Forthcoming Society Events

Renowned for his fine musicianship, David Hill, MBE is widely respected as both a choral and orchestral conductor. His talent has been recognised by his appointments as Musical Director of The Bach Choir, Music Director of Leeds Philharmonic Society, Associate Guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum, and International Chair in Choral Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music. He was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from September 2007 to September 2017 and is a former Music Director of Southern Sinfonia.

John Gibbons, BEM has conducted numerous performances for Opera Holland Park and with most of the major British orchestras. He is Principal Conductor of Worthing Symphony Orchestra - the professional orchestra of West Sussex, Northampton Symphony Orchestra and Ealing Symphony Orchestra and is also choral director at Clifton Cathedral and Music Director of the St Albans Chamber Choir. John has recently been awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours' List (2019) for his services to music.

Jack Sullivan is professor of English and chair of American Studies at Rider University. He is the editor of The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural and Words on Music: From Addison to Barzun and the author of Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood.

"Congenial, lively, and informative, Jack Sullivan's New World Symphonies explores how serious European composers, from Dvorak and Delius to Britton and Tippet, have drawn inspiration from America's indigenous musical culture."  Morris Dickstein, City University of New York

"An engaging look at the influence of American literature, spirituals, jazz, and other forms in works by Britten, Coleridge-Taylor, Debussy, Delius, Hindemith, Ravel, Stravinsky, Varese, Weill, and numerous other British and Continental composers." Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education