Paul Brough

Paul Brough (born London 15 July 1963) is an English conductor, and a teacher of conducting. He began 2011 as the new Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers.

For the past seven years he has enjoyed a successful portfolio as conductor (BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Singers, Britten Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, St James's Baroque, Ulster Orchestra), Professor at the Royal Academy of Music(academic studies and conducting) and Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street.^[1] He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2007 for 'distinction in the music profession'. He conducted period orchestra The Hanover Band for seven successful seasons, serving as Principal Conductor 2007-10.

He studied with Colin Metters and George Hurst, in regular masterclasses with both Sir Colin Davis and the late Ilya Musin, and with Jeffrey Tate in preparation of the Venice 'Ring' 2007-10.

Born in London of English and German descent and educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Dulwich College, he played in over 400 amateur orchestral concerts as a teenaged timpanist and organised and conducted 10 of his own before entering the Royal College of Music and winning organ scholarships to St. Michael's College, Tenbury and Magdalen College, Oxford where in turn he was Boult Memorial Prizewinner and Conductor of the Oxford University Chamber Orchestra. He spent his twenties directing the Abbey School Choir (now Schola Cantorum) at Tewkesbury Abbey, assisting the late Martindale Sidwell and serving as Organist and Master of the Music at Sheffield Cathedral.^[2] He brought the Tewkesbury and Sheffield choirs to their first BBC Choral Evensong broadcasts, and at Sheffield he founded the Cathedral Girls' Choir and increased the weekly choral services from three to six, a pattern which continues today. He sang professionally with the Schütz Choir, London Voices and the BBC Singers. He has taught many musical disciplines at many levels for many years in many places : piano, singing, aural training, compositional techniques, operatic coaching, performance classes; variously at King's College, London, Tiffin and Dean Close Schools, Kingston and Sheffield Universities, Roedean and Eton. He also conducted amateur choirs for twenty years, including the Brockham Choral Society, London Hospital Choir, Sheffield University Chamber Choir, Brighton Chamber Choir and the St Olave's Singers.

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