Singing was my first love—indeed I was offered an Alto Choral Scholarship to Christ Church Oxford before I accepted the Organ Scholarship at New College—so it is no surprise that it has always been central to my life.
After a fine training at Solihull School under John Flower and Peter Read, I spent four years at Oxford under David Lumsden working with the marvellous New College choir. The RSCM invited me to work for them, whilst I was still an undergraduate. Over the years I have worked on or directed three-day chorister courses, residential courses around the UK, cathedral courses, adult summer schools and ‘young organists’ courses, as well as lecturing on choir training and accompaniment on the famous International Summer Schools at Addington Palace.
Requests to run choral weekends or diocesan choral festivals have taken me from Switzerland and the Netherlands to the USA, where I followed Barry Rose in running the Valley Forge Summer School for two years. In addition to which, invitations to direct festivals or workshops in the UK have taken me from North Yorkshire to the Isle of Wight, via King’s College Cambridge.
My passion is to inspire people—particularly young people—to sing, and not merely to sing but to seek out the very soul of the music they sing—often the spirituality behind it, for there lies the inspiration which feeds and nourishes us all, compelling us to continue in this elusive quest for perfection and absolute beauty. To do all this in the cathedrals and churches in which we are so fortunate to work and worship is the greatest privilege of all, for there we do it in the service of God.
Choral concerts
Details of forthcoming and previous events.
The Nottingham Bach Choir
Southwell Minster
Reviews
Reviews of Paul as choral conductor
Choral recordings
CDs of Paul directing the Choir of Southwell Minster