Hilary Campbell - Christmas Guest Director

Hilary Campbell is a freelance choral conducting specialist and prize-winning composer who leads professional chamber choir Blossom Street. They have released a Christmas album to great acclaim, so she will be inspirational to work with for the December concert. 

Hilary is currently associate conductor of Ex Cathedra and has led the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, Royal Academy of Music Symphony Chorus, Trinity Laban Chamber Choir and New London Singers. She also conducts the P&O Ferries Choir, who won best workplace choir on the BBC series The Choir in 2013. She is the Musical Director of Bristol Choral Society, the Music Makers of London and Chiswick Choir. In addition to conducting, Hilary also acts as an adjudicator and choral workshop leader. Hilary gained a Distinction for an MMus in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music; she was also awarded the three choral conducting prizes. Following her studies, she returned to the Royal Academy as the Meaker Fellow 2012-13 and was made an Associate in 2020. 

Nicholas Chalmers - Autumn Guest Director

The Fourth Choir will be working with Nicholas Chalmers for our fall term. Nicholas is well known to the choir, having led many rehearsals for us in the past. We are excited that this will be our first full term and 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 Guest Director

Esther Jones will be working with the choir for our spring-summer term. Esther is a conductor, workshop leader, arranger and adjudicator with a particular interest in music and wellbeing, so Esther will be perfect for our first term emerging 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 - Artistic Director 2013-2021

We'd like to say thank you to Dominic Ellis-Peckham who was the founding Artistic Director and Conductor 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.