Richard Cooke - Musical Director

Richard Cooke was appointed Conductor of the Royal Choral Society in 1995, becoming Music Director in 1998, and has appeared with us in many concerts in the Royal Festival and Royal Albert Halls. He has also recorded Orff’s Carmina Burana with us together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Richard was a chorister of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Choral Scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, where he conducted all the main university orchestras. He directed the choir at Tiffin School, Kingston, from 1974 to 1981, giving concerts in venues which included the Queen Elizabeth Hall. He was Conductor of the London Philharmonic Choir from 1982–1991. For 22 years he directed an annual music festival in his home town of St. Columb Major in Cornwall, though his connection with Cornwall now consists mainly of surfing on the north coast.

He has worked in collaboration with the many of the world’s leading conductors, including Solti, Haitink, Muti, Mehta, Bernstein, Abbado and, most notably, the late Klaus Tennstedt. He has received a Grammy award and four Grammy nominations, most notably for his work as Chorus Master for Tennstedt's spectacular recording, of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, and for Haitink’s recording of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, both of which were also voted for top awards by Gramophone Magazine.

He has conducted in many European cities, most frequently in Sweden, where he has given concerts with the Gothenburg and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestras, and appeared throughout the country. He gave many concerts with the Opera de Lyon choir and orchestra, where he was choirmaster for three years until 1995, and has conducted also in the Aix-en-Provence Festival. He has recently conducted concerts in the main concert halls of Dublin, Stockholm, Belfast, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Manchester.

His career in the UK includes a long association with Canterbury Choral Society (with whom he recorded the Ultimate Last Night of the Proms CD together with the RPO), and the University of Essex Choir, both of which have established strong reputations in their respective parts of the country, performing regularly in Canterbury Cathedral, Snape Maltings, Norwich Cathedral and other venues. Recent performances in Canterbury Festival have included Mahler Symphony No. 2, two performances of Berlioz’ Grand Messe des Morts, Mahler Symphony No. 8 and Bach Mass in B Minor.

Richard Cooke received an Honorary Doctorate at the University of Essex in the summer of 1996,
in recognition of his contribution to musical life at the University.

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