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Ben
Parry is an established conductor, composer, arranger,
singer and producer in both classical and light music
fields. He has made over sixty CD recordings and his compositions
and arrangements are published by Peters Edition and Faber
Music, including the popular Faber Carol Book and Music
for Special Occasions. He collaborates regularly with
the writer Garth Bardsley, and their choral piece, "Flame"
was performed by a choir of 300 singers at the Royal Albert
Hall in the 2012 BBC Proms. Major commissions include
the Cathedral Choral Society of Washington DC, BBC Singers
and the Aldeburgh Fesitval.
He
is Director of Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of
Music, and works extensively with young musicians as a
director of the Eton Choral Courses and as former Director
of Music at St Paul’s School in London. As co-Director
of the professional choir London Voices, he has worked
closely with Sir Paul McCartney on his classical choral
work, Ecce Cor Meum, as well as conducting on the soundtracks
of major films such as The Golden Compass, Kung Fu Panda,
Inkheart, Iron Man 2 and Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows. London Voices performed Stockhausen’s Mittwoch
for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in Birmingham Festival
and Berio’s Sinfonia with the National Youth Orchestra
in 2009. Ben is the new Director of the National Youth
Choirs of Great Britain, and will direct the choirs in
Monteverdi's Vespers in the Royal Albert Hall in April,
2013.
Ben
studied at Cambridge University, where he was a member
of King’s College Choir. Later he was musical director
and singer with The Swingle Singers, with whom he toured
the world and performed with some of the greatest musicians,
including Pierre Boulez, Stephane Grapelli and Dizzy Gillespie.
He composed and arranged over fifty pieces for the group
and co-produced their albums for Virgin Classics and EMI.
For
eight years he lived in Scotland, where he co-founded
the distinguished vocal ensemble Dunedin Consort, and
was also Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus
and Director of Choral Music at the Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama. As an orchestral conductor he was
worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic
Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Symphony
Orchestra of Seville, The Scottish Ensemble and the Vancouver
Youth Symphony. He conducted five productions from 1999
as Music Director of Haddo House Opera. He has sung with
the Gabrieli Consort, Taverner Consort and Tenebrae, as
well as on many film and TV soundtracks.
He
appeared on the West End stage in the UK premiere of Cy
Colman's musical City of Angels in 1994.
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