Our Musical Director
BENEDICT PREECE is a conductor, passionate about working with both singers and instrumentalists. He was Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar 2017-2018 and has recently been awarded a scholarship as a post-graduate choral conductor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He maintains a busy schedule as Music Director of Caritas Chamber Choir and East Bridge Chorale.
He began his career as a Chorister of Canterbury Cathedral and sang for many years after as a tenor. At Trinity College of Music, London, he specialised in horn and natural horn under tutelage of Roger Montgomery and subsequently with Anthony Halstead. As an organist, Benedict studied with David Flood and both organ and composition with Neil Wright.
Benedict developed his orchestral conducting with Stephen Portman (a former student of Monteux and Szell) and with Peter Stark. He has recently had conducting engagements with both of Kent’s professional orchestras, Festival Chamber Orchestra and Kent Sinfonia. As the Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar, he studied with, amongst others, Eamonn Dougan and Harry Christophers. For ten years he was Music Director of Sandwich Concert Band and has held numerous church music positions. For over five years, he was Head of Chapel Music, Head of Keyboard and Organist at an English boarding school.
He has released many recordings to critical acclaim with Caritas Chamber Choir. Ritmo magazine described his conducting: “Preece is very convincing in his direction of the traffic of sound: he always knows which voice to bring out, how to accentuate the beauty of the phrase with appropriate breathing, and how to resolve the frequent dialogue between the different strands with ease.”
Benedict is a signed artist with Ulysses Arts, a London-based record label, as both a conductor and an organist.
His choral compositions are regularly performed on both sides of the Atlantic and often featured on Caritas Chamber Choir recordings. He is passionate about contemporary music having commissioned composers including Sarah Cattley and conducted premiere recordings of leading composers such as Sir James MacMillan, Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson, Phillip Cooke and David Conte amongst many others. Benedict is looking forward to bringing more brand new works to audiences around the world with future recording projects.
