Musical Director – Richard Kay
Our new Musical Director, Richard Kay, made his Harrogate Male Voice Choir debut at St Mary’s Church, Boston Spa on Saturday 13th of November 2021. Richard trained in Drama & Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham, whilst also studying ancillary music and singing with the Birmingham University Liturgical Choir.
Richard has been a member of the York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir since 2002. For the past ten years or so he has been their Assistant Musical Director and is currently Deputy Musical Director. He joined Harrogate Male Voice Choir in the summer of 2021, and he is proud and delighted to be involved with both Choirs.
Richard has been a regular soloist around the Yorkshire music scene for many years and also incorporates music into his performance work: Richard is an actor, writer and associate artist with Badapple Theatre Company. For more information about the range of his work visit www.richardkay.net
In the, comparatively, short time he has been with us, his engaging personality, coupled with his attention to detail and sheer professionalism throughout rehearsals, has commanded respect and admiration from Choir members. He is to continue to encourage solo performances at our future concerts and judging from audience feedback, ‘they like his style!’
“I am absolutely thrilled to be taken on as the new MD for the prestigious Harrogate MVC. For me, the enjoyment of singing together and the conveying of that joy, through performance, to our audiences is every bit as important as striving for musical perfection.”
Accompanist – David Mawson PhD, LRSM, LTCL, LMusA
Born in New Zealand, David holds a MusB Hons and MMus degree from the University of Otago, a PGDipMus in piano performance from the RSAMD and a PhD in practice-led performance research from the University of Leeds. He has been awarded numerous music prizes and scholarships and as a pianist has broadcast on New Zealand radio and television. He has taught piano and music history at the University of Otago and the University of Leeds, and has served as Administrator and Trustee of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and as Coordinator of the AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice (CMPCP) based at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge. David has been an accompanist with Harrogate Male Voice Choir since October 2015.
Accompanist – David Ward-Campbell
David has lived in Harrogate for most of his life, and has been involved in the local music world since about 1980, when he joined Junior Strings as a young violinist (at Harrogate Music Centre) and St Robert’s Church choir in Pannal. Since then he has been involved in many choral and musical groups, locally, further afield and internationally. He was Organist at St Robert’s Church, Pannal in the 90’s/00’s while also holding organist positions at Beckwithshaw and Killinghall Parish Churches.
David studied Music, Organ and Singing at Liverpool University and then went on to enjoy almost 15 years of expat life – in Bangkok, Prague and southern Spain. He was accompanist for the Bangkok Music Society and has also accompanied various choral groups in Spain, with repertoire as diverse as Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Karl Jenkins’ ‘Armed Man’. He has taught piano and singing for many years, mainly for the International School circuit abroad, and he continues to do so after returning to the UK.
David became an accompanist with Harrogate Male Voice Choir in April 2018 and has also recently taken up a new appointment as Organist/Director of Music at Ripley.