Grayston Burgess (

Cheriton, Kent Cheriton is a northern suburb of Folkestone in Kent. It is the location of the English terminal of the Channel Tunnel as well as of the major army barracks of Shorncliffe Camp. History The coastal plain where the North Downs meet the Strait ...

7 April 1932 – 6 March 2019 was an English countertenor and conductor.

Life and career

As a boy Burgess was a chorister in the choir of

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

during the second world war. He then attended Cheltenham College before winning a choral scholarship to sing in the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Coll ...

under

Boris Ord Boris Ord (born Bernhard Ord), (9 July 1897 – 30 December 1961) was a British organist and Director of music, choirmaster of Choir of King's College, Cambridge, King's College, Cambridge (1929-1957). During World War II he served in the Royal ...

. A former member of the Purcell Singers, Burgess formed the Purcell Consort of Voices in 1963. He also sang with the

Studio der frühen Musik A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

and the Musica Reservata Ensemble of

Michael Morrow Michael Morrow (2 October 1929 – 20 April 1994) was an Irish artist, ornithologist, musician and musicologist who, together with John Beckett, founded the British early music group Musica Reservata in London during the late 1950s. He d ...

and John Beckett. Burgess premiered compositions including

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

's "Songs for Ariel". After moving to rural Herefordshire in the 1980s, he taught singing at Ellerslie School, Malvern, and, on its closure, at Malvern College. His pupils included ex-Swingle Singer Wendy Nieper. In 2000 he accepted an invitation to help form, and to direct, a local community choir to celebrate the Millennium. After its performance - of Haydn's ''Creation'' - this choir continued as a permanent feature in the form o
Choir 2000
which became his inspiration and to which he himself has been an inspiration. In 2017 he was referred to by the Daily Telegraph as a 'veteran conductor and choir director' when he was interviewed for an article published on International Women's Day about the presence of women in British cathedral choirs. The article made no mention of his connection with the Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir, a group which actively discriminates against the inclusion of women and girls in Cathedral and church choirs.

Selected discography

Countertenor - Soloist * Dowland LP Conductor - Purcell Consort of Voices * ''Music of Albert: Prince of Saxe, Coburg und Gotha'' Decca/Australian Eloquence.

References

External links

Official Website and biography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Grayston 1932 births 2019 deaths Countertenors People from Folkestone Choral Scholars of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge