Music Directors - past & present

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Luke A. N. Spencer

Music Director

 

Luke was born in Leicester and was a chorister at Leicester Cathedral, where his musical career began. He studied organ with the Masters of Music, Peter White and Geoffrey Carter. Luke then went on to study Opera and Vocal Studies. He gained a place at the Royal Northern College of Music studying voice with Robert Alderson and organ with Ronald Frost. He later read music at Cardiff University with voice as his main study under John Hugh Thomas and Kelvin Thomas. He also studied at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome where he was tutored by the late Cardinal Bartolucci.

 

During his time at Cardiff he was student conductor of the Chamber Orchestra, Organist and Director of Music for the University Church Choir and Assistant Chorus Master of the Choral Society as well as directing the Bute Singers.

 

His love of singing has taken him to the stage and the concert platform as a soloist in his own right and his operatic roles include Sarastro – Die Zauberflöte, Osmin – Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Collatinus – The Rape of Lucretia and Achilla – Guilio Cesare, John Claggart – Billy Budd and Sir Gualtiero Raleigh – Roberto Devereux. On the concert platform his work includes Handel Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Haydn Creation, Orff Carmina Burana and Rossini Petite Messe Solenelle.

 

As an organist he has given recitals in churches and cathedrals throughout Britain, as well as in France, Italy and Germany.

 

Luke is most at home as a conductor and has directed the Hartley Hall Chorale, Cantorion Pontyclun, the Gower Chorale, Cardiff Bach Choir, All Saints’ Choir. He is currently conductor of Tabernacle Morriston Choir and Cör Dyfed Choir. He has taken choirs on many tours having visited Vienna, Bratislava and Paris. Most recently he toured to Rome with Cardiff Bach Choir singing mass in the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican. He has also been musical director for several amateur theatre companies including Moonlight Theatre, Llanelli Musical Players, Neath Youth Theatre and currently Carmarthen Amateur Operatic Society.

 

Having been Director of Music at Bishop Vaughan Catholic School in Swansea, Luke moved to Pembrokeshire in 2020 to take up his post as Head of Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing at Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi VA.

 

 

 

 

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Oliver Waterer

Music Director 2013 - 2021

 

Oliver Waterer was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral and Artistic Director of the St Davids Cathedral Festival in September 2013. He is responsible for the maintenance and development of the cathedral’s musical ministry, at the heart of which are the daily services sung by the Cathedral Choirs. He was invited to become Conductor and Music Director of Côr Dyfed Choir in January 2014.

 

Before moving to Pembrokeshire Oliver was Assistant Director of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral in Essex, where he was the principal organist at the daily choral services and directed the Cathedral Girls’ Choir. He spent four months as Acting Director of Music at the cathedral in 2012. From 2009 to 2012 he was Accompanist and Deputy Director of the Chelmsford Singers, a prominent choral society in the city. As a recitalist Oliver has performed at many British churches and cathedrals including Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. Recent years have also included performances in France, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands.

 

Oliver studied the organ with Andrew Malcolm at Saffron Walden Parish Church before becoming a student at Birmingham Conservatoire, studying principally with David Saint. Whilst in Birmingham he was Organ Scholar at both the Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals in the city and was accompanist to the Conservatoire Chamber Choir. He graduated in 2001, winning the John Campbell Keyboard prize.

 

Oliver has now moved to a new post as Master of Music at Selby Abbey, Yorkshire.

 

 

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Daniel Cook

Music Director 2011-2013

 

Daniel Cook moved to St Davids Cathedral as Organist and Master of the Choristers from Salisbury Cathedral, where he had been Assistant Director of Music and Principal Organist. His early musical education at Durham Cathedral was followed by Organ Scholarships at both Worcester and Southwark Cathedrals before he was appointed as Organ Scholar and then Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey. A prize winning graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, he is now Director of Music at Durham Cathedral.

 

 

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Alexander Mason

Music Director 2008-2010

 

Alexander Mason MA MMus FRCO became Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Davids Cathedral in 2008 and became Music Director of The Dyfed Choir at the same time. Alexander was Organ Scholar at Worcester College, Oxford, and The Royal College of Music. His teachers were David Sanger, Jos van der Kooy and Paul Spicer. He became an FRCO aged 18 winning the Turpin, Durrant and Dixon prizes and later received awards from the Countess of Munster, Ian Fleming and Eric Thompson trusts. In August 2011 Alexander Mason took up a position in Shrewsbury School, and so resigned his position in St Davids Cathedral and the Dyfed Choir.

 

 

 

2002 - 2007

 

Timothy Noon greatly extended the Choir's repertoire, spanning the entire range from Renaissance to contemporary music, with Rachmaninov 'Vespers', Verdi 'Requiem' among other notable concerts. He was noted for his rapport with audiences, drawing them into the event and explaining the origins and significance of the music they were about to hear. In the summer of 2007, Timothy Noon was appointed Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool. In 2011 he was appointed as Director of Music at Auckland Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and, as of 1st Jan. 2016, will be Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral.

 

 2001

 

Seimon Morris had been Deputy Music Director since 1986 and is well known throughout the area as a music teacher in local schools, as a private music teacher, as accompanist to the Pembrokeshire Youth Choir, as Choirmaster of Wiston Parish Church, as a composer, as an active participant in a wide variety of local music groups. Seimon resigned in July 2001 to pursue his interest in alternative approaches to choral music.

 

 1998 - 2000

 

James Thomas, Director of Music at Christ College, Brecon extended the repertoire with a range of music not previously performed by the Choir. He moved to Sussex in mid-2000 but his relatively short tenure included a memorable performance of the Vaughan-Williams 'Dona Nobis Pacem' and, to celebrate the Millennium, the first ever performance at Saint Davids Cathedral of the Bach 'St Matthew Passion' .

 

1985 - 1998

 

Christopher Barton, former Master of Choristers at St Woolos Cathedral, Newport developed the Choir's reputation for the late Baroque and Classical repertoire. During his tenure there was special interest in presenting Baroque music with ensembles of period instruments, including a memorable performance of Messiah in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea with the Gabrieli Consort. It was fitting that Christopher's last concert as Director should have been a performance of Dvorak's Stabat Mater in The Smetana Hall, Prague, with the Prague Radio Orchestra. The choir was delighted to welcome him back as guest conductor for a performance of Bach Christmas Oratorio with Charivari Agréable Simfonie in December 2010

 

 

1967 - 1985

 

  John S Davies is a leading figure in the musical life of West Wales. The charismatic direction of the founder soon ensured a fine reputation for the Choir, enjoying a close relationship with the Fishguard Festival of which he was Director. The Dyfed Choir was frequently retained by the BBC for performances with orchestras such as the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, under guest conductors of the calibre of Roger Norrington, Sir Colin Davies, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Charles Mackerras and Richard Hickox, until the formation of BBC Welsh Chorus. John joined the choir to celebrate their 50th. anniversary in November 2016.