Ben England BEM Verified listing

Ben is an internationally renowned conductor, educator and innovator, who has received global acclaim for his pioneering work with digital music-making.

In 2020 he was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours and was commended by the Royal Philharmonic Society Inspiration Awards. In 2022 he received the University of Bristol's Alumni Award for Community Engagement and Impact; was awarded the Kantele of the Year by the Finnish Kantele Association; and was a Finalist for the Music and Drama Education Awards' Francesca Hanley Inspiration Award.

In March 2020, Ben founded Quarantine Choir as a new and free way of learning, singing and performing music online during the COVID-19 lockdown. Now called Homechoir, the digital choir has gone from strength to strength, becoming a loyal community of singers numbering in the thousands who join Ben (the Internet’s Choirmaster!) on YouTube at 2pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons and 11am Sundays (UK time) for singing, fun and camaraderie. As well as traditional choir and classical pieces, Ben teaches a huge range of other songs including folk, sea shanties, gospel, children’s songs and silly songs.

In March 2020, Ben was headhunted by the Self-Isolation Choir's Founder, Mark Strachan, and was appointed as its Musical Director. SIC's inaugural project, Messiah at Home, was produced with some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Laurence Cummings, Carolyn Sampson and Jennifer Johnstone, and gained international attention. Messiah at Home was featured on the national BBC Evening News, all the BBC radio stations, NHK (Japan) CBS (USA) and many more – and has become part of the official Wikipedia entry for Messiah.

SIC has since rebranded as Choir of the Earth, with over 7,000 members in over 30 countries, and Ben has remained its Musical Director, co-developing - and in many cases delivering - over 70 unique choral experiences, producing world-class performances of such amazing works as Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn's The Creation, and Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C Minor. He has worked with world-famous artists, conductors and composers, including Fieri Consort, Tenebrae, Nigel Short, Ralph Allwood MBE, Joanna Forbes L'Estrange, Sue Fink, Patrick Hawes, Eric Whitacre, John Rutter CBE and David Hill MBE, and will soon partner with Sir Mark Elder and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in an exciting live/digital hybrid production of Delius' A Mass of Life.

In 2021, Ben was appointed as Conductor of the UWE Bristol Singers, a thriving choir of students, staff, alumni and community members, which sings a rich programme of classical and contemporary music, with workshops, masterclasses and performances throughout the year. He has led the choir in performances at Bristol Beacon and St George's, including Transforming Futures, which was commissioned especially for the UWE Bristol Orchestra and Singers.

A graduate of Bristol University, Ben trained as a conductor with Dr Alan Rump and Dr Adrian Beaumont, before going on to study conducting with Denise Ham of the London Conducting Academy. During his undergraduate years, Ben led countless concerts and services, was Conductor of the University Chamber Choir and Musical Director of the University Opera including the critically acclaimed production of Don Giovanni in 1999.

After graduation, Ben sang with groups as diverse as the New English Orchestra, the Bristol Chamber Choir, Bristol Opera, the Exultate Singers and the Choirs of both Clifton and Bristol Cathedral. A bass baritone, he has performed widely as an oratorio and operatic singer, including lead roles in The Cunning Little Vixen and Der Mond (for Bristol Opera), The Magic Flute and the Pirates of Penzance.

In 2002, Ben was appointed conductor of the Bristol Cabot Choir and, over the eight years he worked with them, transformed the choir into a major musical force in Bristol. The success of his work with the Cabot Choir led to his subsequent appointment as Musical Director of Bristol Opera, where he led the company in successful performances of Handel’s Samson and Lakmé by Delibes. He has led numerous choirs in and around Bristol for the past 20 years, including the New Harmony Ladies Choir (now Sound of Song), a number of afternoon choirs, the Bristol Gilbert and Sullivan Operatic Society, and has led rehearsals for the City of Bristol Choir, Bristol Chamber Choir and St Paul’s Church choir.

Ben has led several orchestras and is the current conductor of the Nailsea Concert Orchestra. He has recently conducted performances of Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Elgar Enigma Variations, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Radio 4s John Telfer.

In November 2018 he conducted the revival of Eric Wetherell’s WWI opera A Foreign Field in Bristol, which won the NODA Best Dramatic Production award.

He is an experienced leader of large-scale concerts and has conducted performances of thousands at venues including Bristol’s Colston Hall, St George’s Brandon Hill and St David’s Hall Cardiff.

A former Advanced Skills Music Teacher and Director of Music in an OFSTED Outstanding school, Ben has extensive experience in education and has led music at a county level across Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Today he teaches music theory, music history, composing and conducting as part of Homechoir’s Deep Dives series and Choir of the Earth's Around Sound series, to great acclaim by attendees.