The Society’s Director of Music, James Atherton, was appointed in 2011 to succeed Ian Harrold. A musician of great versatility, he is both an experienced conductor and in demand as a professional tenor soloist.

He began his musical life as a chorister and spent sixteen years singing in cathedral choirs. At St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, James sang for the marriage blessing of HRH Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles. In 2005, he joined the Gloucester Cathedral Choir.

His solo repertoire ranges from Bach’s great passions (in the role of evangelist) to Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. James was the tenor soloist in Tyndale Choral Society’s 2008 summer concert.

James founded and conducts the Glevum Consort, a professional group based in the West of England. The consort specialises in early music but is also gaining an enviable reputation for small scale performances of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Passions with the Corelli Orchestra. Their ‘Glory of England’ concerts, focussing on British composers from the 15th Century to the present day, have met with much critical acclaim.

James is the Musical Director of the Tan House Singers, a small but enthusiastic chamber choir based in Blaisdon, Gloucestershire.