Stephen Rumsey is an active freelance conductor, chorus master, musical director and teacher.
As a teenager Stephen was an orchestral manager with the London Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Previn, Bernstein, Abbado, Horenstein and Rozhdestvensky. He went on to study at Leeds University under Alexander Goehr and Philip Wilby, later in Siena with Franco Ferrara, and also with Peter Maxwell Davies, John Carewe and Hans Keller.
Previous conducting positions include those at Basildon Choral, Writtle Singers, Morley College, Opera in the Orchard, Chelmsford Opera and Basildon Youth Opera. He also finds time master-minding such musical events as Essex Composers’ Forum, Great Eastern Rush-hour Proms and the musical direction of public and civic events. Such projects led to the formation of SyrinxMusic, a consultancy concerned with musical supervision of projects and events as well as development of ensembles such as Singarama, an exciting new vocal group.
In the role of chorus master Stephen has worked, both in this country and abroad, with Basildon Symphony, City of London Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia and Istanbul’s Akbank Chamber Orchestra and with conductors such as Cem Mansur, Lionel Friend and David Arnold.
For a number of years Stephen was a council member of SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music), promoting the professional development of young composers and encouraged the commissioning of new work in his various positions of responsibility; with Ipswich Choral Society through the SPNM’s Adopt-a-composer scheme and the BBC’s Choral Ambition Awards which, in 2010, awarded Ipswich Choral Society their highest grant in the UK.
After nearly three decades, Stephen stepped aside from the conductorship of Ipswich Choral Society in June 2015 to promote SyrinxMusic’s activities more actively.
