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Mayfield Festival Choir

The Mayfield Festival Choir was founded in 1970 by Kenneth Pont who conducted over 100 concerts embracing a repertoire of all the standard choral works from the St. Matthew Passion & St. John Passion of JS Bach to the world premier of Mass in Time of Persecution by Francis Grier at Central Hall, Westminster.

Previously, he was an organist at Mayfield Parish Church and Director of Music at St. Leonards - Mayfield School and took his choirs to sing in Chartres and Rouen Cathedrals.

After his retirement the Mayfield Festival Choir was re-founded as a Society in 2004, following the appointment of Graham Caldbeck as conductor. Since their highly successful debut concert or works by Mozart, Beethoven and John Tavener in May 2005, the choir has rapidly become noted for its communicative performances of a wide range of choral repertoire.

In the 2006 Mayfield Festival, the choir, London Primavera and soloists Ida Falk Winland, Ben Johnson and Jacques Imbrailo gave the first performance of Neil Jenkin's new translation of Hadyn's Creation, receiving a very favourable review in The Organ magazine. In November of that year the choir performed a rarely heard cantata by Benjamin Britten, The Company of Heaven, which was greatly enjoyed by the audience and in April 2007 the choir gave a memorable performance of Bach’s St. John Passion.

In the 2008 Mayfield Festival the choir performed Monteverdi’s Vespers (1610) with the renowned early music group Canzona and in November performed a programme of Vaughan Williams (50th anniversary of his death) Holst and Mozart’s Mass in C minor. In May 2009 they sang another highly acclaimed Baroque concert with Canzona of Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Bach’s Magnificat.

Future plans include in November 2009 a ‘Composers’ Anniversaries’ concert of Haydn, Mendelssohn, Purcell and Handel; in the 2010 Mayfield Festival Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass, Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and it is hoped that Sir David Willcocks who had a long association with the choir will return to conduct the Fauré Requiem.

The Committee

Director of Music

Graham Caldbeck is one of Britain's leading choral conductors, known for his wide-ranging musical skills, innovative programming and vital and stylish performances. After studying music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar under Richard Marlow, he sang with the choirs of Guildford and Winchester Cathedrals and was Assistant Organist at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. In 1989, after nine years as Head of the Hampshire Specialist Music Course, he moved to the RCM, where for 15 years, he held senior academic positions and conducted concerts with the RCM Chorus, RCM Chamber Choir and RCM Junior Department Choirs.

Between 1984 and 1999, Graham conducted the Winchester-based chamber choir, Southern Voices, which he co-founded and rapidly established as one of the leading choirs in Hampshire. He has directed the Somerset Chamber Choir since 1990, directing annual concerts in Wells Cathedral and elsewhere in Somerset and since 1996, has conducted the Nonsuch Singers, recently described by The Times as "the acclaimed chamber choir".

Graham has worked with many of the UK's leading singers and has also worked with many fine modern and period instrumental ensembles. In addition to directing numerous concerts of music from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, he has also conducted many performances of contemporary choral works, including the televised world premier of Sir John Tavener's Exhortation & Kohima. Graham now pursues a freelance career as conductor, organist, vocal coach and teacher and is Director of Music at St Mary the Boltons in Chelsea.

His engagements earlier this year included an Austro-German programme with Nonsuch Singers in St Martin-in-the-Fields in January; a Passiontide programme in St Giles, Cripplegate (Barbican) with Alastair Ross (organ) and Rosie Banks (cello) in March; a performance combining Mozart's Requiem with works by James MacMillan (in honour of JM's 50th birthday) with London Primavera in SMITF in July, and a programme of Vivaldi, Bach, Handel & Jonathan Harvey with Somerset Chamber Choir & Canzona, Emma Kirkby, Sophie Bevan, Tim Mead, Thomas Hobbs & Derek Welton in Wells Cathedral, also in July.

Engagements in the near future include concerts with Nonsuch Singers in St Giles, Cripplegate (24 October 2009) – a programme of Purcell, Britten, Jonathan Dove & Richard Rodney Bennett (entitled The English Genius) and British seasonal music from the 16th & 20th centuries (Christmas Present, Christmas Past) in St James's, Piccadilly (12 December 2009). In 2010 he will be conducting concerts with Nonsuch Singers in St Martin-in-the- Fields (a programme of Austrian music by Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Mahler, given as part of the Mozart Festival) on 30 January 2010 and Rachmaninov's Vespers on 25 June 2010; St James's, Piccadilly – a Passiontide programme entitled Miserere, including works by Allegri, Palestrina, Victoria, Gesulado, Bax and Martin on 13 March 2010, and a programme of motets by Schütz and Bach, alongside contemporary works by Knut Nystedt, Arvo Pärt, Henryk Górecki and Pawel Lukaszewski in St James', Piccadilly on 16 October 2010. On 3 December 2010, he conducts Handel's Messiah in Christ Church, Spitalfields with Nonsuch Singers and Canzona. Outside these London concerts, he is directing Orff's Carmina Burana and Jonathan Dove's The Passing of the Year in King's College Chapel, Taunton on 14 February and works by S. S. Wesley, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Judith Bingham on 31 July 2010 in Wells Cathedral with Somerset Chamber Choir and Southern Sinfonia.

The Accompanist

Andrew Benians began his musical career as a chorister of St Paul's Cathedral, London. After studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Ruth Harre and Douglas Hawkeridge, he held the post of Assistant Organist at St Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich, and was then appointed alto lay-clerk of Norwich Cathedral. During this time, he also studied with John Scott, formerly of St Paul's.

In 1984, Andrew moved to Chichester Cathedral as alto lay-vicar and built a busy and varied career as conductor, recitalist, accompanist and teacher. He worked with some of the leading choirs in West Sussex, including the Chichester Singers under the direction of Jonathan Willcocks, and held teaching posts at the Prebendal School, Portsmouth Grammar School and Lancing College. He was also organist to the Wenhaston Boy's Choir, a post which took him to Italy, New York State, and the Cathedrals of Bristol, Ely, Peterborough, York and St Paul's, London.

Andrew is presently Director of Music at St Dunstan's Church and also accompanist and organist to the Mayfield Festival Choir. He has directed performances of some major choral works here including The Messiah and Mozart's Coronation Mass. He also teaches piano, organ, theory and singing at St Leonards-Mayfield School, The Schools at Somerhill, Tonbridge, and St Bede's School, Hailsham.

Last updated: Thu 28/01/10 22:44