Neil Ferris

Neil Ferris is the Artistic Director and conductor of the professional chamber choir Sonoro and Music Director of Wimbledon Choral Society, one of London’s leading amateur choirs. In 2017 he was appointed the new Chorus Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus and guest conductor of the National Youth Choir of Wales.

In demand as guest conductor at some of the finest choirs in the UK, Neil has worked with the London Symphony Chorus, the Bach Choir and the BBC National Chorus of Wales, the Choir of the Age of Enlightenment and the BBC Singers. He has prepared choirs for internationally acclaimed conductors including Valery Gergiev, Sir Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop, Bernard Haitink, Sakari Oramo, Carlo Rizzi, Ed Gardner, Donald Runnicles and Martyn Brabbins.

Formerly Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Neil helped establish the international reputation of the choral conducting course and developed the conservatoire’s choral ensembles. He is recognised as one of the country’s leading teachers of choral conducting and has led masterclasses in the UK, USA, Ireland and Denmark.

Neil has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, New Queens Hall Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Orchestra of the Swan, Orchestra Vitae and Florilegium. He made his Royal Opera House debut in a ROH2 production of Will Tuckett’s ballet The Wind in the Willows.

Recordings include an album of the choral music of Jonathan Dove with Convivium Singers released on the Naxos label and Fauré’s Requiem on the Convivium Records label. Resonus Classics has recently released Sonoro’s debut album Passion and Polyphony featuring works of James MacMillan and Frank Martin.