Meet our London Symphony Chorus team

Our choral singers perform with some of the very best conductors, orchestras and soloists from across the globe. This is made possible under the leadership of Chorus Director Mariana Rosas and the expert guidance of the ambitious and committed London Symphony Chorus team.

Discover more about our dedicated team.

Chorus directors and associates

Mariana Rosas

Chorus Director

Simon Halsey

Chorus Director Emeritus

Lucy Hollins

Associate Chorus Director

David Lawrence

Associate Chorus Director

Barbara Höfling

Associate Chorus Director

Ben Frost

Accompanist

Mariana Rosas

Mariana is an Argentinian conductor based in the UK. Before stepping into the role of Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus, she was Music Director of the Birmingham City Council Choir, Conductor of the London Youth Choirs Girls’ Choir, and Choral Entrepreneur for the project Warwick – A Singing Town. She worked regularly with National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Crouch End Festival Chorus, University of Birmingham, Birmingham Opera Company, West Midlands Inclusive Choir, the Royal Opera House, and Glyndebourne. She has also collaborated with the Rundfunkchor Berlin, London Voices, and the CBSO Chorus and with the LSC as Associate Chorus Director.

Mariana was educated in Italy and Argentina and obtained a bachelor in Choir Conducting at the National University of Arts of Argentina and a Diploma in Contemporary Music at the Conservatoire of the City of Buenos Aires “Manuel de Falla”. In 2018 she transferred to the UK to continue postgraduate study at the University of Birmingham with Simon Halsey. She was also mentored by David Temple and worked extensively with CEFC. 

Prior to her move to the UK, she was an Assistant Professor of Choral Practice at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires and worked as a guest conductor in Denmark, Canada, Italy, and Switzerland. 

In September 2021 Mariana obtained the 2nd Prize at the Dima International Conducting Competition, in Romania. She now enjoys working with a diverse range of singers of all abilities and ages and is regularly engaged as a guest conductor – with amateurs and professionals alike – on special projects across the UK and Europe.

Meet Mariana Rosas: LSC’s new Chorus Director

Simon Halsey

Simon Halsey is a trusted advisor on choral singing to the world’s greatest conductors, orchestras and choruses, as well as an respected teacher and ambassador for choral singers of every age, ability and background.

In addition to his role as Choral Director at the London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Simon holds positions across the UK and Europe including Chorus Director of City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Artistic Director of Orfeó Català Choirs and Artistic Adviser of Palau de la Música, Barcelona, Artistic Director of Berliner Philharmoniker Youth Choral Programme, Creative Director for Choral Music and Projects of WDR Rundfunkchor, Director of BBC Proms Youth Choir, Conductor Laureate of Rundfunkchor Berlin and Professor and Director of Choral Activities at University of Birmingham.

Simon, who holds four honorary doctorates, also channels his passion for choral singing into teaching the next generation of choral conductors here in the UK, with his post-graduate course in Birmingham, and overseas, through masterclasses at Princeton, Yale and other prestigious academic institutions.

Born in London, Simon sang in the choirs of New College, Oxford, and of King’s College, Cambridge, and studied conducting at the Royal College of Music in London.

In 1987, he founded with Graham Vick the City of Birmingham Touring Opera. He was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir from 1997 to 2008 and Principal Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia’s Choral Programme from 2004 to 2012. From 2001-2015, Simon led the Rundfunkchor Berlin, and under his leadership, the chorus gained a reputation internationally as one of the finest professional choral ensembles. He is now the Conductor Laureate of the Rundfunkchor Berlin choir.

Simon has worked on nearly 80 recording projects throughout his career, many of which have been award winning including the Gramophone Award, Diapason d’Or, Echo Klassik, and three Grammy Awards with the Rundfunkchor Berlin. He is also a published author, with Schott Music releasing his book and DVD on choral conducting, Chorleitung: Vom Konzept zum Konzert, in 2011.

Also in 2011, Simon received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to choral music in Germany. He was awarded The Queen’s Medal for Music in 2014 and a year later, he was made Commander of the British Empire.

Simon has been instrumental in changing the level of symphonic singing across Europe, making singing a central part of the world-class institutions with which he is associated.

Simon Halsey hands over the baton as Chorus Director

Lucy Hollins

Lucy is one of the most respected conductor-animateurs of her generation. In addition to her role as Associate Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus, Lucy is Acting Director of Music at the University of Warwick, Principal Guest Conductor of the Cambridge Philharmonic, and Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Junior Choir.

