“intensely musical direction”
Peter Asprey is in demand both as a conductor, chorus master, singer and singing teacher. He is the Director of Music at Holy Sepulchre, the National Musicians’ Church in the heart of the City of London, where he has initiated a residency at the church with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble and established programmes for musical education and music and spirituality as part of the vision of the National Musicians’ Church. The professional choir is about to release a new CD of the choral music of S.S.Wesley on the Delphian label. Previously, he has recorded a CD called Soul’s Desire, which you can listen to on the media page. They also made the first recording of Paul Fincham’s Ring The Bells published by Boosey and Hawkes and have championed new works by young composers.
Recent larger scale works include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s Nelson Mass. Peter is the current Director of Ealing Choral Society and recently performed Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall. A recent review of a concert with Henley Choral Society said the following:
“The choir operated throughout as a well-drilled unit, every entry razor-sharp. They had been thoroughly prepared and responded as one body to the subtleties of Asprey’s intensely musical direction”
Trevor Howell, Henley Standard
Recently Peter has worked with the English Chamber Orchestra, the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble and Orpheus Sinfonia. He has been a guest Chorus Master for the London Symphony Chorus, Brighton Festival Chorus, The Whitehall Choir and the St Endellion Festival Chorus, working alongside conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Sir Andrew Davis. He has done a number of projects with the Belgian Ensemble, Vox Amicorum. Peter directed the Berkshire Youth Choir for six years, performing with them in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, The Sheldonian Theatre and the Church of La Madeleine in Paris. He conducted a world premiere by Orlando Gough live on BBC Radio 3 with the Berkshire Youth Choir and the BBC Singers at the Roundhouse in Camden. A performance of Mozart’s Requiem with the youth choir was described as
“a remarkable performance delivered to a very high standard under the leadership of Peter Asprey.”
Berkshire Youth Choir
Peter was a Choral Exhibitioner at Clare College, Cambridge and a founder member and singer in the Renaissance Music vocal ensemble Stile Antico, achieving during his time with the group a number of awards including a Gramophone Award for Early Music, a Grammy nomination and two Diapason d’Or. He also sang on a European Tour with Sting for his Dowland lute song project Songs from the Laybrinth. He completed his studies at the Royal College of Music having been a Choral Scholar in the choir of Clare College, Cambridge.
“Peter Asprey proved outstanding in the handling of his resources. Clearly endowed with the gift of performance, he was able, in the moment, not only to sculpt the overall shape of each of the works but to bring out the musical nuances that make such a difference to the listening experience. ... He has a perfect instinct for tempi, rubatos, crescendos, diminuendos and how much time to allow between phrases.”
Trevor Howell, Henley Standard
He has given educational evenings on music at the Royal Academy of Art in London and master classes on Renaissance Music at the Music College in Dubrovnik. He was for 14 years a singing teacher at Eton College and a member of staff on the Rodolfus Foundation Choral Courses.