Conductors
Sam Laughton
A former organ scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he read music, Sam Laughton now juggles dual careers as a barrister and musician. He is Musical Director of The Elysian Singers, with whom he has made frequent appearances on BBC radio and television, and made a number of acclaimed commercial recordings. Read more >>
Joe Davies
Joe Davies is Assistant Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra, making his stand-in debut with them in June 2024. He is Musical Director of the UK Proms in the Park Orchestra, Canterbury Symphony Orchestra, Midland Concert Orchestra, Leamington Sinfonia and Coventry and Warwickshire Youth Orchestra, and is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Cumbria Opera Group. Read more >>
Geoff Bushell
Geoff Bushell studied conducting with George Hurst, Denise Ham, Michael Rose and Adrian Leaper. He has conducted Oxford-based St Giles Orchestra since 1983 and is conductor and musical director of Didcot Concert Orchestra, which he co-founded in 2018. Geoff has also been conductor of Aylesbury Vale Concert Orchestra since its inception in 2022 and regularly conducts Abingdon Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras in the local area. Geoff is renowned for introducing players and audiences to tuneful lesser-known but unjustly neglected repertoire, and has conducted several UK premieres of these. Read more >>
Andrew Gray
Andrew is currently Head of Music at the Holt School, Wokingham. He studied Music at St Edmund Hall, Oxford where he conducted the Oxford University Symphonic Band, founded the Gatehouse Appeal Orchestra and was a finalist in the Oxford University conducting competition. Andrew conducted the Burford Orchestra from 2012-2020, and currently conducts Fleet Concert Orchestra, annual productions with Fleet Orchestra and is a regular guest conductor with the Radcliffe Orchestra. He is also an oboist, pianist and singer: he currently plays oboe with Reading Symphony Orchestra and sings with the New English Singers. Read more >>
Joshua Asokan
Conductor and pianist Joshua Asokan has performed internationally, conducting orchestras in venues across the UK, Sri Lanka, Italy, Estonia, the Czech Republic, the United States, and Kenya. He won the Oxford Philharmonic Concerto Competition in 2018 and has performed piano concertos by Scriabin, Grieg, Rachmaninov, and Mendelssohn. Read more >>
Justin Lavender
Justin Lavender has sung leading tenor roles at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, La Scala, and the State Operas of Vienna and Berlin, as well as most of the world’s other major opera houses. He has a parallel concert career and many commercial recordings to his credit, including the highly praised Dream of Gerontius with the CBSO. He teaches singing at the Royal College of Music and is vocal consultant to the choir of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. A student of Mandarin, he is one of very few western singers able to sing in Chinese, and has been made an honorary professor of the Confucius Institute. Read more >>
Chloe Rooke
Britten Pears Young Artists 2020 and Highly Commended in the ‘Young Star’ category of the 2017 Women of the Future Awards, Chloe has rapidly gained a reputation for inspiring leadership and innovative performances across symphonic and operatic repertoire. She is currently studying with Sian Edwards for an MA in Orchestral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is recipient of the Ernest Read Conducting Prize and holds an entrance scholarship. Read more >>
Benedict Goodall
Born in Oxford, Benedict grew up playing french horn through the Oxfordshire County Music Service and singing in his father’s church choir. He went on to read music at the University of Birmingham and sought every opportunity to work with as many musicians as possible as a conductor, singer or instrumentalist. Studying conducting under Daniele Rosina, Simon Halsey, and Julian Wilkins, Benedict enjoyed directing many of the University's instrumental ensembles and choirs throughout his years there. Read more >>