ROY WALES (Conductor and Festival Director)

Roy Wales has enjoyed a distinguished career in various aspects of performance as a singer and conductor, in music education and as a Festival Director. He has held significant positions as Professor and Head of the Birmingham Conservatoire (Birmingham City University) , Director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Australia (Griffith University) and Director of Music at the University of Warwick in the UK.

He was awarded an MA from the City University London, and gained his Doctorate at the University of Washington in the USA where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

As a conductor, he has worked with many orchestras and choirs including the BBC Singers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Hungarian Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, Estonian Symphony Orchestra, Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in Croatia.

He is currently Music Director of the English Concert Orchestra.

Roy Wales has been a member of the Jury at many international choir competitions and festivals in Switzerland, Holland, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Malta, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic. He has directed many choirs in the UK and abroad and for 17 years he was the Founder/Director of the international prize-winning choir The London Chorale.

Since 1989 he has been the Director of the English Concert Singers and the English Concert Chorus with whom he has made major tours to South America, Israel, South Africa, Russia, China and Hong Kong, Australia, West Indies, Poland, Germany, France, Croatia and Turkey (Istanbul).

He was Chairman of the Association of British Choral Directors from 1989-1993 and was a Founder/President of the Australian Choral Conductors’ Association (1984-1987).

Since 1993 he has been Director of the British Choral Institute with whom he has directed many choral and choral conducting courses.  Roy Wales has also directed many international and choir festivals during the last twenty years including the Bournemouth International Festival, the 1st British International University Choir Festival and, from 2002-2007, the British International Male Voice Choir Festival held in Cornwall, which he founded in 2001.

He is currently Director of the Rottingdean Spring Music Festival and is a resident of the village.