Interim Director of Choral Activities Appointed
As the search for a new director of choral activities continues, Westminster has appointed Timothy Brown, director of the internationally-renowned Clare College Choir, as interim director of choral activities for the 2005-2006 academic year. In this capacity, he will conduct the Westminster Symphonic Choir for the fall and spring semesters and the Westminster Choir for the fall semester and through the performances of Mozart’s Requiem in January 2006.
A British citizen, Mr Brown enjoyed his initial musical training as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and later as an alto choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, under Sir David Willcocks, and as a lay clerk at New College, Oxford. After some years as a schoolteacher, he succeeded John Rutter as director of music at Clare College of Cambridge University in 1979, where he is also academic director of studies in music.
Mr. Brown will direct Clare College Choir in performance on Thursday, September 22 at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York. His discography with the choir is extensive and includes the best-selling recording of Rutter’s Requiem and a more recent release of Stainer’s Crucifixion (both on the Naxos label).
As a conductor, Mr Brown has had wide-ranging experience. For many years he conducted a community chorus in Cambridge, as well as the Cambridge Philharmonic Choral and Orchestral Society. In 1986 he re-founded the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, which he directed in annual performances of all the major Bach and Handel oratorios. He founded the professional London-based chamber choir English Voices, with whom he has explored a wide range of repertoire, including The Silent Land by Giles Swayne for 40 voices and cello, which the ensemble premiered. He has directed a project for the RIAS Chamber Choir in Berlin, and more recently with RAM, the National Male Voice Choir of Estonia. As a chorus master he has worked frequently with René Jacobs in operatic productions in Berlin and Ghent, and in 2007 he will be the chorus master for Rossini's Tancredi.
Timothy Brown has a keen interest in contemporary music, and he has commissioned new music for various choirs that he has directed, including works by Christopher Brown, Andrew Carter, the young New York-based composer Nico Muhly, Tarik O’Regan, John Rutter and Giles Swayne.
In addition to his work as a choral director, Mr Brown is an affiliated lecturer in the faculty of music of Cambridge University, specialising in the teaching of harmony, counterpoint (including fugue) and composition. A contributing editor of the complete Walton edition published by Oxford University Press, he has edited the smaller choral works and is presently working on the choral works with orchestra. He has edited a number of volumes of collected music for Faber Music, and has composed a number of short choral works.
As of this date, Westminster's major orchestral performances in the 2005-2006 season will be:
December 14, 15, 16, 17
Handel: Messiah
New York Philharmonic
Richard Hickox, conductor
Westminster Symphonic Choir
January 20, 21, 22
Mozart: Requiem
New Jersey Symphony
Westminster Choir
January 26, 27, 28, 31
Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore, Mass in C (Coronation)
New York Philharmonic
Lorin Maazel, conductor
Westminster Symphonic Choir
The search committee is revising the director of choral activities job description and will invite candidates to campus throughout the year. Check the Westminster Web site for updates on the search.
