Thursday 3rd April - Sunday 6th April 2025

Fee: £425

Join us for four uplifting days of choral singing under the expert guidance of our artistic director Ralph Allwood MBE. The weekend also features a guest appearance by the composer and conductor Sir John Rutter CBE, and optional one-to-one singing lessons with one of our singing teachers.

Whether you’re a seasoned singer or new to choral music, the Choral Weekend is designed for everyone aged 22 and up. You will be immersed in the joy of singing with others while performing in some stunning settings around London.

Course Highlights

Evensong at Westminster Abbey

Brahms Requiem with chamber orchestra

Concert at St Andrew’s Church, Holborn

Meet the team

Ralph Allwood MBE DMus was for 26 years Director of Music at Eton College and is now a freelance choral director, teacher and conductor. He is the Director of the Rodolfus (ex-Eton) Choral Courses, which he founded in 1980. He co-founded the Junior Choral Courses in 2012. Ten thousand 8 to 20 year-olds have since been students on courses. In recent years he has launched courses in Texas, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The Rodolfus choir has produced over 20 CDs since he founded it in 1982.
Ralph is co-founder and conductor of Inner Voices, made up of singers from state schools in London. He was until recently a Supervisor for harmony at Jesus College and Queens’ College, Cambridge, Director of the only conservatoire chapel choir in the world, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir and an Honorary Fellow of University College, Durham.

Ralph has conducted choirs for over 40 broadcasts for BBC Radio 3. He has composed much music for Extreme Music Ltd, heard worldwide on radio, films and television. He teaches at his old grammar school, Tiffin and is a co-founder of the National Youth Music Theatre.

In 2015 he co-founded the Pimlico Musical Foundation to enable children from Pimlico Primary Schools to sing in choirs, particularly at St Gabriel's Church.

In 2017, the Archbishop of Canterbury presented him with the Thomas Cranmer Award for Music and Worship. He is Chair of the Choral Evensong Trust.

Ralph Allwood
Course Director

John Rutter was born in London and studied music at Clare College, Cambridge. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years; much of his early work consisted of church music and other choral pieces including Christmas carols. From 1975–79 he was Director of Music at his *alma mater*, Clare College, and directed the college chapel choir in various recordings and broadcasts. Since 1979 he has divided his time between composition and conducting. Today his compositions, including such concert-length works as *Requiem*, *Magnificat*, *Mass of the Children*, *The Gift of Life*, and *Visions* are performed around the world. His music has featured in a number of British royal occasions, including the two most recent royal weddings. He edits the *Oxford Choral Classics* series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of *Carols for Choirs*. In 1983 he formed his own choir the Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings, and he appears regularly in several countries as guest conductor and choral ambassador. He holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music. **In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, joining a prestigious list of 24 Fellows including John Adams, Pierre Boulez CBE, Kate Bush CBE and Sir Elton John.**

John Rutter
Masterclass

Peter Davis is a conductor, organist and teacher who was educated as a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral, and as organ scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge. As a full-time teacher, he spent 24 years as a Director of Music in two HMC schools (Oakham School and Haileybury), and now pursues a freelance career. He is organist at Uppingham School, runs choirs and workshops across the Midlands for the Armonico Consort’s Academy programme, and is musical director of Rutland Voices. He is delighted to be reconnecting with the Rodolfus Foundation 33 years after first attending a choral course as a young organist and tenor.

Peter Davis
Accompanist

Register Now

For ages: 22 and up.
Dates: 3rd - 6th April 2025.
Schedule: Thursday 3rd April, 11:30am - 6pm, St Gabriel's, Pimlico Warwick Square, SW1V 2AD
Friday 4th April, 10am - 6pm, St James's Church, Sussex Gardens, W2 3UD
Saturday 5th April, 10:15am - 6pm, Westminster Abbey, SW1P 3PA. Evensong at 5pm.
Sunday 6th April, 10:30am - 6pm, St Andrew’s Church, 5 St Andrew Street, EC4A 3AF. Concert including Brahms Requiem at 5pm.
Cost: £425 (plus optional singing lesson fee). Please note, international payments will include a 3% card processing fee.

Have any questions? Click here for more info.