David Crown

Choral conductor David Crown has led an impressive sequence of small choirs around England, holding three separate director positions as of the early 2020s. A singer himself, Crown has served as an educator not only to his choristers but to a variety of professional solo singers. Crown began conducting when he was in his teens, leading youth orchestras and choirs while a student at the Purcell School. He attended King's College, Cambridge, as a choral scholar, a student whose tuition is subsidized in return for participation in university choral services. At first, however, Crown was interested in a solo vocal career rather than in conducting. He studied voice with Graham Johnson, Elly Ameling, and Martin Isepp, and after graduating from Cambridge in 1989, he began a career as a bass-baritone soloist, winning several competitions and performing in major Wagnerian roles; in 2014, he resumed solo singing and gives periodic vocal recitals. He also worked for a time as a freelance violist. Even at King's, Crown found himself in demand as a voice teacher, and this aspect of his work grew as his career developed and continues as of the early 2020s. Crown served as the music director at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton, from 1996 to 1999 and then moved to All Saints Church, Northampton, as a vocal coach, remaining there until 2008. From 2007 to 2012, he held a similar position at Bristol University. Gradually, Crown moved into conducting positions, leading the Alpha Chamber Orchestra from 2006 to 2008, the Bodley Consort from 2006 to 2013, and the Wychwood Chorale -- a group he founded in the West Oxfordshire region -- from 2008 to 2014. Then Crown began to find major choral conducting positions. From 2007 to 2015, he was Director of Chapel Music at Somerville College, Oxford, leading the group on a tour of the U.S. in 2014 and on several recordings. He was the music director of the Reading Phoenix Choir from 2010 to 2016, taking it to the finals of the Cork International Choral Competition in 2015. Crown founded the vOx Chamber Choir in Oxford in 2013 and remains active as its director. Since 2015, he has been the director of the Cheltenham Bach Choir, and he also serves as director of the Oxford choir Opus 48. Crown has made several recordings, beginning with a pair in which he led the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford, on the Stone Records label; the first paired Maurice Duruflé's Requiem with the world premiere of Robin Milford's Mass. With the vOx Chamber Choir, he made a recording of works by Ludovico Viadana in 2017. He returned in 2021 on the Naxos label, leading the same choir on an album of choral works by Alexander Campkin.
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