Rufus Frowde
MA(Oxon) MMus ARCO Dip.CHD
Rufus Frowde read music at Oxford University (where he was Conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia, Organ Scholar of Merton College and a tenor in Schola Cantorum). He then became Organ Scholar of Worcester Cathedral. Following a career in teaching, Rufus took up his current post as Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace. This has included playing for the Queen and accompanying Kiri te Kanawa and José Carreras. He combined this with postgraduate study in Choral Direction and Church Music at the Royal Academy of Music, being awarded prizes in both disciplines.
Rufus appears on the Divine Art and Diversions labels and has participated in workshops with the BBC Singers, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the Royal Academy of Music Chamber Choir as well as conducting in the London Master Classes under Benjamin Zander. Current conducting appointments include Surrey Youth Choir, Yateley Choral Society, Mid Hertfordshire Youth Orchestra, Dacorum Youth Orchetra, Zingers Childrens Choir, Ace of Herts Youth Choir, Dacorum Live Summer Theatre School, and return concerts with the Hertfordshire Philharmonia. He holds Assistant posts with Islington Choral Society and Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra and has also formed his own professional group, PAEAN. Most recently, he became Musical Director of Vivamus, a vibrant young London-based chamber choir who perform primarily at St James’s Church, Piccadilly.
Recent performances include numerous UK cathedrals, the Royal Albert Hall, the Spitalfields Festival, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, New Chamber Opera, La Madeleine (Paris), Cologne Cathedral and Neresheim Abbey (Germany), as well as Dave Brubeck’s Cantata The Gates of Justice (European Premiere). He has accompanied Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Rome under the direction of Sir David Willcocks and conducted the West Forest Sinfonia and the Centenary Chorus in a capacity performance of Verdi’s Requiem in Guildford Cathedral. He has also recently accompanied the trumpeter Crispian Steele Perkins in a concert with the English Arts Chorale and has just completed a tour playing continuo with the acclaimed violinist Lara St John and the London Baroque Ensemble. He is also the regular accompanist for The Knack Singers (a recital series for recent graduates of ENO’s training scheme ‘The Knack’).
Rufus is a peripatetic instrumental and ensemble teacher at Abbot’s Hill School and St. David’s School (Ashford). On the lighter side, he is a regular deputy pianist in the Palm Court Quartet at the Ritz Hotel, London and works frequently as a lounge pianist. He has also appeared as a violinist with the late American singer-songwriter, Gene Pitney.
