Patrick
Larley – Music Director
Patrick is a freelance composer, conductor, tenor and keyboard player. He has been Music Director of
the Montgomeryshire County Music Festival since 2008 and was Music Director of Ludlow Choral Society
(1997 - 2019) and Birmingham Festival Choral Society (2005 - 2016).
He is also founder and director of the professional vocal ensemble, Chudleigh's Company.
Patrick has performed with choral societies around the UK – notably as Evangelist in the Bach Passions
and in works of the Baroque and has been a member of two professional choirs – Wells Cathedral Choir
and the BBC Northern Singers. A Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, he has given recitals in
many of the country's cathedrals and major churches and his concerts, at the organ, piano and harpsichord, often include an improvisation.
Patrick's compositions encompass a variety of styles including choral, orchestral, instrumental,
theatre and advertising. His music owes a debt to a number of influences which can be discerned in his work,
especially Gregorian Chant, flowing Celtic melody and even Jazz. Some of his choral and solo vocal works
have been recorded on CD, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and performed widely throughout the UK, across Europe
and in America. His Memento Mori score for the award winning Aerial Theatre company Ockham's Razor has received
performances throughout the UK and Europe and more recently in the Sydney Arts Festival, and he composed
music for the first in-house production of Macbeth at Shrewbury's Theatre Severn in April 2017.
The Gentle Earth of
Wales (2011) for Chorus, Children's Choir and Orchestra is a cantata based on
traditional Welsh melodies composed for the Montgomery Festival. The Birmingham Spirituals (2014), composed
for BFCS and the Birmingham Community Gospel Choir, is inspired by the words and melodies of African / American
spirituals, and embraces elements of Jazz and Blues set alongside traditional harmony and counterpoint.
The Tree of Peace (2016) is a joint commission for St. Paul's Church, Chichester and Paul-Gehardt
Kirche, Berlin. Patrick's first String Quartet, Iona Sound, was premiered at the Gateway Arts Centre,
Shrewsbury in February 2016 and performed again in Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull and in Iona Abbey in June 2017,
and his Clarinet Trio, Sweet Rememberings was performed by Hollie Whittles (clarinet), Anne Tupling (violin)
and Patrick (piano) on 22nd February 2018 in the Gateway. A Girl for the Blue, a setting of Michael Ffinch's
evocative poem, The Annunciation, was the UK winner in the Ortus International New Music Competition
receiving a performance in New York by Khorikos, the outstanding NYC young chamber choir. Patrick is presently
collaborating, along with other local composers, with the Welsh Border poets on settings for the Marches Song Book
with recent performances of A Shropshire Lass in Shrewsbury, Malpas and Nantwich.
Away from the music platform, Patrick has a keen interest in sport and outdoor pursuits and enjoys discovering
Scottish Islands in his campervan. A former fast bowler and rugby union winger, he now continues his sporting
and leisure activities in a sea-kayak and on a bicycle - though not at the same time!
For further information, see www.patricklarley.com.
 Stella has been involved in choral singing from schooldays and at Teacher Training College.
For many years she was an active member of choral societies and the National Association of Choirs.
Since moving to Wales nearly 25 years ago she has sung with Côr Llanwnog, of which she became the conductor in 2023.
Stella was invited to become conductor of Llanidloes Choral Society in 2003 and rehearses choristers from a wide area of South Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, in both Llanidloes and Newtown.
Stella is also the conductor of The Wesley Singers based in Llanidloes. This is a mixed voice choir who have been successful in winning local Eisteddfodau, been commissioned to produce a CD of favourite hymns and have performed twice on the Glanfa Stage in the Millennium Centre, Cardiff. She has also been a folk singer, and through the good humour of the Wesley Singers is able to indulge in her passion of composing and arranging items for the choir, where they have explored the genre of 'West Gallery Music'.
Stella is also Concert Coordinator for the Festival.
 Lynne graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Hons) degree from Kings College, London having also studied violin with a tutor from the Royal College of Music. She went on to do a Post Graduate course at The Institute of Education, London University, after which there followed a varied and interesting career in music teaching where Lynne led Music Departments in both the Primary and Secondary sectors of Education.
After sixteen years in the classroom, Lynne took a break for a year to study for an MA in Music Education at Reading University. This was followed by her appointment as Music Advisory Teacher in Bracknell Forest, Berkshire. As well as advising and assisting teachers in thirty-six schools, one aspect of the role which Lynne greatly enjoyed was organising and coordinating large cross-curricular arts-based events and projects ranging from the annual Primary Schools Carol Concert, which involved over 500 pupils from across the borough, to various national-led Arts initiatives.
Lynne has always been very passionate about choral music. As a teenager she was a member of the School Chapel Choir and went on to become a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. More recently Lynne has been Assistant Director of one of the Military Wives' Choirs.
Lynne has strong family roots in Mid-Wales and decided to return to the area full-time in 2016. She was delighted to be asked to direct the Welshpool Choral Society in September 2019 upon the retirement of her predecessor Beryl Jones.
Beryl graduated from UCW Aberystwyth with a
B.Mus degree in 1961 and, after completing a PGCE
course in London, was appointed Head of Music at
Welshpool High School. After leaving to raise her
family she did not return to full-time teaching
but has been involved in private coaching and
local music-making ever since.
In November 2018 Beryl celebrated 40
years as conductor of Welshpool Choral Society
– an anniversary also shared by the
choir’s accompanist, Margaret Benbow. During
the previous 40 years, in addition to their
involvement in the Festival, Welshpool Choral
have given annual Christmas Concerts and Beryl has been
very grateful to the choir for the opportunity
during this time to perform a number of her own
original compositions. She retired as conductor after the 2019 Festival concert, and passed the baton on to Lynne Beck. |
