Calne choral - Profiles
Philip Springate - Calne Choral Director of Music
A former Calne Bentley Grammar school pupil, Philip was inspired by a young music teacher called David Price and there, grew a great love of music. This led to him going on to study music at Dartington College of Arts. Philip’s first contact with Calne Choral Society came at this time as bass soloist in a performance of the Messiah! This was a joint venture with Fynamore School, directed by David Cooke. Following a year working as a teacher of brass with John Ridgeon for the London borough of Redbridge, he returned to Wiltshire to follow a career as a class music teacher. Before retirement as Director of Music at the John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge, he built an enviable reputation for the quality of instrumental and choral work in the school. Philip is no stranger to the musical life of Wiltshire, having been Music Director for Trowbridge Light Operatic, Trowbridge Philharmonic, Trowbridge Youth Theatre and Calne Choral Society. As well as singing and playing horn in countless concerts and productions, he has been an adjudicator for the Mid Somerset Festival and music competitions around the West, for many years. He has sung, or played for all the previous Directors of Calne Choral Society, David Price, John Nourse and David White. |
Our accompanist is Jemima Palfreyman
Jemima graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2012 and spent the following years fulfilling a portfolio career of performing, accompaniment and teaching, with recitals at venues including the Bridgewater Hall and St-Martin-in-the-Fields, awards from the Buxton Fringe Festival and appearances in a variety of BBC dramas as a hand double. She now works at St Mary's Calne where she is an accompanist, piano teacher and Deputy Housemistress and currently completing a Masters degree in Educational Leadership. |