© 2009 Rufus Frowde. All rights reserved.
Made by Serif
MA(Oxon) MMus ARCO Dip.CHD
Rufus Frowde read music at Oxford University (where he was Conductor of the Oxford University Philharmonia, Organ Scholar of Merton College and a tenor in Schola Cantorum). He then became Organ Scholar of Worcester Cathedral. Following a career in teaching, in 2003 Rufus took up his current post as Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace. This has included playing for the Queen (including the 2010 Queen’s Christmas Speech) and accompanying Kiri te Kanawa and José Carreras. He combined this with postgraduate study in Choral Direction and Church Music at the Royal Academy of Music, being awarded prizes in both disciplines. At the RAM, he also studied organ with David Titterington and singing with David Lowe.
Rufus appears on the Divine Art and Diversions labels and has participated in workshops
with the BBC Singers, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the Royal Academy
of Music Chamber Choir as well as conducting in the London Master Classes under Benjamin
Zander. Current conducting appointments include Surrey Youth Choir, The Hardynge
Choir, Mid Hertfordshire Youth Orchestra, Dacorum Youth Orchestra, Dacorum Community
Choir (founder) and return concerts with the Hertfordshire Philharmonia. He is Assistant
Conductor for Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra and has also formed his own professional
group, PAEAN. In September 2008 he became Musical Director of VIVAMUS with whom he
has several forthcoming concerts in St. James’s, Piccadilly and St. Martin-
Recent performances include numerous UK cathedrals, the Royal Albert Hall, the Spitalfields Festival, New Chamber Opera, La Madeleine (Paris), Cologne Cathedral and Neresheim Abbey (Germany), as well as Dave Brubeck’s Cantata The Gates of Justice (European Premiere). He has accompanied Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle in Rome under the direction of Sir David Willcocks and in 2007 conducted the West Forest Sinfonia and the Centenary Chorus in a capacity performance of Verdi’s Requiem in Guildford Cathedral. He has accompanied the trumpeter Crispian Steele Perkins in a concert with the English Arts Chorale and in 2008 played continuo on a UK tour with the acclaimed violinist Lara St John and the London Baroque Ensemble. Rufus is also the regular accompanist for The Knack Singers (a recital series for recent graduates of ENO’s training scheme ‘The Knack’).
Rufus has recently joined the academic staff of the Princess Helena College, Hitchin. On the lighter side, he is a regular deputy pianist in the Palm Court Quartet at the Ritz Hotel, London. He has also appeared as a violinist with the late Gene Pitney on a UK tour and with the Rock Band EYELASH on their 2009 debut album ‘Recession’.
