KEMS Macclesfield Singers

Choral Director

Ian Chesworth

Ian Chesworth directed a highly successful “Supersing Classic” performance, for the RLPO, to a full house at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall in 2010 and has returned to the prestigious role of musical director for their 2011 programme.

Over 100 singers from all over Europe attend Ian’s intensive choral workshops in Dunster, Somerset which he has been running, with ever increasing popularity, for many years. No stranger to working with both professional and amateur singers, he conducts a number of choirs in the Manchester area, including Manchester Philharmonic Choir, KEMS Choir and Bolton Chamber Choir. Recent highlights have ranged from small scale a-cappella pieces to Bach ’s St Matthew Passion to grand opera. Choirs travel the length and breadth of the country to take part in the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition which Ian has been a judge of since its inception.

As a singer, he is an experienced, versatile performer both on the stage and the concert platform. Having trained as a postgraduate at the RNCM, operatic roles have included Edrisi and Chorus (King Roger), Spoletta (Tosca), Silvio (Pagliacci), Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors) and Monostatos (The Magic Flute). In concert, he has been the soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah, Faure's Requiem and numerous gala nights, as well as having had the honour of singing the tenor role of Howard Blake's 'The Bear' with the Northern Sinfonia in the presence of the composer himself. He has taken part in a number of masterclasses, and received coaching from Sir Thomas Allen, Adele Leigh and Seth Riggs among others, and is currently studying with Gillyanne Kayes.

In demand as a teacher, he is the singing coach for the nationally renowned Acting Course at Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as running his private practice in Chorlton. With a special interest in voice production he has taken part in masterclasses and studied privately with Paul Spicer, Janet Linc é, Alan Hazeldine and David Lawrence.

Having taken up the organ at the age of 14, Ian has appeared on national TV and radio as an accompanist and has had the privilege of arranging and performing excerpts from Sir Paul McCartney ’s Liverpool Oratorio to great acclaim by the composer. Ian has held a number of church appointments, most recently at St Clement ’s, Chorlton and in any remaining free time he has he still enjoys performing organ recitals around the country. He studied the organ with Roger Fisher and Keith Wright and is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists.

Ian initially trained as a physicist at the University of Durham and worked as an engineer and manager in the semiconductor industry before making music his full-time profession.

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