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Staff
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Jonathan Leonard began his musical training in
Bristol where he was Organ Scholar at the Cathedral. While
there at the age of 15 he also directed a 40-strong choir of
boys and men in a local parish church. When he was 17 he was
awarded the Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music for
Organ Performance.
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![[Jonathan Leonard]](pics/jonathan.jpg) |
He studied music at Durham University, specialising in
baroque performance practice and early 20th century opera. He
was Organ Scholar of University College, conducted the
University Chamber choir and occasionally played french horn
in chamber ensembles. During his time at Durham he gained the
Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists having won the
Sawyer, Durrant and Samuel Baker prizes for ARCO.
As a recitalist he has performed in cathedrals throughout
the country, broadcast for the BBC and performs regularly as a
continuo player.
For 13 years he taught music, including Ampleforth College
where he was Director of the Abbey Choir – the Schola
Cantorum. He has a broad range of teaching experience, from
producing Britten operas with junior choirs to conducting most
of the major choral repertoire with school choral societies.
He even found time to learn the double bass.
He is currently Director of Music at St Luke’s Church,
Chelsea where he has been instrumental in expanding the
repertoire and activities of the choir and has established a
prestigious concert series. He is much in demand as a choral
director and conducts other choirs, including the North
Cotswold Chamber Choir. He has taken choirs to most
European countries and made several well-received recordings.
He is a lover of good food and fine wine; cookery is his
main hobby, and he holds a Cordon Bleu cookery diploma.
Telephone: 01865 751344 or via parish office
Email: director_music@vinumbonum.org.uk |
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Benjamin Frost studied music at
Exeter University, graduating with Distinction in performance,
was Organ Scholar at Exeter Cathedral and became an associate
of the Royal College of Organists. After university he studied
at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his tutors
included Gordon Back and Graham Johnson, and trained as a
repetiteur at the National Opera Studio.
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He has worked with the BBC, Lesley
Garrett, Nelly
Miricioiu, Marianne
Cornetti, Sally Matthews, English National
Opera, European
Chamber Opera, The
Opera Group, Opera
Circus, Opera
Omnibus, First
Act International Opera, Floral
Opera, and Opera Mint on
several productions including Die Fledermaus, Carmen, Madam
Butterfly, Cosí fan tutte, Magic Flute, La Bohème, La
Cenerentola and Eugene Onegin.
His experience as an accompanist and chorus master ranges from
silent films at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to The Boy
Friend, Cabaret, Bernstein¹s Trouble in Tahiti and
several rarely performed operas with Chelsea
Opera Group. He has also accompanied the London
Symphony Chorus, the London
Philharmonic Chorus and the BBC
Singers.
He is currently working as a freelance repetiteur, recently
performing in Bake for One Hour with English
National Opera, and is also Assistant Director of Music at St.
Luke's, Chelsea. He has recently been appointed Interim
Assistant Chorus Master at English National Opera. He has also
appeared on In
Tune for Radio 3 and Operatunity
for Channel 4. He has given many organ
recitals, including Exeter and Bristol Cathedrals and
Westminster Abbey. His conducting experience includes Mozart's
Coronation Mass with Stanley
Hall Opera and concerts
with the Occam Singers.
He will be Assistant Conductor for Tamerlano with Opera
by Definition next spring. Current projects include The
Enchanted Pig by Jonathan Dove.
Telephone: via parish office
Email: church_organist@vinumbonum.org.uk
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