Eric Cross - Musical Director
Dean of Cultural Affairs, School of Arts and Cultures
CAPPELLA IS SEEKING A NEW DIRECTOR OF MUSIC - SEE BELOW
Educated in Norwich and at Birmingham University, Eric Cross joined the staff at Newcastle University in 1978, where, after periods as Head of Music and Dean of Arts, he is now Dean of Cultural Affairs and Professor of Culture and Music. His main research area is the Italian Baroque, with special reference to the operas of Vivaldi. He has published books, articles and reviews in many of the leading British musicological journals, and has prepared scores of several complete Vivaldi operas for performances in New York, Denmark, Germany and Poland, and in England by the English Bach and Buxton Festivals. He has edited works for recordings by Richard Hickox, Emma Kirkby, James Bowman and Catherine Bott, and conducted the first UK performances of Arsilda, Regina di Ponto and Tamerlano as part of the Newcastle Early Music Festival, of which he is co-founder.
Eric Cross has written and presented numerous illustrated talks in the UK and abroad, and has broadcast on BBC, ITV and BBC Radio 3. He also conducts the Newcastle upon Tyne Bach Choir in works ranging from Bach and Handel to Tippett, Britten and Maxwell Davies, and recently conducted Newcastle University Choir and Orchestra, together with the Bach Choir, in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in Hall One of The Sage Gateshead.
Peter Coulson is a Bass Lay Clerk at Durham Cathedral. After graduating from Durham University, he moved to the south to take up the post of Lay Clerk at Guildford Cathedral. He was also appointed Conductor of the Chantry Singers in Guildford. He studied singing with David Wilson-Johnson and Colin Baldy. He has sung as soloist with numerous choirs, including the London Philharmonic Choir in a performance of Fauré's Requiem. He was a soloist in the première of John Tavener's Let's begin again in Norwich Cathedral. On the operatic stage, he has appeared with Morley Opera and the Mayer-Lismann Opera Centre: and performed the role of King George III in Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King with Durham University New Music Group.
Peter has conducted Cappella’s summer concerts since 2002. We are pleased to welcome him back for our 2010 summer season.
Our present Musical Director, Eric Cross, has decided to leave us at Christmas after 32 years, so Cappella Novocastriensis, a chamber choir based in Newcastle upon Tyne, is seeking to appoint a new director with experience of choral music from January 2011.
Membership of the choir is by audition. We currently number about 40 and meet on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 pm in Kings Hall, Newcastle University, for an average of 29 weeks of the year (roughly equivalent to University terms).
The choir currently performs about five concerts and a carol service for the Law Courts every year, as well as singing for an occasional Cathedral Evensong and a variable number of wedding services.
We sing mainly sacred music with a sprinkling of secular items. Our repertoire encompasses a wide range of musical genres, with an emphasis on the Renaissance and Baroque and some 20th - 21st century additions.
The post will attract a payment, to be decided by agreement.
Please apply by letter, enclosing a CV and two references, to our chairman, Philip Thicknes, 8 Woodside Avenue, Corbridge, Northumberland, NE45 5EL. If you would like further details before doing so, Philip will be happy to supply them by email or phone. His email address is philipthick@doctors.org.uk and phone 01434 632082.
The closing date for applications is Friday 23rd July 2010.
We intend to interview in early September and to audition a short list in late
September 2010.
