New music team at CMVC

October 8: CMVC has started its new season with a new music team.   Matthew Quinn has taken over from Roger Pinsent as music director and Sam Prouse replaces David Terry as accompanist. 

Matthew Quinn - new music director

The new pair arrive with impressive cvs and are ready to help the choir move forward in its singing and repertoire.

Matthew comes from Belfast and at the dauntingly young age of 25 has already built a remarkable music biography.   He has worked with such top-quality ensembles as the RTE Concert Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus and the Lux Chamber Choir. He has conducted Northern Ireland Opera, the Genesis Sixteen and the Queen’s University Chamber Choir.  He was previously music director of the Manchester Philharmonic Choir and the Hallam Choral Society.  He is an accomplished singer and has performed as a soloist in pieces such as The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins and Mozart’s The Magic Flute.  He has also coached the Northern Ireland Opera, the Halle Orchestra and the Belfast School of Performing Arts.

Sam Prouse, our new pianist

Sam, from London, is a prize-winning postgraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music.  He became a fellow of the Royal College of Organists while still a student and has given solo recitals at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and York Minster, as well as concert performances in France, Germany, Italy and Latvia.  A keen composer, he has had his choral compositions performed by the BBC Singers and the London Symphony Chorus.  He has appeared as accompanist, composer and conductor on recordings for labels such as Delphian, Naxos and Signum.

Matthew and Sam have already taken two CMVC rehearsals in the new season.  Matthew impressed the choir with his attention to textual and musical detail, in particular demonstrating how Nessun Dorma should be sung in authentic Italian.   The choir is looking forward to its first concert with the duo, at St John’s Coulsdon on Saturday October 22.