Colin Spinks, Tristan Fry, Vox Chamber Choir & David Crown
Biography Colin Spinks, Tristan Fry, Vox Chamber Choir & David Crown
Colin Spinks
became organ scholar of Brasenose College, Oxford in 1994. In 1998 he was appointed as the first postgraduate organ scholar of Gloucester Cathedral. Since September 2017, Spinks has been director of music at St Olave’s Church, Hart Street and St Katharine Cree. Prior to this he held a similar position at St Mary le Strand.
Spinks works as a répétiteur for High Wycombe Choral Society, Aylesbury Choral Society, Barnet Choral Society and the North Herts Guild of Singers. He features on albums by Aylesbury Choral Society, North Herts Guild of Singers and vOx Chamber Choir. He is currently musical director of Wingrave Singers, and previously held the same position at Thame Choral Society. Spinks works with London-based chamber choirs Ad Libitum, Lloyd’s Choir and Chantage, and has performed with the Frideswide Ensemble, Musica Donum Dei and the London Mozart Players. Spinks was the founder conductor of the Langlais Festival in Brittany, France. He has also performed in the US, Australia, Germany, Italy and Guernsey.
Tristan Fry
is a drummer and percussionist, and began his career by joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra as a timpanist at the age of 17. He was a founding member of a number of ensembles, including the Nash, Fires of London and the London Sinfonietta. He also worked as a session musician with various recording artists including The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Olivia Newton-John, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Dusty Springfield, and David Essex. Fry was percussionist on the Beatles' A Day In The Life, contributing timpani to the song's two orchestral climaxes, and has played on various TV and movie soundtracks including multiple Bond films and Lord of the Rings. Tristan was the timpanist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, performing on many of their recorded works and concerts. From 1979–1995, he was the drummer with the progressive rock group Sky. Fry continues to play with a variety of British orchestras on an ad hoc basis, including playing timpani with the London Chamber Orchestra at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011.
David Crown
Following his choral scholarship at King's College, Cambridge, David went on to further study and then to work as an operatic soloist. David won many prestigious awards and scholarships including the NFMS/Esso Award, the Warwick Artists Young Musicians Trust Competition, the Young Songmakers’ Competition and the Bayreuth Bursary, among others. Among the many specialists in this field, David studied with Graham Johnson, Ellie Ameling, Martin Isepp and sang under the baton of conductors such as Martyn Brabbins, Richard Hickox and David Parry.
Having gained valuable experience as a singer and establishing a solid vocal technique, David went on to teach one-to-one singing. His teaching career spans more than twenty years and he is highly respected and sought-after by singers up to and including those at a professional level. David has worked as a singing teacher at Bristol and Oxford universities.
David became founding Musical Director of Opus 48 in September 2018, a new virtuoso choral society for Oxfordshire. His core focus is always on vocal technique and presentation. Opus 48’s first season has included an acclaimed performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana and the Requiems of Fauré, Duruflé and Brahms in venues in Oxford and London, including the Sheldonian Theatre.
David is currently Musical Director of Cheltenham Bach Choir (2015-) one of the foremost large choral societies in the UK. Leading the choir through its 70th Anniversary season, David directed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Musical and Amicable Society Baroque Orchestra and founded the Cheltenham Bach Choir Spring Festival of the Baroque. David has recently toured to Göttingen, Germany, to direct the Göttinger Stadtkantorei and the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester in partnership with Cheltenham Bach Choir, culminating in a sell-out performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations and Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony.
He is also founder and Music Director of vOx Chamber Choir, founded in 2013, which is increasingly being recognised as one of the top chamber choirs in the region. vOx released its first recording of the works of Ludovico da Viadana in 2017, and has made several tours across the UK and Ireland. vOx are recording their second CD of the works of Alexander Campkin in 2019.
Appointed Director of Music at Somerville College, Oxford in 2007, David transformed the choir into one of the best mixed voice choirs in Oxford University during his eight years in post. As well as releasing two critically acclaimed recordings, the choir also made numerous tours within the UK and abroad, notably Italy, Germany and the USA. For five years until 2016, David was Musical Director of the renowned Reading Phoenix Choir, conducting nearly 100 concerts in Berkshire, London and beyond, touring annually and recording several CDs. David directed Oxford Bach Choir for the 2016-17 season, including performing Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Bach’s B Minor Mass with the London Mozart Players, and culminating in an enormously successful performance of Fanshawe's African Sanctus. David also works frequently with local orchestras and chamber groups. His work with choirs and orchestras has attracted superb notices in the UK and abroad. He is also increasingly in demand for master-classes and as a competition judge.
