John Bayley

Having been a full-time music teacher for many years, John began a new career as a Conductor and Musical Director in 1997.  He studied Choral Conducting under the renowned conductor Paul Spicer at Birmingham Conservatoire, and now runs three choirs.

He has conducted the Ex Urbe Chamber Choir for over ten years. With them he toured Poland in 2005, and has performed works by composers as diverse as Byrd, Liszt, Finzi and Pärt.

John began conducting the Hampton Singers in 2002 with a concert performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. In 2006 they gave the premiere of Jerry Wigens’ Peace Triptych, and in 2007 Handel’s Messiah.  Last year saw a very popular Edwardian evening and Faure’s Requiem.

John was appointed as Conductor of the Solihull Chandos Choir in 2006, and celebrated Elgar’s 150^th birthday with a performance of the rarely heard The Black Knight.  In 2008 they performed of The Creation by Haydn, and in the summer they toured Poland.

He has also worked on several occasions with the Midlands Hospitals’ Choir including trips to the Czech Republic and Poland, and in 2005 led the Aberystwyth University Madrigal Singers in their annual Singing Weekend.

As a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus for over a quarter of a century, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest conductors and in major venues across the world.  He has also conducted the bass section in Julian Anderson’s Beautiful Valley of Eden, which requires four conductors, in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall; The Sage, Gateshead; the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and at the Cheltenham Festival.

In the theatre. John has been Musical Director for many shows ranging from Offenbach’s Bluebeard and the G&S operetta The Sorcerer, to Annie Get your Gun and Godspell, which he also directed.  He has been Musical Director for the Birmingham School of Acting Summer Schools for many years.

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Darren Hogg

Darren Hogg was born and educated in Birmingham. He trained at Birmingham Conservatoire from 1989 to 1993 studying organ, harpsichord and piano accompaniment with David Ponsford and David Saint.

Darren is currently organist at Halesowen Parish Church, having previously held posts at St Augustine’s Church, Edgbaston, and St Alban’s Church, Conybere Street, Birmingham. He is Organist at Aston University and is one of two Organists at Lodge Hill Crematorium, Selly Oak, Birmingham. He also deputises at Birmingham Cathedral and the Blue Coat School, and is Accompanist / Assistant Director of Music for Birmingham Choral Union, Solihull Chandos Choir and the Quinborne Choir, and deputises as Accompanist for the City of Birmingham Choir and Birmingham Festival Choral Society. He was Accompanist / Assistant Director of Music for the Midland Music Makers Grand Opera Society from 1992-2002. He has performed with many other societies in the Midlands, including the Birmingham Bach Choir, the Canoldir Male Voice Choir and the Heart of England Singers. He has featured as Organist on BBC One Songs of Praise, Radio Two Sunday Half Hour, and Radio Four Daily Service.

Darren has won various competitions, including the 1991 Birmingham and Midland Institute (B.M.I.) Organ Performance Prize, and the 1992 Gordon Clinton English Song Competition Piano Accompanist Prize.

Darren regularly gives recitals. Past venues have included, Lichfield Cathedral, Birmingham Cathedral, Leominster Priory, Tewkesbury Abbey, St Martin’s in the Bullring (Birmingham Parish Church), St Alphege Solihull (Solihull Parish Church), St Alban’s Church (Highgate), St Augustine’s Church (Edgbaston) and Bournville Friends Meeting House.

From 1994-2001 Darren was a tutor of Organ and Piano at the Birmingham Conservatoire Junior School. He now runs his own private teaching practice (Organ, Music Theory and Piano). He is a member of the Birmingham Organists’ Association and has also served on the Association council. In 1992, the Association awarded Darren the Leonard Gibbons Memorial Prize for Young Organists.

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Gaynor Keeble

Gaynor Keeble won scholarships to the University of Warwick and the Royal Academy of Music.  She was awarded a Countess of Munster Award and has been a semi-finalist in both the Kathleen Ferrier and the Belvedere International Opera Competition.

On leaving the RAM she joined the Welsh National Opera where she performed and covered many roles including CARMEN, Meg Page (Falstaff), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Berta (Barber of Seville), Marcellina (Marriage of Figaro), Flora and Annina (La Traviata), Ragonde (Count Ory).

Roles with the English Touring Opera include Marcellina, Tisbe, (La Cenerentola), Marchese (Daughter of the Regiment), Baba the Turk (Rake’s Progress), with other roles including Buttercup and Hebe (HMS Pinafore) at the Royal Festival Hall and Kate (Pirates of Penzance) D’Oyly Carte Opera at Queen’s Theatre, West End.

Gaynor has made numerous recordings which have included the Councillor’s Wife (Osud) conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras for EMI, Hebe (HMS Pinafore), Patience, Yeomen of the Guard for TER records, and has also performed for the Royal Opera House, Opera North, Mid-Wales Opera, European Chamber Opera and Opera Interludes.

Roles elsewhere include Mrs Sedley (Peter Grimes) with the CBSO, Olga (Eugene Onegin) 2^nd and 3^rd Lady Magic Flute, Orpheus (Orpheus & Euridice), Mere Jeanne (Dialogue of the Carmelites), Jack (The Wreckers), Priscilla (Silas Marner by Howard Goodall at Salisbury Festival, World Premiere) and Rose Taverner (False Relations by David Stoll, World Premiere) , Ludmilla Bartered Bride (Mid-Wales Opera), Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gertrude Romeo and Juliet, and Witch/Mother Hansel and Gretel for Opera North, Larina Eugene Onegin Longborough Festival Opera, Mistress Quickly Falstaff (Opera Project) and Voice of Antonia’s Mother (Royal Opera).

Having worked with Orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, London Bach Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and the Vivaldi Concertante, Gaynor’s concert repertoire has included Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Elijah, Dream of Gerontius and Vivaldi Gloria.

Recent appearances include winning the London Lieder Prize in December 2001, Schumann’s Scenes from Faust with the CBSO at Symphony Hall Birmingham and the Royal Festival Hall, Marchese (Fille du Regiment) in Switzerland and Florence Pike (Albert Herring).

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