Our Musical Director is Adrian Connell, whose life is totally music-based at work or play.
Since graduating in 1987 Adrian has led an active musical life in music publishing, conducting and composing. In his career in music publishing he has covered many areas of the industry from working in hire, editorial, production, sales and marketing. Adrian currently runs the London based office of Universal Edition AG, which publishes alongside many educational publications the music of many of his musical heroes including, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Alexander Zemlinsky.
As a composer and conductor Adrian is no stranger to the Bromley Oecumenical Singers as he was mentored by our founding conductor Tomas Creagh-Fuller. From 1989 to 2003 Adrian was composer-in-association and assistant conductor with the choir. During this time Adrian, took part in many of the concerts either playing in the orchestra, as an extra singer (as a tenor he was always welcome), or as conductor in some of the smaller concerts. During his time with the choir he produced a number of works including Song of Praise, Sing A New Song and the Missa Cum Gaudio alongside many smaller works including works for orchestra such as Ballade for Violin and Orchestra, Suite on a Jazz Theme for Harp and Strings and Variations for Strings, all of which were given their first performances by the choir or the choir’s freelance orchestra.
In 2000 Adrian was appointed musical director of the John Ruskin Choral Society and was musical director there for eighteen years until the choir disbanded due to low membership. Adrian is currently musical director of the award winning ladies chamber choir The Marlowe Singers and Gravesend Entertainment and Musical Society (GEMS) which not only has a mixed voice choir but also produces once a year a fully staged musical.
As a composer Adrian’s music is published by Doblinger Musikverlag, Ut Orpheus Edizioni and Musikverlag Christoph Dohr and is widely available in many leading music retailers worldwide. His arrangement of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No.5 as an Ave Maria for Double Choir and Harp was recorded by the Choir of New College Oxford conducted by Edward Higginbottom by Decca on a CD called Illumina and this recording spent a number of weeks in the Classic FM classical record chart. Adrian’s composition Monody for a Lost Faun for solo flute is currently set on the ABRSM Grade 7 flute examination and a number of his arrangements for woodwind instruments are also set on the Trinity College London’s new woodwind syllabus (September 2022). His music is now performed on a regular basis worldwide including recent performances of Memories for Viola and Piano in Romania by the professional violist Lucian Moraru.