TCS musicians
Our conductor is Christopher Herrick, and our rehearsal pianist is Jonathan Beatty.
Christopher Herrick has been Conductor of Twickenham Choral Society for over 30 years. He began his conducting career while an organ scholar at Oxford University and then won a Boult Scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study under Sir Adrian Boult. He has been ambitious for the choir's development, working with them to perform a huge range of repertoire from Taverner to Tavener alongside top-class instrumentalists and vocal soloists.
Many of Herrick’s conducting appearances have been in top London venues such as the Royal Albert Hall (including Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ with 500 singers), Westminster Abbey (Berlioz’ ‘Te Deum’), Westminster Cathedral (Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers’), Barbican Hall (Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’), and Queen Elizabeth Hall (twenty concerts covering the whole gamut of the choral repertoire). He has also conducted twice in Guildford Cathedral (Elgar’s ‘Gerontius’ and Britten’s ‘War Requiem’). Members of the choir frequently sing under his baton in St Martin’s-in-the-Fields.
Christopher has successfully combined his conducting duties with establishing himself as a leading international concert organist. Having spent ten years as an organist at Westminster Abbey he has since given thousands of organ concerts all over the world. In addition, he has made well over thirty solo CDs for Hyperion Records, including all Bach's organ works, now reissued as a 16-CD Box Set, and two ongoing series entitled ‘Organ Fireworks’ (No 11 of this series is due out soon from Dallas Concert Hall, USA) and ‘Organ Dreams’ (No 4 was released in February 2005 from Halmstad, Sweden). Over the years he has broadcast for radio stations worldwide, and for the BBC has undertaken numerous recordings both in Britain and abroad.
Christopher has his own web site.
Jonathan Beatty is currently a Professional Accompanist at the Guildhall School, having completed his Masters there with Graham Johnson, and his MA at Clare College, Cambridge, where he held both Instrumental and Choral Awards. He was recently awarded the prizes for the best accompanist at this year's Kathleen Ferrier and English Singers' and Speakers' Competitions, and a Musicians' Benevolent Fund Special Award at the Maggie Teyte Competition, as well as all the prizes for piano accompaniment at the Guildhall. He has twice appeared on In Tune on BBC Radio 3. Last year he founded the Hampstead Festival of Song, having twice played for the annual Martindale Sidwell Memorial Recital in Hampstead Parish Church. He has participated in the Young Songmakers' masterclasses and concert, and the Britten Pears programme in Snape, and recently accompanied a Songmakers' Almanac concert for the International Kodaly Symposium. He makes his Wigmore Hall debut later this year in a programme of Debussy and Strauss with soprano Katrina Broderick. Jonathan is grateful for the support of the Countess of Munster and Tim Rice Charitable Trusts, the Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers and the Cripplegate Foundation.