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About Every year Reading Male Voice Choir raises thousands
of pounds for local charities over a wide area with a concert every month. We have links with choirs in Europe
and usually tour abroad every two years. In recent years we have travelled to Düsseldorf, Innsbruck and the West Coast
of Ireland. In June of this year we gave two concerts in south Devon. Among its many achievements are: winning
the BBC’s national contest ‘Let the Peoples Sing’; joining the chorus of Die Fledermaus at Sadler's
Wells and performing with the bands of the Parachute Regiment and Life Guards before audiences of 3,000 at Cliveden. The
eighty-strong choir loves to entertain and delights in expressing itself through a wide-ranging repertoire of memorable and
moving songs. Off-stage the men enjoy an active social life. Wives and partners meet once a month and often
invite guest speakers. |
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GWYN ARCH MBE
our President
founded the Reading Male Voice Choir in 1971 and was the Musical Director until 2015.
He was Director of Music at Bulmershe College of Higher Education until his retirement in 1985. A Composition Fellow of Trinity College , London, and a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music. He has composed hundreds of songs and choral works, particularly arrangements for both mixed and male voices. He is one of the most frequently performed arrangers of male choir music in the country. He examined for the Associated Board for ten years. Gwyn was awarded the MBE for services to music in Berkshire in the 2006 Queens Birthday Honours List |
Musical Director
Clive Waterman was a teacher then Head Teacher for 30 years.
Being particularly interested in children’s musical development he also began conducting large scale concerts with 400
children from Woodley and Earley. Concerts soon followed for children from Reading, Maidenhead & Ascot, Wokingham and Windsor. He also conducted
and arranged music for 2 successful percussion groups for teenagers, and as Head Teacher Representative, was a Trustee of
Berkshire Maestros. Currently Clive leads Wokingham Council’s ‘Music for All’ project,
giving 800 children each year the opportunity to perform
massed choir concerts in The Hexagon, Reading. Clive was still a student when he joined RMVC as accompanist.
He later became Assistant Musical Director until Gwyn’s retirement in 2015.
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 Alex Turner began his musical life singing in the choir of Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire. After a brief spell in Norwich, Alex went to Royal Holloway, University of London where he graduated with a First Class degree in Music. Whilst there, he sang in the highly-respected Choir of Royal Holloway, and directed the Founder’s Choir in numerous events, including a tour of Holland. As a pianist Alex has worked in a variety of settings, from Harpsichord accompaniment to cocktail Jazz. He achieved a diploma from Trinity College London in 2013. Since leaving University, Alex now divides his time between singing in the Choir of New College, Oxford, working as an arts administrator, and as a freelance musician. We are pleased to welcome him to RMVC as Deputy MD and accompanist. |
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