Officers of the Choir

To function effectively, a choir of our stand­ing needs a first-class manage­ment com­mit­tee, and Tides­well Male Voice Choir is no excep­tion.

Sean Jennings, Chairman, heads a team which con­sists of Sec­re­tary, Treas­urer, Con­cert Sec­re­tary, Direc­tor of Music and four Sec­tion Representatives.

The choir also has an Events Group made up of mem­bers of the choir. This group includes our Chair­man and our Direc­tor of Music and its func­tion is to over­see the plan­ning of con­certs and events.

A recent addition to the choir is the newly formed Front-of-House team. Headed by a small number of co-ordinators and sup­por­ted by volun­teers includ­ing wives, fam­ily and friends of the choir, this group adds a pro­fes­sional touch to the choir’s pub­lic per­form­ances and looks after the prac­tical­ities of ticket sales, pro­gramme and mer­chan­dise sales, raffles, refresh­ments and much more.

(Dennis insisted that I put this next bit in – Ed.)
The choir is most fortunate to have its own in-house (basso profundo) web­master. Peter Humphrey has brought a new dimen­sion to the choir and has success­fully built a new web­site which is full of interest to all those who visit it.

Music Team

The choir’s Principal Conductor and Direc­tor of Music is Dennis Kay. Dennis took up his appoint­ment with Tideswell Male Voice Choir in 2005, bringing with him a life­time’s experi­ence in conduc­ting and train­ing choirs. Dennis is a lead­ing vocal coach who is com­mitted to the pur­suit of excel­lence in all aspects of sing­ing and performance.

Our Deputy Conductor, Eileen Rigg, was appointed to Tideswell Male Voice Choir in 2009. Like Dennis, Eileen also has many years’ experi­ence of work­ing with choirs and is a highly regarded addition to the music team at Tideswell.

The Principal Accompanist of Tideswell Male Voice Choir is Christopher Ellis, B.Mus London (Hons). Chris­topher is inval­uable in the music team and the sheer bril­liance of his accom­paniment always enhances the choir’s perfor­mance. In add­ition his wonder­fully accomp­lished solo performances add yet another dimen­sion to the choir’s programme.

Deputy Accompanist David Appleton is another member of the music team at Tides­well. David (now living in South­port) is in great demand, but has agreed to accom­pany the choir as and when required. Before moving to South­port David was Prin­cipal Accom­panist, for over twenty years, to the Debrose Choir, an all-female group origin­ally foun­ded by Dennis Kay.

Principal Organist Mary Cobbold brings to the music team a quality and experi­ence rarely afforded to male voice choirs. Mary is also in great demand as organist, accom­panist and conduc­tor in the Shef­field area. It says much for Mary's playing and teaching skills that one of her former organ pupils is now at Westminster Abbey.


Updated 15 July 2010