ABOUTWho is John
Oliver Edwards
John had always sung with any choir that would let him when at school but it was not until after he left school that he realised that he had a “not bad” bass voice and started singing lessons with Diana Rees.
You still could not keep John away from choirs and he joined choirs and choral societies in the Somerset area. However his megalomaniac tendencies were not satisfied by just singing in the chorus and he desired more.
After taking his Grade 8 Singing and Grade 8 Voice exams John started to apply for music courses and was accepted on a teaching singing course at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (although it was only the Birmingham Conservatoire in those days).
At the Conservatoire John studied with Keith Darlington, joined the Chamber Choir and sung with and soloed for the Polytechnic Chorus. The Conservatoire also pimped out John to solo for many groups in the area and he had the joy of singing such amazing compositions as Stainers Crucifixion, Haydn Creation and Puccini Messa Di Gloria. (Only two of those are amazing but I let you work out which one isn’t).
John also took over The Paradise Singers and soloed for them singing Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Christmas Carol in Birmingham Cathedral.
John left the Conservatoire with a degree in music and a diploma in singing teaching.
Deciding that he had left university without enough performing qualifications John took a singing performing Diploma from Trinity College, London.
John also studied with Glenville Hargrieves during this time.
In 2007 John got tired of rain and moved to Spain to start a new life and a new company. Very soon he scratched the surface of Spanish life and found the cultural underground. He joined a Renaissance Choir and a Male Voice Choir (talk about contrast) and also started to teach privately.
He also started to perform for local groups and was asked to solo for the usual suspects of oratorio, masses and operatic highlights.
In recent years John has been appointed the Assistant Director of Music for the Costa Blanca Male Voice Choir and after pulling together a performance of a Bach Cantata, Musical Director of 152, including its own Chamber Choir 152.8 (I know odd name but you can read their website to find out why).
In May 2021 after a long and hard year trying to rehearse though a pandemic John was delighted to be appointed Musical Director of the Costa Blanca Male Voice Choir and in May 2022.
In September 2022 John took over as Musical Director of The International Choir (formerly The English Choir).
In December 2023 John became the Musical Director and Baritone for the newly formed Barbershop group, Dapper Cadence. He would have sung the Bass part but another member of the group beat him to it.
Other interesting things about John. He plays the Tuba and Saxophone, he is a dreadful pianist, hates Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky and knows far too many Soprano jokes.
ABOUTHighlights
