Our Musical Director is Cole Bendall
Our inspirational new MD C
ole joined us in January 2020 and we are looking forward to a productive and positive musical journey with him.
A dynamic musician and creative leader, Cole Bendall is a conductor and choral and vocal specialist based in the South East of England.
Recent and upcoming highlights include performances with the Academy of Ancient Music, Covent Garden Sinfonia, British Sinfonietta, Rundfunkchor Berlin and Devlet Çoksesli Korosu. He has received critical acclaim for creative programming and innovative interdisciplinary stagings of choral works with the Reid Consort: projects have included world and national premieres; PATCHWORK REQUIEM; Nordic Landscapes and an international virtual choir version of the Fauré Requiem.
In demand as a 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 is seen in his work with Ark Music as a Junior Artist-in-Residence, Kingston Music Service and Surrey Arts, where he is director of the Surrey Primary School Music Festival series and directs performances of around 3,000 primary students annually.
Cole is a Visiting Teaching Fellow in Music at the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh. His PhD thesis on the choral music of Veljo Tormis is nearing completion. He writes regularly on topics of choral music and identity, cultural politics and the rise of virtual choirs and digital choral media. He studies conducting with Neil Ferris.
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.