Musical Directors

Dusty Francis - Spring 2023 Guest Director

Conductor and bass-baritone Dusty enjoys an active career as a performer, clinician, and music educator across both the United Kingdom and the United States. He currently serves as Middle & High School Choral Director at the American School in London. Recent seasons have included appearances at esteemed venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and The Kennedy Center. Off the conducting podium, Francis can often be heard singing with some of America’s finest professional choral ensembles, including the Skylark Vocal Ensemble, True Concord Voices & Orchestra, and the Manhattan Chorale. Solo engagements have spanned styles and periods ranging from Bach to Puccini and Schubert to Sondheim.

Francis holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Xavier University. A native of Ohio, he currently resides in London.

Jamie Powe - Winter 2022 Guest Director

After completing his BA degree in Music at Somerville College, Oxford, Jamie received a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where he achieved a distinction in his choral conducting MA. He was also awarded the Thomas Armstrong prize for outstanding choral leadership. Jamie was one of the 2018/19 Young Conducting Scholars with Sing for Pleasure and has worked with Genesis Sixteen as conducting scholar. He was Director of the Chapel Choir of Regent’s Park College, Oxford 2019-2021, and he is currently Musical Director of Laurelin Voices, The Arcadian Singers, Putney Choral Society and The Aubrey Singers. He is also the Associate Director of Ware Choral Society and is a regular guest conductor for The Fourth Choir.

Jamie studied composition at Oxford with Toby Young and Deborah Pritchard, achieving a first class grade for his composition portfolio. He continued his studies at The Royal Academy of Music with David Gorton and Gareth Moorcraft, alongside his choral conducting MA. His latest commission, ‘The Gun Mass’ is soon to be premiered in both the US and UK.

​As a tenor, Jamie was a choral scholar at Somerville College (2015-2018) and St Mary’s Church, Primrose Hill (2018-20). He has also performed operatic roles with Handmade Opera, Opera in the City and has performed at the Dorset Opera Festival. Recent roles include Flute (Midsummer Night’s Dream), Daniel (Witch – a new opera by Toby Young), Trio (Trouble in Tahiti) and Bill (A Hand of Bridge).

Hilary Campbell - Autumn 2022 Guest Director

Hilary Campbell is a freelance choral specialist, and is founder and Musical Director of professional chamber choir Blossom Street, and Musical Director of Bristol Choral Society, West London Chorus and West London Chamber Choir. Her project work includes guest conducting ensembles such as the BBC Singers, Trinity Laban Chamber Choir, the University of Greenwich Choir and the Fourth Choir, and chorus mastering the BBC Symphony Chorus and Royal Academy of Music Symphony Chorus.  She is also Associate Conductor of Ex Cathedra, and runs choral workshops for the Royal Opera House.  Hilary often runs projects with Master of the Queen’s Music, Judith Weir, at the Royal Academy of Music, in conjunction with Blossom Street and the RAM composition department.  In 2021, Hilary was delighted to be awarded Making Music’s prize of Best Vocal Group Musical Director, and she and Bristol Choral Society were jointly awarded the RPS Inspiration Award. 

Hilary gained a Distinction for an MMus in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Patrick Russill; she was also awarded the three choral conducting prizes.  She received a Distinction for an MA in Vocal Studies at the University of York, and undertook an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in singing at Trinity College of Music.  Following her studies, she returned to the RAM as the Meaker Fellow 2012-13, the first choral conductor to have been thus honoured.  In 2018, Hilary was thrilled to be made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM).  In addition to her regular conducting work, Hilary also acts as an adjudicator, choral workshop leader and guest conductor.  She is a founder member of the Voices of London Festival, and is also a published and prize-winning composer.  With Blossom Street, she has released three award-winning Naxos recordings. 

Ben Horden - Summer 2022 Guest Director

Ben is an accomplished artist forging a diverse career as an organist, conductor, and keyboardist.

An MA graduate of The University of York, Ben’s studies focussed on Baroque performance practice; specifically, the influence on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach by his European counterparts and their country’s cultures and practices. 

Church music shaped much of Ben’s initial training and early career; he has previously held positions at a number of England’s churches and cathedrals. Chief amongst his now varied portfolio as a freelance musician is his work at the University of York as an accompanist, teacher of organ, and teaching assistant.
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Ben appears regularly in his capacity as a solo artist, and in 2022 will release his debut solo album. Ben often accompanies many young aspiring singers and collaborates with instrumentalists and ensembles as an accompanist and continuo player.

As a choral conductor, Ben is in increasing demand. He is the Music Director of King’s Lynn Festival Chorus; a one hundred strong choir, collaborating with distinguished soloists and ensembles to perform from a wide-ranging repertoire. Ben is also a guest conductor of The Fourth Choir, London’s LGBTQ+ chamber choir, and an Associate of The Come and Sing Company with whom he engages in a wide-ranging outreach programme. He currently studies conducting with Paul Brough.

Nicholas Chalmers - Autumn 2021 Guest Director

The Fourth Choir worked with Nicholas Chalmers for our Autumn concert A Meeting Place in 2021. Nicholas is well known to the choir, having led many rehearsals for us over the years and we were excited to have our first opportunity to perform a concert together.

​Nicholas led the BBC Singers at the Proms last year and is the founding Artistic Director of both the Nevill Holt Opera company and Second Movement. He also works with major UK orchestras including Royal Northern Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia, The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The English Chamber Orchestra and The Ulster Orchestra. He is Director of Music at St Jude-on-the-hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb. He has been on the music staff at English National Opera, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Chichester Cathedral. Nicholas leads the Sing at ROH programme and works with the youth opera company. ​He studied music at Lincoln College, Oxford and the Piacenza Conservatoire. 

Esther Jones - Summer 2021 Guest Director

Esther Jones led the choir for our Summer term in 2021. Esther is a conductor, workshop leader, arranger and adjudicator with a particular interest in music and wellbeing, so was a fitting conductor for our first term performing in public again after the choir emerged from lockdown.

Esther has worked over many years with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the Royal Academy of Music and London Youth Choir. She also appeared as a tutor on the BBC's TV show The Choir with Gareth Malone and was a project leader for a Wellcome Collection public engagement project on dementia and the arts. Esther has worked as Chorus Master for conductors including Marin Alsop, John Rutter, Simon Halsey and Eric Whitacre. She has directed music on numerous CD recordings and digital downloads, as well as on live broadcasts for BBC Radio. She studied Music at Oxford University and choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was the first Open Academy Fellow.

Dominic Ellis-Peckham - Former Director 2013-2021

We'd like to say thank you to Dominic Ellis-Peckham who was the founding Director of The Fourth Choir from September 2013 to February 2021. Dominic was instrumental in establishing the choir, crafting our sound and setting our strategic direction.