Following her studies and having been awarded several prestigious prizes in the UK and Canada, Lucy’s leadership experience ranges across vocal and instrumental music-making with professional, amateur, youth and adult ensembles at the very highest level of each.

Lucy is a leading expert in the field of music education and engagement, specialising in vocal outreach, and through her conducting teaching, she also enjoys working with musicians of all ages and stages to enable them to be their most confident and effective.

Also a passionate concert designer and presenter, Lucy creates exciting performances for young people with many organisations, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Warwick Arts Centre and London Symphony Orchestra.

Her career has seen her appear on TV and radio, premiering new works, adjudicating competitions, touring extensively throughout the UK and internationally, and working alongside some of the world’s finest musicians and directors.

David Lawrence

David is one of the UK’s most versatile conductors, working with orchestras, symphony choruses and national youth choirs. Alongside his role as Associate Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus, David has conducted the London Philharmonic Choir, Hallé Choir, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus, for whom he is an Associate Conductor, and the national youth choirs of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

He was recently nominated for a Gramophone Award, in the Music in The Community: The Choirmaster’s Prize category for his conducting of the National Youth Choir of Wales, has been awarded a prestigious Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) and holds the Guinness World Record for conducting the UK’s largest choir.

David’s positive and engaging manner makes him a popular guest conductor, which has taken him to Singapore, Colombia, Canada, the United States, India, the United Arab Emirates, throughout Europe and Australia. He is also an experienced and respected trainer of choral conductors.

With particular experience in the field of contemporary music, David has prepared and conducted première performances by Per Nørgård, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Mauricio Kagel, Graham Fitkin, James Wood, Bob Chilcott and others.  As a guest chorusmaster of the Netherlands Radio Choir, he has worked with many conductors such as Kenneth Montgomery, Frans Brüggen, and John Adams, and in 2002, working closely with Stockhausen, he also conducted this exceptional choir in the German première of Scene II from his opera Sontag aus Licht.

In 2011, David conducted an award-winning performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Barrier Reef Orchestra in Queensland and has conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in a massed performance of Carmina Burana, the Orchestra of Opera North with their Inspiration Choir, Vaughan William’s Sea Symphony for the Hull’s City of Culture Festival and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Huddersfield Choral Society for the BBC’s Songs of Praise.

David is Choral Advisor to Sinfonia Viva with whom he has worked closely since 1998.  He is the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Community Choir and Senior Youth Choir, and as Principal Conductor of Young Voices – a position he has held for 20 years – directs massed choirs in an annual series of concerts, with some choirs incorporating more than 8,000 singers. David has also directed large-scale education projects with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, the English Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Barbara Höfling

Barbara grew up in Hanover, Germany and studied violin, singing and choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater.

She then split her career equally into solo singing work, including recording 3 solo CDs with Lied and Chamber Music, which won her a Supersonic Award for best Lied recording; and Choral singing, working for some of the best Choirs in the world, including RIAS Chamber Choir, BBC Singers, Berlin Radio Choir and the Monteverdi Choir.

Throughout her career she directed choirs and orchestras in Germany and later in the UK. She is the founder and MD of the German Choir of London, which she took to perform at St. Peters Basilica in Rome, Notre Dame Paris, Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral to name just a few.

She runs regular Workshops and Masterclasses on Choral singing, Consort Singing and Vocal technique.

Barbara is a keen supporter of contemporary music and has to date commissioned more than 80 choral and solo pieces.

www.barbara-hoefling.de
www.DeutscherChorLondon.org.uk

Ben Frost

Ben’s experience as an Accompanist and Chorus Master ranges from silent films at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to The Boy Friend, Cabaret, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, and several rarely performed operas with Chelsea Opera Group. He has also worked as an accompanist for the London Philharmonic Chorus, the BBC Singers, the BBC Symphony Chorus, and the Monteverdi Choir. As well as his role at London Symphony Chorus, which he has held since 2017, Ben is a freelance repetiteur and was previously Assistant Director of Music at St. Luke’s, Chelsea.

Graduating with Distinction in performance while studying music at Exeter University, Ben was Organ Scholar at Exeter Cathedral and became an associate of the Royal College of Organists. He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his tutors included Gordon Back and Graham Johnson, and subsequently trained as a repetiteur at the National Opera Studio.

Ben has worked with the BBC, Lesley Garrett, Nelly Miricioiu, Marianne Cornetti, Sally Matthews, English National Opera, and The Opera Group on several productions including Die Fledermaus, Carmen, Madam Butterfly, Cosi fan tutte, Magic Flute, La Boheme, La Cenerentola, and Eugene Onegin. He has also appeared on In Tune for Radio 3 and Operatunity for Channel 4.

