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| Teddington Choral
Society |
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Founded 1951
| President: |
Sara Burn Edwards BA(Hons), RADA, Dip Eur Hum, MITG |
| Musical
Director: |
Geoffrey
Bowyer MMus, FRCO (CHM), LRAM,
ARCM (Hons) |
| Chair: |
Kate Livingston |
| Secretary: |
Jean
Mitelman |
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to the choir |
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Our Director Of Music: Geoffrey
Bowyer MMus, FRCO (CHM), LRAM, ARCM (Hons)
Geoffrey Bowyer was a Sir Frederick Bridge degree scholar and a Bonavia
Hunt piano scholar. He won the Ricordi Prize for Conducting and the
Maud Seton Piano Prize at Trinity College of Music. He was awarded
a Mark of Distinction at the Institute of Education of London University
for his teaching.
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He has taught in the Royal College
of Music junior department and has been senior lecturer in
music at the Twickenham Campus of Brunel University, where
he now accompanies the Ballet Rambert School. A Fellow of
the Royal College of Organists at the age of 21, he regularly
deputised at the Guards Chapel, and appeared in a televised
Remembrance Day service from there. In 1988 he was awarded
the degree of Master of Music, specialising in performance,
from the University of Reading.
Geoffrey has had two full-time positions in his career: 1960-1966
at Sunbury County Grammar School and 1966-1989 at Maria Grey
College. Hehas an established operatic background, having
founded Studio Opera at Maria Grey College; he has conducted 52 operatic shows. He rehearses the
singers at the Chelsea Arts Club, and has conducted at
Richmond and Wimbledon theatres.
During many years as church organist at a variety of local
churches, he has raised thousands of pounds to repair or refurbish
those churches’ organs. At St James’s
Church, Hampton Hill, he helped to raise £22,000 to refurbish
and install new pipes to the Bishop organ.
He currently conducts three choirs: Cantanti Camerati, Teddington
Choral Society and The Ladies Monday Afternoon Choir. They are offered as evening classes by Richmond
Adult Community College, Richmond, where Geoffrey also taught A level
Music until 2003. |
He became musical director of Cantanti Camerati in 1974. They have performed all over the UK, including The Purcell
Room, Fountains Abbey, Bemerton, St Martin-in-the-Fields,
Malmesbury Abbey, Crewkerne, Nonsuch House, The Royal Hospital,
Chelsea, The Royal Star & Garter Home, Richmond, as well as
in Richmond, Virginia (USA), Konstanz (Germany), Fontainebleau
(France) and Sierra Leone.
Geoffrey has been associated with Teddington Choral Society since
1957 and has been conductor since 1986. He has raised the standard
of the choir over the years through his teaching and encouragement.
His work ‘A Pilgrim’s Requiem’ received its world
première on 31st March 2001 at St James’s Church
when Cantanti Camerati, Teddington Choral Society and St James’s
Church Choir performed it with full orchestra. ‘A Pilgrim’s
Requiem’ is available on CD, having been recorded by Cantanti
Camerati and TCS. Twickenham MP and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable chose the first movement, Requiem aeternam, as one of his nine musical favourites in Private Passions, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on November 8th 2009.
Geoffrey Bowyer is a gifted musician, always eager to help others
in their own musical development. He has inspired many amateur
singers to continue performing live classical music locally. He
has taught thousands of singers and musicians and has performed
numerous concerts all over the UK and abroad to raise money for
good causes. The NSPCC, Christian Aid, Shooting Star Children’s Hospice and Princess Alice Hospice, as well as four organ funds, have all benefited from concerts under his direction.
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