David Hill to judge The Times carol competition

Budding composers can enter the inaugural competition for a new Christmas carol lauched by The Times.  David Hill will conduct the winning entry, performed by The Bach Choir, at Cadogan Hall, London on December 8. Read more at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/competitions/article3089105.ece. Hill’s fellow judges are The Times chief music critic, Richard Morrision and Andrew Riley, of The Times Register and News International Choir.

Helen-Jane Howells Radio 3 début

Soprano Helen-Jane Howells makes her first appearance on BBC Radio 3 on April 21 at 19.00. Stepping in at short notice, Helen-Jane joined The Bach Choir, Florilegium and conductor David Hill for Bach’s St Matthew Passion recorded on April 10 at the Royal Festival Hall, London.  Full details can be found  here and the performance will be available to listen again for 7 days via BBC Iplayer.

David Hill’s new version of the Fauré Requiem for choir and small instrumental ensemble is broadcast on April 20 and will also be available on Iplayer for a week.

David Hill Double

Two opportunities to hear choral maestro David Hill on BBC Radio 3’s Performance on Three for consecutive nights in April: He conducts the specialist forces of The BBC Singers for the Fauré Requiem on April 20 (from 19.00) accompanied by chamber ensemble in his own new arrangement; The following evening, April 21, at 18.00 Radio 3 broadcasts a seasonal performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with David Hill and the forces of The Bach Choir, Florilegium and soloists James Gilchrist, Jeremy White, Carolyn Sampson, Iestyn Davies, Ben Hulet and Roddy Williams. See The Bach Choir’s trailer for the live performance at http://www.thebachchoir.org.uk/video100411.php. You can listen live, and for 7 days afterwards, (via UK  IP addresses) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_three.

Hill makes Gramophone Awards shortlist

David Hill’s recording of Vaughan Williams’ Sancta Civitas and Dona Nobis Pacem has been shortlisted for the 2010 Gramophone Award in the Choral category. All will be revealed on October 1. http://www.gramophone.co.uk/awards/2010/choral

The present performance is magnificent…For newcomers to these glorious works I can only urge you to invest confidently in David Hill’s interpretations.
Music Web Bargain of the Month. May 2010

Hill and his massed forces …are captivating from the start.
International Record Review May 2010

Radio interviews with David Hill

Arvo Pärt

You can hear David Hill interviewed by Kirsty Lang on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row’ arts programme on August 12 (from 7.15) as well as Petroc Trelawny on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ on August 13 (from 6.15). David will be talking about his forthcoming Late Night Prom on August 17 when he will conduct Arvo Pärt’s hypnotic St John Passion.

Hill conducts Radio 3 Disc of the Week

David Hill’s disc of Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Sancta Civitas has been chosen as Disc of the Week on BBC Radio 3’s prestigious CD Review programme on Saturday July 3. Described as ‘Magnificent’ (Musicweb) and ‘Captivating’ (International Record Review) the disc is part of an ongoing series of English Choral Music that Hill is recording for Naxos. On the disc he conducts The Bach Choir, of which he is Musical Director (a post previously held by Vaughan Williams himself) and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, where he is Associate Guest conductor, along with soloists Christina Pier, Andrew Staples and Matthew Brook as well as the Choristers and Quiristers of Winchester Cathedral.

“David Hill directs both these works with a strong sense of their overall shape.  Dramatic as they are, it is the sense of each as a symphonic journey that emerges most strongly, and convincingly.” 5* Stephen Johnson BBC Music Magazine, May 2010

A Very Big Concert

Two CPM conductors will be featuring in BBC Radio 3’s The Big Concert- a 10-hour live celebration showcasing all the BBC performing groups across six cities and 400 years of music.

Nicholas Kraemer starts proceedings conducting the BBC Philharmonic, the Manchester Chamber Choir and soloists, from St Philips Church, Salford at 11.30 with a programme comprising:
Bach Cantata No.159 Sehet, wir geh’n hinauf gen Jerusalem
Haydn Symphony No.26 in D minor, Lamentatione
Bach Cantata No.21 Ich hatte viel Bekummernis

Later in the day qt 8.00 pm David Hill, Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, directs a broad-ranging selection of repertoire from St Paul’s Knightsbridge displaying the versatility of this exceptional group with
William Byrd: Mass for five voices
Benjamin Britten: A Shepherd’s Carol
Michael Tippett: The Weeping Babe
Francis Poulenc: Figure Humaine

For full details of the day’s events click here and you can access Radio 3 via Iplayer here 

The Bach Choir’s magnificent St Matthew Passion

“Could anyone but David Hill have achieved such a fusion of English choral tradition and state-of-the-art baroque performance practice? I don’t think so. What an extraordinary contribution to our nation’s musical life he has made. The next time he dons morning dress, I hope it will be to receive a decoration at Buckingham Palace.”

Read the review in full at http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/damianthompson/100007360/middle-england-meets-its-saviour-the-bach-choirs-magnificent-st-matthew-passion/

David Hill’s most recent recording with The Bach Choir and The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Willams’ Sancta Civitas and Dona Nobis Pacem has just been released on the Naxos label.

David Hill twin cities début

David Hill will make his début with the Minnesota Orchestra on December 10 conducting Messiah. The first performance at the Cathedral of St Paul  is followed by appearances on December 11 at the Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis and December 13 (matinée) at Orchestral Hall,  Minneapolis. Hill will be joined by soloists Sarah Fox, Iestyn Davies, Daniel Norman and Kevin Deas. More details

New appointment for David Hill

 David Hill is to become Associate Guest Conductor of The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with effect from the 2009/10 season. The appointment marks a twenty-year association between Hill and the BSO. He will continue to work with the orchestra on a number of occasions each season, particularly in the choral orchestral repertoire. The appointment will be celebrated with a special performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with The Bach Choir at Winchester Cathedral on June 20.

Hill can also be heard championing a rarer example of the English choral canon – Delius Mass of Life  - with The Bach Choir and The Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall on May 21. His most recent recording, The People Shall Hear, a disc of Handel Choruses originated by Arcangelo Productions has just been released on the BIS label.

David Hill and Delius on Youtube
David Hill and BBC Singers web choral masterclass