Music Director 2011 - 2021
Christopher Cromar is a former Music Director of Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir, Sandbach Choral Society, Keele University Bach Choir and Salford Choral Society as well as Congleton Choral Society. He pursues a freelance career as both conductor, pianist and concert organist. He was born in Scotland where he was a chorister at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee. In 1992 he won a scholarship to Chetham’s School of Music, studying the organ with Christopher Stokes at Manchester Cathedral, and with Nicolas Kynaston and Kimberly Marshall in London. He was a finalist in the 1995 and 1997 National Young Organist Competitions at Plymouth.Christopher has given organ recitals at many prestigious venues including Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, King’s College Cambridge, St. Giles’ Cathedral Edinburgh, the Caird Hall Dundee, in the United Kingdom; Notre Dame, Sainte-Clotilde, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Saint-Roch, Saint-Étienne-de-Caen in France, and throughout Germany, Greece, Holland and the USA. He has played with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris, and recently performed the Poulenc Organ Concerto in Guildford Cathedral with Southern Pro Musica.
Contemporary music is a prominent feature of Christopher’s repertoire. He premiered Errollyn Wallen’s Tiger at the 2001 Oundle International Festival, and gave the piece its London premiere later that year at St. Paul’s Cathedral. He has worked closely with many contemporary composers including Peter Maxwell Davies and Jonathan Dove, frequently in preparation for first performances and broadcasts.
Illustrious choruses with which Christopher has been invited to work as guest chorus master or accompanist include the Chorus of Radio France, BBC Singers, Manchester Chamber Choir, RSNO Chorus, Vasari Singers, Brighton Festival Chorus, Chelsea Opera Group, and he served on the deputy music staff of St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey for a number of years.
