We
are pleased to announce the appointment of Simon
Toyne as Acting Organist and Director of Music at St
Matthew’s from September.
Simon is Executive Director of Music of the David
Ross Education Trust (DRET), where he is responsible
for the development of music across over 30 state
primary and secondary schools in the East of
England, including conducting the Choir of Malcolm
Arnold Academy.
Simon lives locally, and is a regular worshipper at
St Matthew’s. His new responsibility, which he will
be fulfilling in conjunction with his work for DRET,
will doubtless be mutually beneficial, and
facilitate our already productive relationship with
the Trust. Simon will also enable us to provide that
all-important continuity and care within our music
department as in due course we look forward to
identifying a new director of music.
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"I am indebted to Simon for taking on this role at
such a key moment, and I look forward to working with
him. I feel sure that with his help and expertise we may
look to the future with confidence, and our music-making
will go from strength to strength."
(Fr Nicholas Setterfield)
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Biography
Born in Exeter, Simon received his early musical
training as a chorister in Exeter Cathedral Choir
and then as a music scholar at Eton College, before
becoming Organ Scholar of University College,
Oxford. In 1991, he was appointed Director of the
Tiffin Boys’ Choir, and in 1994 took up the post of
Organist and Director of Music at All Saints’
Church, Kingston upon Thames, holding both positions
until Summer 2015. Under his direction, the Tiffin
Boys’ Choir worked with the major conductors in the
world, including Pappano, Rattle, Gergiev, Maazel,
Elder, Masur and Salonen, performed each year with
the Royal Opera and the London orchestras, and
featured on the soundtrack for many major films,
including The Hobbit and Philomena.
Simon led the choir on over twenty foreign tours,
including to Australia, New Zealand, the USA and
Russia, and conducted the choir in concert with the
Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart
Players, Sinfonia Britannica and Philharmonia
Orchestra. As Assistant Head and Director of Music
of Tiffin School, a state grammar school in Kingston
upon Thames, he led an outreach programme which saw
the formation of the Thames Youth Orchestra and the
Tiffin Children’s Chorus, as well as the project
Choirs for Schools, in which choirs were formed and
developed in all 32 primary schools of the Borough
of Kingston. During his tenure at All Saints’
Church, whose choir sings Cathedral repertoire at
two services each Sunday, the choir broadcast on
BBC1, Radio 4 and World Service Radio, and over 20
choristers gained choral scholarships to Oxford and
Cambridge.
Simon has led workshops on conducting and singing
for Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the
Association of British Choral Directors, the
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the Kotuku
Trust in New Zealand, and the Metropolitan Opera
Children’s Chorus, New York. He was Director of the
National Youth Training Choir of Wales and Music
Director of Riverside Opera, and his performances as
organist have included both Cathedrals of Liverpool
and the National Auditorium of Madrid. Simon is a
Director of the Eton Choral Courses, and will be
leading the course at St John’s College this summer.
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