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The
musical management of the choir is in the capable
hands of:
Musical Director
Jim
Wrightson
Canadian by
birth, Jim moved to the UK in 1975 following early studies at the
University of Toronto. He spent six years at Cambridge University where
he was Organ Scholar at Jesus College and undertook postgraduate
research into English Renaissance Music, which earned him a Ph.D.
He moved to Liverpool in 1982 and has been very active in local
musical
life since that time. His published work includes editions of choral
music by Tallis, Byrd and their contemporaries, and a performing
edition of the Byrd 'Great Service' recorded by King's College Choir,
Cambridge.
He
was Musical Director of the Liverpool Oriel Singers (1985-91),
accompanist of Birkenhead Choral Society (1991-2000) and has been
Musical Director of Hoylake Choral Society since September 2000. He
also has an occupation he sometimes ironically refers to as "part time" as Head of Information Services at
Liverpool John Moores University.
Deputy Musical Director
Michael Hamm
Michael Hamm was born in West Kirby. He sang in Blackburn
Cathedral
Choir as a treble and was educated at St Paul's School, London. He
studied conducting under
Norman Del Mar and Robert Barclay Wilson at the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama, where he later became a Professor of Conducting.
Michael has conducted a wide range of orchestras and choirs in the
UK and in Continental Europe. He has directed Opera and Musicals, some
in the West End, and he has broadcast with various BBC orchestras. He
had the honour of conducting before the Queen at the City of London
Festival. Michael conducted the Finchley Choral Society for sixteen
years
before retiring from the London musical scene and returning to West
Kirby.
Accompanist
Victoria
Wells
Victoria was a
pupil at West Kirby Girls’
Grammar School. She studied the piano with Heather Slade, gaining her
ARCM at
the age of 16. She went on to study with Rizard Bakst and gained a
degree in
music at Liverpool University. A frequent performer in North West music
festivals, she received the award for best performance in the Crosby
Festival.
For about 5 years she played piano duets with the internationally
famous
Stephen Hough. Having previously taught at Liverpool University and
Huyton College, she is now head of performance studies at Birkenhead
Sixth Form
College. Victoria has acted as accompanist for several local musical
organisations including the Liverpool Philharmonic Choir. As Hoylake
Choral Society’s
rehearsal accompanist for the last seven
years, she has taken part in our Carol concerts accompanying the choir
and
playing duets with Jim Wrightson. She played the Harmonium part in
Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in
2005.
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