Exon Singers

THE EXON SINGERS is recognised as one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs. Founded in 1966, it has become renowned for its dynamic and expressive performances of music from the Renaissance to the present day. The Exon Singers can often be heard on BBC Radios 3 and 4 and on CD. In July 2011 the choir released its second disc under the Regent Records label, of previously unrecorded music of Philip Wilby, who was the Composer in Residence at the 2009 Festival. This disc follows on from the choir’s first CD with Regent released in the summer of 2010, of previously unrecorded music by Philip Moore. Philip Moore was the choir’s Festival Composer in Residence in 2008, having then recently retired as Organist and Master of the Music at York Minster. Previous recordings by the choir include critically acclaimed discs with the Delphian label, of music by Howard Skempton, Dr Francis Jackson, and in 2004 a first recording of a reconstruction of Vespers by Tomás Luis de Victoria. The choir’s Artistic Director and Conductor is Richard Wilberforce. Richard succeeds Matthew Owens, under whose direction the choir received considerable recognition for its commitment to commissioning new works from some of today’s most exciting composers – Brian Chapple, Gary Davison, Joseph Phibbs, Richard Allain, David Briggs, Grayston Ives, Francis Jackson, Gabriel Jackson, Howard Skempton, Philip Moore, Philip Wilby, Matthew Martin and Robin Holloway. The choir is looking forward to welcoming James Burton as Composer in Residence for the 2015 Festival. Since 1973, the annual Exon Singers Festival has been based in the historic market town of Tavistock on the edge of Dartmoor, and includes the venues of Tavistock Parish Church and Buckfast Abbey.