PATRONS

Goldsmiths Choral Union is proud to be associated with three outstanding musicians

GCU Tenor & Bass Choral Scholarships
GCU Tenor & Bass Choral Scholarships

Patrons: Simon Halsey (CBE), James Burton, Neil Jenkins, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.

Meet GCU’s new Patron - Simon Halsey, CBE

  • Artistic Advisor and Choral Director, Oslo Philharmonic

  • Principal Guest Conductor and Choral Ambassador, Orfeó Català Choirs, Barcelona

  • Conductor Laureate, Rundfunkchor Berlin

  • Chorus Director, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Choruses

  • Choral Director Emeritus, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

  • Principal Guest Conductor, WDR Rundfunkchor

  • Professor and Director of Choral Activities, University of Birmingham

  • Professor, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía

  • Simon has worked with orchestras and choirs all over the world and has been involved with numerous recordings. He has won several awards, including three GRAMMY’s for Best Choral Performance - one in 2008 for a recording of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. 

A woman with glasses, wearing a white shirt and scarf, smiling with arms raised in a theater or auditorium.

In 2010 Simon worked on a collaboration with Sir Simon Rattle and the American Director Peter Sellars on the ground-breaking ‘ritualization’ of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, performed and semi-staged with the Berlin Philharmonic in the beautiful space of the Grand Hall of the Philharmonie in Berlin. Simon rehearsed his Rudfunkchoir who sang off copy.

Simon has since gone on to have huge success with the Human Requiem, a project which stems from Brahms’s German Requiem and was first performed in Berlin with the Rundfunkchor.  He will conduct Human Requiem again in June 2026 with the choirs of Orféo Català, with whom he is principal guest conductor and choral ambassador.

To understand Simon’s unique qualities as a chorus master and to appreciate the ability he has to interpret the instructions of conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle set against the theatrical wishes of a director like Peter Sellars, there is an enlightening conversation between Simon Halsey and Peter Sellars to be found on YouTube. These excerpts are Peter speaking about Simon:

‘You always have this brilliant way of giving the chorus a super-practical thing that creates an utterly mysterious, haunting, profound reality’ and 

‘Your astounding radar, when you know when to move in on some pin point, and it shifts the entire meaning just because you gave this tiny little note, and the whole piece suddenly opens.’

GCU is honoured and delighted Simon has agreed to become the choir’s Patron.

(More information from ‘Intermusica - Simon Halsey’)