Cranbrook & District Choral Society

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PRESIDENT

Philip Langridge, CBE

Philip Langridge was at one time head chorister at St Dunstan's Parish Church, Cranbrook, where the choral society presents its regular concerts. When responding to the invitation in 1998 to become the society's President, he said he was delighted to do so as it would give him a chance to repay Cranbrook for the debt he owed it in starting him on his musical career. He has since then given a celebrity recital with his wife, Ann Murray, on behalf of the society.

After completing his schooling in Kent, Philip studied at the Royal Academy of Music and is now one of the world's most distinguished tenors, whose musical and dramatic qualities ensure that he is in constant demand throughout Europe, the USA and Japan.

International festivals and opera houses with whom he is particularly closely associated include Salzburg, Metropolitan New York, La Scala Milan, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and English National Opera. 

His numerous recordings have gained two Grammy awards for Moses und Araon and Peter Grimes, a Gramophone award for Britten's War Requiem and a Classic CD Award for Turn of the Screw. In 1994 he was awarded the CBE and at a ceremony at The Barbican, London, he was presented by the National Federation of Music Societies with the Sir Charles Groves Prize for services to British Music. 

MUSIC DIRECTOR

Malcolm Riley

Malcolm Riley was born in Northallerton in 1960 and went to school in Harrogate. He won an organ scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge in 1978 and, after graduating, taught for three years in Bristol before being appointed Director of Music at Cranbrook School in 1985. He has been Music Director of Cranbrook Choral since 1987.

His biography of Percy Whitlock was published to critical acclaim in 1998 and he has recently recorded a disc of Whitlock's light orchestral music with the RTE Light Orchestra in Dublin for the Marco Polo label. He is a frequent reviewer for The Gramophone magazine.

Malcolm has also composed and arranged. His most recent composition, De Temporbus Canticum (`Of the Seasons We Sing'), was commissioned by Cranbrook Choral to celebrate the Millennium and was given its first performance in December 2000. His other works include a concerto for harp and oboe and his orchestral arrangement of Brahms E minor Cello Sonata was given its first performance by Maidstone Symphony Orchestra, which commissioned the work, conducted by Brian Wright, in May 2000.

Recent engagements have included organ recitals at York Minster, Leeds Parish Church and Benenden Church. Other engagements have included a recital at All Saints Church, Old Town, Hastings as one of the 2004 organ concert series. 

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