We’re delighted to welcome six new committee members to Cathedral Music Trust: Henrietta Fraser, Robert Horton, Jonathan Manners and Olivia Sparkhall have all been appointed to our Development Committee, with Carl Jackson and David Flood having been appointed to our Grants Committee.
Our Grants Committee, chaired by James Lancelot, oversees the Trust’s funding programme for choral foundations, working closely together with Operations Director Cathy Dew and Finance Director Jess Lock. In May 2021, the Grants Committee oversaw the distribution of nearly half a million pounds in funding for choral foundations to support their work this academic year. British Organist and current Director of Music at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court, Carl Jackson MVO has joined the Grants Committee, having previously worked with the choirs of Croydon Parish Church and St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square. He joins the Grants Committee together with Dr David Flood, who was formerly Master of the Choristers and Organist at Canterbury Cathedral, as well as President of the Cathedral Organists Association.
With oversight of, and engagement with, all aspects of the Trust’s communications, fundraising and marketing activity, our Development Committee is chaired by Jonathan Macdonald, working closely with Development Director Natasha Morris. Henrietta Fraser joins Development Committee having spent 18 years working in the City in Investment Management before switching career in 2010 to become a Classics Teacher. She studied Classics at Cambridge, where she indulged her love of choral music attending evensong at King’s and Trinity, before studying piano at Trinity College of Music, London. Along with Henrietta, we welcome Dr Robert Horton to Development, who sang in the back rows of Canterbury, Ripon, and Manchester Cathedrals, before beginning a teaching career in several choir schools, including Westminster Abbey, King’s College Cambridge, and Ripon. In 1991 he embarked on a career in international education, working as a senior leader in Poland, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Vietnam, Tanzania, Hong Kong and Mainland China, before retiring to the UK this year.
We also welcome composer, conductor, and music educator Olivia Sparkhall to the Development Committee together with Jonathan Manners, who is currently Producer of the BBC Singers. Olivia Sparkhall is an experienced secondary music teacher and vocal workshop leader and directs her school chamber choir, which has been a regular finalist on the televised BBC Songs of Praise Choir of the Year Competition as well as twice awarded Barnardo’s Choir of the Year. A passionate advocate for Choral Evensong, Olivia sang as a Choral Scholar at Cambridge and is committed to seeing cathedral music flourish in each new generation.
As Producer of the BBC Singers, Jonathan Manners is responsible for the artistic output of the group’s concerts and recordings across BBC radio, television and the BBC Proms. His career has seen him work with some of the country’s most prominent vocal ensembles, including The Tallis Scholars, The Hilliard Ensemble and The Monteverdi Choir. Whilst Head of the Music Department at English National Opera he co-founded the award-winning record label Resonus Classics. Jonathan is passionate about the role of cathedral and church choirs and also of championing choral music of underrepresented composers.
Peter Allwood, Chair of Cathedral Music Trust, says, “We are delighted to welcome such experienced committee members to our organisation, and look forward to working together to ensure a bright future for all cathedral music.”