Framingham Earl Singers was formed in 1994 by Peter Leonard from Framingham Earl High School. Our accompanist was Diana Pordham. The music we sing is very varied from choral to popular and includes music composed for the choir. We are a community choir and we do not audition members.
Peter and Diana both retired from their positions in the choir in 2008 but Peter continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the choir and also takes rehearsals from time to time. Diana sings in the choir and recently has performed piano duets at concerts. Jason Collins was our conductor for 5 years from 2008. Vaughan Brookes became our accompanist for 7 years until his sudden death in 2014. Vaughan was a very gentle but talented musician who added a very special dimension to the choir.
Then in 2013 Kenneth Ian Hytch (known to us as Ian) came out of retirement to join us as a very enthusiastic musical director. He had previously helped us by accompanying the choir while Vaughan Brookes was ill. He inspired the choir to sing some major works including Vivaldi- Gloria, Karl Jenkins-The Armed Man, Faure – Requiem and Cantique de Jean Racine and Benjamin Britten – Ceremony of Carols. We were privileged to be introduced to singing with an invited orchestra led by Liz Marjoram. We also sang many items from musicals which prove particularly popular at our summer concerts.
In 2017 we sang songs from Malcolm Arnold’s musical Parasol arranged by Ian at our April concert. He had worked with Sir Malcolm at Wymondham College and Wymondham Symphony Orchestra. The concert coincided with the auction of The Sir Malcolm Arnold Collection in Norwich. We have also sung items composed by Ian from Suite of Dremes.
Wilma Oliver joined the choir as our accompanist in 2014. She was a very patient, calm and talented pianist and accompanied us at rehearsals and concerts. She performed duets at concerts with Diana Pordham.
Both Ian and Wilma retired at the end of 2017. We were very sorry to see them leave us, their talent improved our skills and performances, making us more confident as a choir. Thank you to them both.
In 2018 we welcomed Jacob Swindells as our Musical Director. He was a Choral Scholar at Norwich Cathedral. Jo Richards joined us as accompanist. We were very privileged to have Jacob as our Musical Director. He brought new skills to the choir, particularly focusing on voice training which improved the quality of our singing dramatically. Unfortunately we always knew that he wouldn’t stay with us very long as he is at the beginning of his career and is ambitious. So we had to say farewell to Jacob in July 2019 and wish him well in his musical career which he is continuing in London.
Since September 2019 our Musical Director has been Daniel Wright, and he has been developing our musical skills and leading us with some more challenging music. His enthusiasm kept us together as a choir through the difficult Covid times. You can read more about Daniel in the Our Musical Director section.
In April 2022 we welcomed Rob Goodrich as our accompanist.