KEITH ORRELL
Keith is a versatile and vibrant choral and orchestral conductor and music leader, based in the North-West of England. He became the Music Director of the William Byrd Singers in 2009, and also directs the Liverpool Welsh Choral (since 2004).
Conducting the Byrds
Taking over from Stephen Wilkinson, who had conducted the Byrds since founding the choir in 1970, was never going to be an easy task. But Keith had sung as a member of the Byrds, and knew both the repertoire and the choir's strengths and weaknesses.
Establishing a reputation for creating carefully crafted, satisfying programmes of music, Keith has taken the Byrds to places chamber choirs in the North-West hardly dreamed of going. Indeed, under Keith's direction the choir has given the North-West and Manchester premieres of significant choral works by Hindemith, John Joubert, and Rene Clausen. He continues to challenge and delight us with his programming choices, which have seen us become regular performers at Manchester's newest concert venue, the Stoller Hall, as well as collaborating with ensembles such as the English Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble.
Pennine Spring and beyond
In 2011 he took up the choral directorship of the Pennine Spring Music Festival, which continues to thrive under his generous direction. Having recently retired after thirteen years as Vocal Projects Leader for the Wigan Music Service , he is particularly proud of the strong impact he made on the development of singing in schools in the area. His seventy-six (76!) ‘Let’s Sing!’ projects and concerts were the formative choral influences for around 50,000 children in the area, and have left a lasting legacy.
Keith is also a dedicated church musician, organist and pianist, and is the Director of Music at the Church of St Agnes and St Pancras in Liverpool.
He was Chorus Master for the Hallé Choir in Manchester for seven years, working with leading international conductors such as Kent Nagano and Mark Elder. He has often acted as a guest Chorus Master for other symphony orchestras in the UK, including the BBC Symphony Chorus.
While residing in the Midlands in the 1980s he formed the Shropshire-based chamber choir the Beaumaris Singers ,and directed them until 2004. More recently he worked briefly as Director of Music at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral. And as if all of that wasn't enough, he has also found time to lead children’s choirs, youth choirs and larger mixed adult choirs such as the Birmingham Singers, Stone Choral Society and Staffordshire Youth choir!
Retiring is so tiring...
Keith continues to thrive as a freelance musician. He is busier than ever as a choral director of groups large and small; as a composer and arranger; as an organist and pianist; and as an adjudicator and workshop leader. You can hear some of Keith's work on his own website, keithorrell.com, and some of it even features on this site -- as an organisation proud of its record of commissioning new works for ourselves and others to perform, we could hardly let him get away without!
Of his thoughts and plans for the Byrds going forward he had this to say:
I have been thinking of how well the choir is currently singing, blending and listening well and singing with great positivity and musicality. The choir has a thirst for great music-making and its singers spend time between rehearsals digging deep into the music, learning, thinking, memorising. This approach is very special, grounded in the choral visions of our choir's co-founder Stephen Wilkinson, something which I have always been keen to nurture and develop since my tenure began in 2009.
We have explored and performed some amazing choral music in recent years, and that approach will continue. Looking into the future, I am considering incorporating into our future programmes music by leading female composers such as Judith Weir, Elizabeth Poston, Caroline Shaw, Imogen Holst, Judith Bingham and Greta Tomlins, and I would like to build on the choir's love of the German Romantic repertoire by singing more Brahms, Mendelssohn and Reger.
We will never lose sight of early music, including Byrd (of course) and (my personal favourite composer) Victoria. I hope that one programme will be built around the famous Requiem by Duruflé and music by Kenneth Leighton. One of our 'big' concerts in 2025 will be JS Bach's Weinachts-Oratorium with baroque instruments and leading soloists. Lots to look forward to!
-- Keith Orrell, 2024