Voice and language coaches

Anita Morrison

Vocal Coach

Rebecca Outram

Vocal Coach

Robert Rice

Vocal Coach

Norbert Meyn

Vocal and Language Coach

Anita Morrison

Anita has been teaching singing for over 25 years, having become devoted to the vocation since working with the choristers of Westminster Cathedral.

With a BEd (Hons) Degree, she studied the vocal studies and opera courses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. There she was awarded the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and Cripplegate Foundation, winning the 1989 Maggie Teyte Prize Competition.

In addition to her private practice, she is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, teaches regularly at Eton College and on Eton Choral Courses, Cambridge University, is vocal consultant to Guildford Choral Society, Cardinal Vaughan Schola Cantorum, London Oratory Junior choir, and regularly visits Ampleforth College and Carlisle Cathedral. She also gives choral workshops.

Anita is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and has recently published a new book about vocal health and performance for choristers, ‘The Chorister and the Racing Car’.

As a soloist, Anita performed all over Europe, singing many major operatic roles, and made recordings including Dallapiccola’s 13 Liriche Greche with the Dallapiccola Ensemble.

Rebecca Outram

Rebecca began her musical life as a pianist, only finding her voice and passion for singing after joining the chapel choir at Keble College, Oxford. She then went on to study at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has since had an impressive career in a variety of musical fields.

She is a performer with most of the major British period performance ensembles and orchestras, regularly working as a soloist with the King’s Consort, the Sixteen, the Gabrieli Consort and the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, as well as being a founding member of the renowned a capella ensembles The Clerks’ Group and The Cardinall’s music.

As a concert soloist, Rebecca has performed across the UK and Europe, including at the BBC Proms, St Paul’s Cathedral, Salisbury Festival, Bath Festival, Nuremburg Festival, Lufthansa Baroque Festival and the Casa de Musica in Porto.

Rebecca has also been a part of many recordings, including Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with Accademia Bizantina/Ottavio Dantone (CD Arts), William and Henry Lawes’ Songs and Knüpfer Sacred Music (both on Hyperion), Bach’s Motets with The Hilliard Ensemble (ECM records), William Child’s Psalms (ASV records), Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers with The King’s Consort (Hyperion records), Dido and Aeneas with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on Chandos and Durufle’s Requiem with Keble Chapel Choir.

Robert Rice

Robert’s singing gained him a choral scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge. He went on to gain a DipRAM in London under Mark Wildman, continuing his studies with Richard Smart, Sheila Barnes and Nicholas Powell.

As a concert artist, his repertoire is extensive and varied, from Monteverdi to Birtwhistle. Robert’s interest in performing contemporary music encompasses the modernist expressionism of Peter Maxwell Davies and Ligeti, and staged premieres by Judith Bingham and Nigel Osborne. In recital, he often collaborates with guitarist Erich Schachtner in Germany and in the UK on programmes of lieder and lute songs.

Robert has recorded Judas in The Apostles with Canterbury Choral Society and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and his version of Cornelius’ Die Drei Könige (The Three Kings) with the choir Polyphony is a favourite on both Classic FM and BBC Radio 3 whenever Christmas approaches.

Away from performance, Robert leads workshops, adjudicates, and teaches widely, including for the National Youth Choir, Eton Choral Courses, and Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and many of his vocal arrangements have been published by Novello & Co. Ltd, while others have been recorded by the King’s Singers and are sung worldwide.

Norbert Meyn

Norbert is a leading specialist in German language coaching for choirs, choruses and individuals.

His experience in teaching German diction to leading singers in the business and intimate knowledge of vocal technique has gained him a host of regular clients including BBC Proms, the London Symphony Chorus, the BBC Singers and Symphony Chorus, the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, the Hallé Choir in Manchester, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge. He has also looked after the performance and recording projects for Hyperion Records, Harmonia Mundi, Orfeó Català Barcelona, Holland Park Opera, Garsington Opera, and the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow.

As well as a regular voice and language coach for the London Symphony Chorus, Norbert has been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama since 2001 and at the Royal College of Music since 2005.

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Norbert is dedicated to continued professional development to ensure the highest standards of teaching and learning. His education includes a professional certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, and has received training in coaching and mentoring at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for a number of years.

Norbert has given masterclasses in the UK, Germany, and France and has produced a series of educational films about singing. In addition to coaching at conservatoires, Norbert runs a private studio in central London where he enjoys working with singers of all levels.