Jessica Norton

An exciting young conductor, composer and performer based in London, Jessica is currently Musical Director of the award-winning chamber choir, the London Concord Singers and the East London Chorus. She is also the Associate Musical Director of the Pegasus Choir. Alongside this Jessica is a sought-after freelance rehearsal conductor and, most recently, has worked with the London Symphony Chorus, Milton Keynes Chorale, St Michael’s Church choir in Bray and the News International Choir. Jessica began her conducting career while studying her undergraduate at the University of Surrey, when she became Musical Director of Barclays Capital choir in Canary Wharf, whom she lead for three years. During her year between degrees, she was the Assistant Conductor of the St Ives Choral Society and the first conductor of the Hilton Youth Choir, while building up her freelance work of compositions and transcriptions. She then studied a Masters in Choral Conducting with Simon Halsey and Julian Wilkins at the University of Birmingham, during which time she not only worked with various university choirs but also the CBSO Chorus. Jessica also co-ran the Perry Barr Community Choir (run alongside the CBSO) and has been a guest conductor at various schools such as St Mary’s, Cambridge and Hallfield Primary School, Birmingham. During the summer of 2012 she spent a month volunteering at a primary school in Cape Town, South Africa, leading choral and instrumental ensembles, and in 2015 Jessica also became the first winner of the John Cole Bursary for young conductors at Taunton Live. Also a successful composer, Jessica has won multiple competitions and her choral works have been premiered in prestigious venues including Guildford Cathedral, the Victoria Rooms in Bristol and Chevy Chase United Methodist Church in Washington, DC. As Music Consultant for St Mary’s School in Cambridge, she has arranged and composed works for their various choirs and instrumental ensembles, alongside vocal coaching their chamber choir, Allegro. She also edits vocal and string backing, most recently for Singer/Songwriter Archie Smith. Throughout her education and career Jessica has been a keen choral singer. With a Diploma in Singing Performance, she has performed in multiple BBC Proms concerts, including Beethoven 9 with the CBSO Chorus, Mahler 3 with the London Symphony Chorus, and in the semi-chorus of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius as part of the BBC Young Voices choir. In her second project with the London Symphony Chorus she was the soprano soloist for their performance of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms in the Barbican.