Caritas Chamber Choir & Benedict Preece
Biographie Caritas Chamber Choir & Benedict Preece
Caritas Chamber Choir
was founded in 2011 by Benedict Preece, its Music Director. Caritas is the Latin word for charity and the group raises funds for various charities, good causes and churches.
Members are drawn from around East Kent with both professional singers and advanced non-professional singers. The ensemble has become an important part of the cultural landscape of Kent and is renowned for its commitment to contemporary choral works.
Caritas have many international collaborations and have performed in Sweden, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Every year, the choir proudly sings in Lille Cathedral as part of their summer music festival. For three years the choir ran an international choral composition competition and continues to champion new music with Sarah Cattley as the choir’s Associate Composer.
Benedict Preece
is principally a conductor, passionate about working with both singers and instrumentalists. He maintains a busy schedule as Music Director of Caritas Chamber Choir, East Bridge Chorale and Head of Chapel Music, Keyboard and Organist at The Duke of York’s Royal Military School.
He was Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar 2017-2018.
He began his career as a Chorister of Canterbury Cathedral and for many years after as an ad hoc tenor. At Trinity College of Music, London, he specialised in horn and natural horn under tutelage of Roger Montgomery and subsequently with Anthony Halstead. As an organist, Benedict studied with Dr. David Flood and both organ and composition with Neil Wright.
Benedict developed his orchestral conducting with Stephen Portman (a former student of Monteux and Szell) and with Peter Stark. He has recently had conducting engagements with both of Kent’s professional orchestras, Festival Chamber Orchestra and Kent Sinfonia. As the Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar, he studied with, amongst others, Eamonn Dougan and Harry Christophers. For ten years he was Music Director of Sandwich Concert Band and has held numerous church music positions.
He has released many recordings to critical acclaim with Caritas Chamber Choir. Ritmo magazine described his conducting: “Preece is very convincing in his direction of the traffic of sound: he always knows which voice to bring out, how to accentuate the beauty of the phrase with appropriate breathing, and how to resolve the frequent dialogue between the different strands with ease.” Benedict is a signed artist with Ulysses Arts, a London-based record label, as both a conductor and organist.
His choral compositions are regularly performed on both sides of the Atlantic and often featured on Caritas Chamber Choir recordings.
He is passionate about contemporary music and is looking forward to bringing more brand new works to audiences around the world with future recording projects.
