Dexter Drown 2026 –
Dexter Drown is an imaginative and versatile conductor who has been praised for his utterly magical performances of passion, confidence, and flair.
Dexter is 2nd Prize winner at the Athens International Conducting Competition, 3rd Prize and special prize winner at the Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition, Semi-Finalist at the Bucharest International Conducting Competition, and winner of the Abingdon Music Festival Conducting Competition. Dexter gained a Master’s in Orchestral Conducting with Distinction, and the Michael Beech Conducting Award, at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and has worked for Garsington Opera through their Conductor Mentorship Programme.
Next season, alongside his work as conductor of The Sinfonia Stellaris, Dexter will debut with Filarmonica Pitești. Other recent professional projects include premiere recordings with musicians from the Orchestra of the Swan, concerts with The Hadit Collective, Ensemble Ad libitum de Chambéry, and the Midland Sinfonia. As well as his work with professional orchestras, Dexter follows in the footsteps of Malcolm Sargent as Musical Director of the Leicester Symphony Orchestra, and this season has concerts with Oxford Sinfonia, Wolsey Orchestra, Milton Keynes Sinfonia, and the Helix Ensemble.
In addition to his passion for Orchestral music, Dexter is a distinguished and inspiring choral conductor and choir trainer. He has worked as chorus master for conductors including Sir Karl Jenkins, Toby Purser, and George Jackson in some of the UK’s most prestigious venues, conducted the Choir of St Martin in the Fields, Ensemble Vocal Interlude (Grenoble), and Canzonetta (Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year). Dexter is the Musical Director of Solihull Chandos Choir and is in demand as a workshop leader for Music for Everyone, St Martin in the Fields, and on the faculty of the Chester Choral Week, sharing his love of choral music with singers across the country.
In conjunction with his work with large choruses, Dexter is the conductor of the Nottingham Trent University Chamber Choir, helping shape the next generation of choral musicians, and the Musical Director of the prize-winning Sitwell Singers, Derwent Singers, and the Belper Singers. His experience in choral excellence has been recognised through collaboration with the Saltsjöbaden Chamber Choir (Stockholm) and invitations to adjudicate at the Bangor International Choral Festival.
Here you can read about our past conductors
Paul Burke 2020 – 2025
Paul Burke is conductor of Belper Singers, and Director of Chapel Music at Lady Margaret Hall. A graduate of Worcester College, Oxford, and the Royal Academy of Music, he has worked with numerous choral societies and chamber choirs; his work with London Contemporary Voices involved several performances at the BBC Proms and Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as collaborating with musicians ranging from Imogen Heap and Nitin Sawhney to U2 and Andrea Bocelli.
Active as a composer, Paul’s music has been recorded on the Naxos and Convivium labels, and performed in cathedrals and churches across the UK; highlights include premieres by Salisbury Cathedral Choir, the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields.