Music Director: Benedict Collins Rice
Known for his 'passionate, insightful, and inspiring conducting', Benedict has performed throughout Europe and America (from The Royal Albert Hall to Carnegie Hall); recorded for several record labels, for BBC and NBC Television, the BFI, and has broadcast live on Radio 3.
The Façade Ensemble
He read music at Cambridge University, holding two conducting scholarships and working with all the university’s top ensembles. It was whilst at university that he founded The Façade Ensemble - a group specialising in 20th century chamber music which has since developed into a dynamic collective of young professionals whose performances are noted for their 'liberal seasoning of vivacity and wit'.
He continued his studies at Birmingham University under Simon Halsey, where he gained the course’s highest-ever conducting mark.
Benedict runs the choral conducting programme at Morley College where he is also Lecturer & Choir Tutor - running all the classical choral ensembles. He holds conducting posts with the Cambridge University Graduate Orchestra, West Kent County Youth Orchestra & West Kent String Orchestra, Ipswich Chamber Choir, Rose Opera, Moving Chamber Choir, Mid Norfolk Singers, Bath Bach Choir and Bury Bach Choir. He is in demand as a guest conductor. Highlights include working with the Berlin Sinfonietta on part of a Beethoven Symphony Cycle and assisting Johannes Wildner on a recording project of the music of Braunfels with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He is also committed to music education and is Director of Choral Music at Tonbridge Grammar School.
For more information visit www.facadeensemble.co.uk/bcr-biography
We are thrilled to announce that Benedict accepted a commission to compose a choral work for Ipswich Chamber Choir and we look forward to announcing the date for its world premiere!
"I am delighted to have been asked to write for Ipswich Chamber Choir over this lockdown period, and immediately found myself drawn to the text Hear my Prayer O Lord. I think a large part of this was its sentiment of reaching out in isolation and of a yearning to be connected - emotions which have been felt keenly at the moment by so many. I was also struck by the fact that no matter how many times I heard that single sentence repeated, it never lost its intensity. Whilst the music is not 'about' lockdown in anyway, it is certainly a product of it - long stretches of inactivity and repetition mixed with the occasional burst of energy was an all too natural way to shape the music." - Benedict Collins Rice.
Assistant Music Director: Caroline Finlay
Caroline Finlay studied piano at Colchester Institute with Martin Hughes, specialising in performance and accompaniment. She went on to gain a PGCE from Reading University and continued her post-graduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music with Paul Hamburger and Victor Morris of English National Opera.
She was staff accompanist at Colchester Institute for many years and enjoyed accompanying and coaching a wide range of instrumentalists and singers.
Caroline performs regularly in lunchtime and evening recitals in various chamber ensembles. She was a member of the Vega Trio and currently enjoys performing with her Piano trio. Together with flautist Duke Dobing she performs in venues across East Anglia, recently taking part in the Aldeburgh Festival.
Caroline divides her time between teaching and accompanying, working with many choirs as both accompanist and soloist. She joined the University of Essex Choir as accompanist in 2020, and is delighted to have been appointed Assistant Music Director to Ipswich Chamber Choir in 2023.
