John Bayley
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Conductor & Musical Director

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Conducting the Coronation Anthems Singalong, with the Hampton Singers at Temple Balsall, July 2004.

 I was born in 1950 and brought up in Ashford, Middlesex.  In 1969 I entered the City of Birmingham College of Education to train as a music teacher.  I graduated in 1972, and took up my first teaching post in Birmingham.  I have lived in Birmingham ever since - I suppose I must like it here!

Since leaving full-time teaching in 1997, I have been developing a new career as a conductor and Musical Director, as well as continuing to be a freelance teacher of music and singing.  I now conduct the Hampton Singers,  the Ex Urbe Chamber Choir and the Solihull Chandos Choir.

In 2003 I studied Choral Conducting at Birmingham Conservatoire under Paul Spicer.

I have been a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus for over 20 years.  The Chorus has given me countless memorable moments working with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo and Kurt Mazur, and our Chorus Director Simon Halsey.  I have been able to tour the world with the Chorus, visiting Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, France, Canada, Australia, Finland and Hong Kong.

Julian Anderson wrote Four American Choruses for the CBSC, one of which - Beautiful Valley of Eden - requires four conductors.  I was given the privilege of conducting the Basses in performances at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, The Sage, Gateshead, The Hong Kong Cultural Centre and at the Cheltenham Festival.  I also appear on the recording which was made of the work.  Click here for details from Amazon.

An invitation from the Ex Cathedra Choir led to a particularly memorable performance of Britten's War Requiem in Israel.

In February 2005 I was invited to lead the annual singing weekend for the Aberystwyth University Elizabethan Madrigal Singers.  We celebrated the centenaries of Thomas Tallis, Christopher Tye and Michael Tippett, and the seventieth birthday of Arvo Pärt.  There was also a selection of madrigals from The Triumphs of Oriana.  It was an enjoyable, if chilly, weekend at the seaside - with some good singing thrown in!