Music Director - John Cotton

John’s singing training began when he was seven, in Southend Boys’ Choir. At the age of nine he became a chorister at Rochester Cathedral, Kent, and a music scholar at the cathedral choir school. He later became head chorister, a position he held for two years. When he was 13 he won a music scholarship to Harrow School, where he played the piano, violin, organ, and sometimes the viola.

Academic studies aside, he was a keen sportsman, representing his school in the rugby 1st XV and the athletics team, where he won an inter-school pentathlon title. He once held a school record in the hurdles. He adores cricket, and his wrist spin has been known to turn matches.

In his penultimate year at school John discovered his falsetto, and soon afterwards won a choral scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. There he read theology and, after completing his degree, became a lay clerk. The following year John was appointed a lay clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, where he may be found on the alto line to this day. In his first year at Christ Church he studied at Trinity College of Music, gaining a vocal diploma.

John has sung with various ensembles in London, and abroad, including the Gabrieli Consort. He has a long-standing connection with the King's Singers (having been at school with two members of the group and taught by two more) and has joined them for a guest performance on his mobile phone! He has performed as soloist with local choral societies and has also sung, in unexpected attire, in a number of films and on television. His voice has featured on a number of soundtracks – most recently Mr Bean’s Holiday – and in dozens of choral recordings.

John’s experience as a choral director began at school, where he prepared his house for the two keenly contested annual singing competitions. As an undergraduate he conducted the Magdalen Singers, and a group comprised of choral scholars from Magdalen, New College, and Christ Church.

At Christ Church in 2001, John founded The Clerks of Christ Church, an a cappella group. They have performed in venues as far apart as Christ Church, Oxford, and Christchurch, New Zealand (where they toured in 2002, 2003, and 2004), and as various as Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Dorchester and Douai abbeys – as well as singing at the memorial service for Lord Jenkins, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and in the presence of The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP. In July 2004 they made their film début in Sir Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty, starring Billy Crudup and Clare Danes. The group's début disc, In Pace, was released in 2004. The Clerks of Christ Church have been signed exclusively for SOMM Records, for which they recorded A Garland of the Elizabethan, to be followed by a disc celebrating the quincentenary of Tallis' birth. The music is Tallis' contribution to the 1575 publication Cantiones Sacrae, with all works on the disc edited anew by John.

For the last three years John has conducted the chamber choir at Wychwood School, Oxford, where he teaches singing, and has occasionally conducted the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church and the gentlemen of the Cathedral Choir. He recently founded another group, The Renaissance Men, with the aim of recording the complete works of Tomás Luis de Victoria using his own editions. Their first recording, the Missa Pro Defunctis (1583) and Officium Defunctorum (1592), is due for release soon. He was appointed director of the Cherwell Singers in December 2006.