David Hill

His talent has been recognised by his appointments as Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, Musical Director of The Bach Choir, Chief Conductor of Southern Sinfonia, Music Director of Leeds Philharmonic Society and Associate Guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Southampton in 2002 in recognition of his Services to Music.

He is in great demand for choral training workshops worldwide and his handbook on the subject Giving Voice was published in 1995. He is a choral advisor to music publishers Novello, for whom he has edited a number of publications. As an organist, David has given recitals in most of the major venues in the UK and has toured extensively abroad.

Born in Carlisle in 1957 and educated at Chetham’s School of Music, where he is now a Governor, he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the tender age of seventeen. He took an organ scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge under the direction of Dr George Guest and returned to the college as Director of Music from 2003-07. David’s previous posts have included Master of the Music at Winchester Cathedral (1987-2002), Music Director of The Waynflete Singers (1987- 2002) Master of the Music at Westminster Cathedral, Musical Director of the Alexandra Choir (1980-87) and Associate Conductor and then Artistic Director of the Philharmonia Chorus (1986-97).

David’s broad-ranging discography of over 70 recordings, including many award winners, can be found on the Decca/Argo, Hyperion, Naxos and Virgin Classics labels. The discs span repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. With The Bach Choir, he has contributed to the film soundtracks of Kingdom of Heaven, The Chronicles of Narnia and Shrek the Third.

He has appeared as guest conductor with the London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Sinfonia 21, Northern Sinfonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonqiue de Strasbourg as well as the Netherlands Radio Choir and RIAS Kammerchor, Berlin. His commitment to new music has led to him commissioning works from Judith Bingham, Carl Rütti, Francis Pott, Patrick Gowers, Jonathan Harvey, Philip Moore and Naji Hakim, Sir John Tavener and Philip Wilby, among others.