Council

Richard Fenwick was born in Cardiff, his first musical training being as a member of the Llandaff Cathedral Parish Choir under the fondly remembered Kenneth Turner – originally a student under Harold Darke, and composer of a number of anthems, including “O Trinity, most blessed light”.  Richard went on to study Organ under the celebrated Welsh blind Organist, David Williams.  Williams had been a student at the Royal College of Music under teachers including John Ireland and Sir Walter Alcock, and his lessons left an indellible mark – particularly the memories he passed on of tutorials with these great figures.   

After an Arts Degree at Lampeter Richard went on to Cambridge to study Theology. He was ordained in the Diocese of Llandaff, but continued with his studies in Music.  He won Fellowships at the London College of Music and Trinity College London.  He then took his MusB degree at Trinity College Dublin.  This was followed by a Master's in 19^thcentury Church Music – and finally a PhD of the University of Wales in Ecclesiastical History. 

Though always lacking time to practice (like us all!) he has played for many Recitals – including the cathedrals at Rochester, Guildford, Coventry, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Bangor and St Woolos Cathedral Newport. He also did two at St Paul's Cathedral, London.  Again, his work in the Church has taken him to many parts of the world – latterly as Bishop of St Helena in the Anglican Province of Southern Africa.

Now, after 7 years on St Helena, he and Jane have returned home for good.  It is with real delight they have come back to their family – but also for Richard into the life of the Guild.  

Terry Worroll is Emeritus Director of Music at St James’s, Spanish Place in central London where he served for 41 years. He is known particularly for his work on performance style in liturgical plainchant and 16th century Latin sacred music.

He has worked for theatre, film and television as composer, performer and accompanist, has edited and transcribed two published volumes of early dance music (Dance Research Committee of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing) and eight transcriptions of 15th century north Italian dancemusic and he is Warden of Curwen College of Music.

Terry is a graduate of Trinity College of Music, London (now Trinity Laban Conservatoire) and of the Open University; he completed his DMus with Central School of Religion in 2004 and holds an honorary Doctor of Sacred Music degree and University Fellowship from the Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Christian University, Miami, Florida. He is currently working on a new edition of the Offertories and Hymns of Palestrina.

I started my musical life at the age of 6 when I joined a local choir.  We used to put on musical shows for Harvest Festival including Oliver and Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat which would run for a whole week and I loved it.  My father, a music teacher, started teaching me the piano around this time and this is where my love for playing began.  I also started to learn the violin but this was not really very successful and my father and I thought that the best way forward would be to learn a woodwind instrument.  

Whilst in secondary school I began my bassoon lessons. We were very fortunate in our school to have a very enthusiastic music teacher who ran a recorder group and a great Head of Music who ran the school wind band which is where I first experienced playing in groups. 

By the age of eighteen, I had progressed to grade 8 bassoon, regularly playing in five orchestras and for several operatic societies around Sussex and Surrey, often under my father’s baton.  The last production I played for as a teenager was  Gounod’s opera Faust.

I currently play 1st bassoon for the Chichester Symphony Orchestra and sing 1^st Alto in the chamber choir, Chichester Voices. I also regularly sing for visiting choirs when cathedral choirs are on holiday and love meeting up with friends for anything musical.

I am delighted to have been asked to become Membership Secretary for the Guild and very much look forward to meeting many members new and old at our General Meetings.

John started his life in music with singing and piano lessons at the age of 6. Shortly after this he joined his local church choir in Portishead near Bristol. It was during these early years that he first sang in a cathedral – Wells – as part of an RSCM music festival. He won a choral scholarship to the cathedral choir at Gloucester where he was a chorister under Herbert Sumsion and John Sanders for four years.

Whilst at school there he continued with lessons in piano and ’cello. Throughout his life he has retained close contact with the life, work and music of the Cathedral at Gloucester which culminated last year with the publication of his book The Organ of Gloucester Cathedral – a story in Words, Pictures and Sound.

However John’s interest in music extends far beyond the world of the organ. He has a keen interest in making live recordings, sound engineering and production, having many historic recordings from Gloucester and the world of classical music in general.

Sarah Pinnell trained at Royal Holloway (University of London) where she gained her BMus degree. Sarah is an accountant by profession and is already making a great contribution to the Council through her wide experience of financial matters. She is choirmistress of Emsworth and Warblington Parish Churches in Hampshire and is also a member of the Portsmouth Cathedral Consort. She has a thriving teaching practice where she specialises in keyboard, voice and woodwind instruments.

Before launching himself as a freelance conductor Andrew had studied conducting under Sir Adrian Boult, undertaken a variety of musical activities and acquired an impressive list of academic qualifications and performance diplomas.

In his early twenties, a period as Director of Music in an old-established Grammar School also allowed him time to play both violin and trombone professionally.  There followed ten years as  Organist & Master of Choristers at Cork then Belfast Cathedrals, which gave him opportunity to give organ recitals in many of the British Cathedrals and major Concert Halls.  In 1989, after further academic study, Andrew decided to concentrate on his work as a choral conductor  and masterclass clinician worldwide.

Throughout his career Andrew has increasingly specialised in voice production and choral singing. He is a busy adjudicator/jurist for International Choral Festivals, and has been a specialist examiner for the Royal Schools of Music vocal and piano diplomas.  He has taught singing in conservatoires and directed many residential choral courses which has brought him in contact with many talented young undergraduate and postgraduate singers.  Professional singers from Opera Companies also regularly seek his coaching. He continues to teach privately.

Andrew is Patron and Vice President for various Music Schools and Choral Societies around the country. Recognition of his musical achievements include several honorary Doctorates and Diplomas, including the prestigious Honorary Fellowships of both the Guild of Church Musicians and the Guild of Musicians and Singers. Andrew was included in King Charles III’s first birthday Honours’ List as a Medallist of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Music.

David Bell was a Silver Medallist at the Guildhall School of Music and completed his organ studies with Ralph Downes and Dr Osborne Peasgood.  Since then, in a long career as organist, he has performed at concerts in most of the principal venues in Europe, North America (principally on the eastern seaboard, including Carnegie Hall in New York), South America, together with several tours to Japan and Australia. 

For fifteen years, he was organist to world−class conductor Herbert von Karajan, and, under his direction, performed on a regular basis with the highly prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.  Other conductors he has played under include Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, Kurt Masur, Vernon Handley, Sir Adrian Boult and Franz Welser Most, Georges Pretre and Rostropovich (Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony).   He has also worked on opera productions in Rome, Paris, Vienna and Madrid and Milan.

Early in his career, organ-builder Henry Willis brought him into contact with some of the finest organs in the country. In this connection he gave several demonstration recitals at Westminster Cathedral and St. Paul’s Cathedral. His numerous recital locations since have included five public recitals at St. Paul’s, and other recital venues include Liverpool Anglican Cathedral (twice) and Westminster Abbey. 

Among other London venues, he has had a long association with the grand organ in the Royal Albert Hall, on which he has played  for a variety of concerts for over thirty years. 

David held the Office of Master of this Guild for a distinguished period of twenty years.