Ogontz Choral Workshop

Renowned for his fine musicianship, David Hill is widely respected as both a choral and orchestral conductor. His talent has been recognized by his appointments as Musical Director of The Bach Choir, Music Director of Leeds Philharmonic Society and Associate Guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from September 2007 to September 2017, Principal Conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum from 2013 to 2024, and is a former Music Director of Southern Sinfonia. In March 2018, he was honored with the prestigious Royal College of Organists medal, in recognition of distinguished achievement in choral conducting and organ playing. 

Born in Carlisle in 1957, David Hill was educated at Chetham’s School of Music as a violinist and pianist, where he led the school orchestra. He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 17 and won an organ scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge where he served under the direction of the late Dr George Guest. His previous posts have included Master of Music at Winchester Cathedral (1987–2002) and Westminster Cathedral (1982–7), Associate Conductor and then Artistic Director of the Philharmonia Chorus (1986–97), Music Director of The Waynflete Singers (1987-2002) and Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge (2003-2007). 

He is in great demand for choral training workshops worldwide, and his handbook on the subject Giving Voice was published in 1995. He was previously a choral advisor to music publishers Novello, for whom he has edited several publications including the carols anthologies Noël!, and he regularly contributes articles to Choir and Organ. As an organist, he has given recitals in most of the major venues in the UK and has toured extensively abroad.  

David Hill’s broad-ranging discography of over 100 recordings, spanning repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day and including many award-winners, can be found on the Decca/Argo, Hyperion, Naxos and Virgin Classics labels. With the Yale Schola Cantorum, he has released three outstanding discs for Hyperion. With the Bach Choir, he has specialized in recordings of English music. The third in an English series for Naxos, Delius’s A Mass of Life with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, won a coveted Choc de Classica and the most recent, an acclaimed recording of Howells’ Missa Sabrinensis for Hyperion, was described by Gramophone as “electrifying”. Other Bach Choir recordings include contributing to the film soundtracks of Kingdom of Heaven, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Shrek the Third. 

Hill has appeared as guest conductor at the BBC Proms and with the London, Royal Liverpool, BBC, Strasbourg and Zagreb Philharmonic orchestras; the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Hallé Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Symphony, BBC Concert, RTÉ National Symphony, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Netherlands Radio Choir, the National Youth Choir of Australia, and RIAS Chamber Choir, Berlin.

His commitment to new music has led to him premiering works from leading composers including Judith Bingham, Carl Rütti, Francis Pott, Bob Chilcott, Gabriel Jackson, James Macmillan, Philip Moore, Naji Hakim, Sir John Tavener, Philip Wilby and Jonathan Dove. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Gabriel Jackson’s The World Imagined with the Philharmonia at Three Choirs Festival. 

Recent and forthcoming engagements include conducting James MacMillan St John Passion with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Britten Les Illuminations as part of the Three Choirs Festival as well as return appearances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. 

In recognition of his services to music, David has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Southampton, an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music, and an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music. He received an MBE in the New Year 2019 Honours list for services to music.