Who's Who in the BBC Singers

Owain Park

Owain Park is a composer and conductor whose work spans orchestral, choral and stage repertoire, bringing together a lifelong fascination with music of every period and a commitment to new voices and collaboration. Born in Bristol in 1993, he is the incoming Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, having served as their Principal Guest Conductor since 2022. He takes up the role in autumn 2026, succeeding Sofi Jeannin.

As Director of The Gesualdo Six, Owain has led the ensemble to international acclaim through performances, recordings and collaborations across Europe, North America and Asia. Their imaginative programming, placing Renaissance masterpieces alongside contemporary music and unexpected musical conversations, has become a hallmark of the group's work.

Owain also appears with orchestras, choirs and festivals across Europe in programmes ranging from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary music, symphonic repertoire and musical theatre. Recent highlights include conducting the BBC Singers at the BBC Proms in a programme of Bruckner motets; a broadcast of Friday Night is Music Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra and saxophonist Amy Dickson; and performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in music by Anne Dudley and Iain Farrington as part of the BBC Singers' centenary celebrations at the Barbican; the Aldeburgh Festival; and the premiere of Héloïse Werner's M87. In 2026 he helped launch BBC Get Singing, a nationwide initiative encouraging young people across the UK to discover the joy of singing together.

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Bob Chilcott

As a composer, conductor, and singer, Bob Chilcott has enjoyed a lifelong association with choral music, first as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and for 12 years as a member of the King’s Singers. He became a full-time composer in 1997, embracing his career with energy and commitment, and producing a large catalogue of music for all types of choirs which is published by Oxford University Press.

Bob has conducted choirs in more than 30 countries worldwide and has worked with many thousands of amateur singers across the UK in a continuing series of Singing Days. For seven years he was conductor of the Chorus of the Royal College of Music in London and in October 2019 he took up the role of Principal Conductor of Birmingham University Singers. Bob has been Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers since 2002.

Nicholas Chalmers

Nicholas Chalmers is one of the leading conductors in the UK. His energy and vision have seen the establishment of highly successful artistic and education projects and his work impacts thousands of young people each year. Nicholas is driven by a passion to bring classical music to the next generation and to ensure that people in areas of under provision have better access to training and engagement in the performing arts. As founder Artistic Director of Nevill Holt Opera, his 10 year leadership of the company saw the creation of an exquisite new theatre in Leicestershire, which won plaudits for its acoustic design and reached the final of the RIBA Stirling prize in 2019. He is a Senior Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House, was conductor of Northern Ireland Opera and works with all leading orchestras and opera companies.

Nicholas made his BBC Proms conducting debut in 2020 with the BBC Singers. He has programmed and conducted numerous broadcasts and concerts throughout the UK with the group and helped establish the Singers’ partnership with youth choral groups in Stratford East, the future home of the BBC performing groups.

Roderick Williams

Roderick Williams OBE brings his choral expertise to the BBC Singers, taking the reins from Judith Weir as Composer in Association. Roddy has long enjoyed a flourishing creative partnership with the BBC Singers. His recent commissions include , a commission entitled O Rex Gentium, which received its world premiere in December 2021 and a major work entitled World Without End for the BBC Singers and the Rias Kammerchor in 2018. As part of his tenure, Roddy will be writing a new piece for the BBC Singers each year.

Eric Whitacre

Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre, is among today’s most popular musicians. Alongside consecutive terms as Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, he also currently holds the position of Visiting Composer at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, and is an Ambassador for the Royal College of Music in London. His works have been programmed worldwide, and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united well over 100,000 singers from more than 145 countries.

In BBC Singers’ centenary year, Eric Whitacre has been announced as the ensemble’s Artist in Residence, working with the BBC Singers to deliver an enriching programme of work for concerts and broadcasts, and taking a leading role in the Centenary celebrations in the 24/25 season. The BBC Singers’ previous work with Eric Whitacre includes numerous concerts of the composer’s own work, and performances of Arvo Pärt’s Passio. This year, Eric Whitacre and the BBC Singers perform at the BBC Proms in a late night concert featuring the world premiere of Whitacre’s Eternity in an Hour, based on William Blake’s poem Auguries of Innocence.

Helen Neeves, Olivia Robinson, Alice Gribbin, Clare Lloyd-Griffiths, Emma Tring, Eve McGrath and Rebecca Lea.

Rebekah Nießer-Jones, Margaret Cameron, Ciara Hendrick, Katherine Nicholson and Nancy Cole.

Albert Soriano, Peter Davoren, Tom Raskin, Benjamin Durrant and Mark Dobell.

Jamie W. Hall, Andrew Rupp, Charles Gibbs, Timothy Dickinson, Edward Price and Jimmy Holliday.