Choral Section Adjudicator
Neil Ferris
Neil Ferris is the Artistic Director and conductor of the professional chamber choir Sonoro and Music Director of Wimbledon Choral Society, one of London’s leading amateur choirs. In 2017 he was appointed the new Chorus Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus and guest conductor of the National Youth Choir of Wales.
In demand as chorus master to the finest symphonic choruses in the UK, Neil has worked with the London Symphony Chorus, the Bach Choir, and the BBC National Chorus of Wales. He is Chorus Director at the Royal College of Music and since 2012 he has been Chorus Master at the Endellion Summer Festival. In these roles he has prepared choirs for internationally acclaimed conductors including Valery Gergiev, Sir Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop, Bernard Haitink, Carlo Rizzi, Ed Gardner, Donald Runnicles, Martyn Brabbins and Ryan Wigglesworth.
Formerly Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Neil helped establish the international reputation of the choral conducting course and developed the conservatoire’s choral ensembles. This summer he prepared the chamber choir to join the BBC Proms Youth Choir with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and conducted them on stage at the Wales Millennium Centre in a collaboration with international ballet dancer Carlos Acosta.
Neil has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, New Queens Hall Orchestra, Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Salomon Orchestra, Orchestra Vitae and the period instrument ensembles Florilegium and Apollo Baroque. He made his Royal Opera House debut in 2012 in a ROH2 production of Will Tuckett’s ballet The Wind in the Willows.
Recordings include an album of the choral music of Jonathan Dove with Convivium Singers released on the Naxos label and Fauré’s Requiem on the Convivium Records label. He has also prepared the chorus for the LSO Live recordings of Berlioz Roméo et Juliette, Brahms Requiem and Szymanowski Stabat Mater.