“Unlocking the power of music…”

One of our choir members, St John White, interviewed Jonathan Kingston, our Musical Director - the detailed article called ‘Unlocking the power of music’ was published in the Banbury Guardian. Congratulations St John for getting this into the local paper.

In the article, Jonathan disclosed his love of Banbury and of course, the ‘exceptional’ standard of music in the area. The choir is lucky to have an exceptional Musical Director!

Here is a taste of what went into the article:

Jonathan Kingston is a man on a mission. As the new musical director of Banbury Choral Society (BCS), he wants to get the town singing and rediscovering its love of choral music. We talk to Jonathan about his career to date and his plans for the town’s choral society, which is now in its 83rd year.

“I am driven by a desire to involve music lovers from all over the county. I also want to see more people enjoying the music we perform at Banbury. I have to say, thanks to the hard work and dedication of my predecessor Julian Harris, ours is one of the very finest set of singers in the wider area. When you combine this with a set of world-class professional orchestral players, the sound is just marvellous! I am convinced that most people living in and around Banbury don’t realise that they have access to such a high-quality classical music experience right on their doorstep.

Music is a great leveller that has the power to bring people together. The choir at BCS has strong links with the singers of the Warriner School at Bloxham and I want to encourage those links with aspiring choral singers from other local schools as well as with St Mary’s, the town Parish Church. As a result of our engagement with pupils from the Warriner School last year, we were able to offer several young people bursaries –giving them free membership of the BCS – which opens up other musical doors.”