Music at St Peter’s Church, Limpsfield. He is on the Music Staff of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and the Rodolfus Foundation. In increasing demand as a Vocal Coach, he is a Visiting Singing Teacher at Cranleigh School and Ewell Castle School, Surrey, as well as for the choirs of St Thomas-on-the-Bourne, Farnham. For five years, he was conductor of Surrey County Youth Choir.
Collaborations and forthcoming highlights include conducting performances with the Academy of Ancient Music, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Covent Garden Sinfonia, Amadeus Orchestra, Southern Pro Musica, British Sinfonietta; alongside masterclasses with Rundfunkchor Berlin, Hallé Choir, and Turkish State Choir. In 2022, he appeared as a Symphonic Conducting Fellow at Miami Beach Classical Music Festival, FL, USA. As founder of the Reid Consort, he has produced innovative semi-staged new concert projects including the critically acclaimed PATCHWORK REQUIEM, recordings for the National Libraries of Scotland and concert performances of Pärt PASSIO. He has also assisted staged productions, including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus’s staged Parry Songs of Farewell, devised by Gregory Batsleer and Jack Furness.
Lauded for his work as a animateur, workshop leader and tutor for youth groups, university students, and adults, Cole has delivered seminars for groups in the UK, USA, and mainland Europe. His passion for educating new generations of musicians and teachers is seen in his work for Ark Music, London Youth Choirs, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Kingston Music Service, the Huxley in Epsom, and Surrey Arts where he has directed the Surrey Primary Schools Music Festival concert series for thousands of children annually. He has developed training and educational resources for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Surrey Arts, and numerous external partners in musicianship, vocal health, music history and conducting. For his work in conducting, he has been awarded prizes and scholarships by the Association of British Choral Directors, the Association of Teachers of Singing, and Help Musicians UK.
Cole is a Visiting Teaching Fellow in Music at the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh. A prize-winning graduate of the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, he writes and teaches regularly on choral music and identity, cultural politics, the rise of virtual choirs and digital media in choral music, and the development of video game music.
Accompanist – Marion Lea
Marion Lea studied at the Royal Academy of Music. As a freelance pianist and accompanist she has performed in recitals and concerts with many singers and instrumentalists and broadcast on both television and radio. She also works as an orchestral pianist, accompanies auditions for the BBC, plays for choral societies and operatic companies and coaches singers.