Biographies

Sam Laughton, Musical Director since 2000

A former organ scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Sam now juggles dual careers as a barrister and musician. Between 2009 and 2019, he was Musical Director of the Chiltern Camerata, and since 2013 he has been the principal conductor of Trinity Camerata. He has been Musical Director of the Craswall Players for over thirty years. He has worked as a freelance conductor with choirs and orchestras such as Oxford Sinfonia, Kensington Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the City, Kew Sinfonia and Crendon Chamber Orchestra; and as a freelance organist and pianist for St Paul’s Cathedral, Garsington Opera and English National Opera, amongst others. He is organist and Director of Music at Great Hampden and Prestwood churches, and he Chairs the Trustees of the Chiltern Music Academy, a charity providing practical musical opportunities to over 400 young people in the High Wycombe area that he co-founded.

In 2022 he was appointed Musical Director of Aylesbury Opera, with whom he has conducted staged performances of The Rake’s Progress, La Bohème and Dialogues des Carmélites. Other concert and workshop opera performances include Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tosca, Otello, Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin, Kat’a Kabanova, Fidelio, Peter Grimes, Dido and Aeneas, Giulio Cesare, The Little Sweep, Idomeneo, Cenerentola and L’Elisir d’Amore. He has conducted John Adams’ three greatest operas (Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer and Doctor Atomic). He is midway through conducting Wagner’s Ring Cycle, a project that will span four years. His musical tastes also extend to theatre, and he has conducted productions of Grease, Honk!, The Dreaming, On the Town, Bitter Sweet, Wonderful Town, Lady in the Dark, Show Boat, Guys and Dolls, Kiss Me Kate, The Boys from Syracuse, Babes in Arms, Girl Crazy, Pardon My English, My Fair Lady and The Pajama Game.

Matthew Greenall, Founder and Musical Director 1986-1999

Matthew founded the choir in 1986 and was its Director until December 1999. After studying at Balliol College, Oxford and the Royal Academy of Music, he pursued a career as a professional pianist, conductor and teacher before being appointed Executive Director of Sound and Music in 2008. A leading authority on new music, he is now Executive Director of Walled City Music in Derry, City of Culture 2013, and also active as a music journalist.

Sir James MacMillan, Patron

Born in 1959, Sir James MacMillan is one of Britain’s best known contemporary composers. Also active as a conductor, he has written a wide array of orchestral and choral music. Many of his choral compositions draw unashamedly on his Scottish heritage, speaking to the listener with a haunting directness, and a cappella works such as A Child’s Prayer, written in memory of the Dunblane school massacre, are among his most powerful. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Photograph: Hans van der Woerd