Biography
Adrian Partington has had the privilege of a long and varied career, as a pianist, organist and conductor. He has been Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral since 2007. Since taking up the post, he has introduced Girl Choristers in to the Cathedral Choir- in 2016. He has taken the choir to sing in the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Germany- where the Choristers sang with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra- and has made acclaimed CDs of the music of John Joubert, Ian King, and the distinguished clarinettist, Emma Johnson, as well as several compilation recordings.
Adrian has been Artistic Director of five Gloucester Three Choirs Festivals, and has conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the great choral orchestral works of Elgar, Mahler, Berlioz, Beethoven and many others; and concertos by Bruch, Elgar, Walton and Mendelssohn. He has also conducted many contemporary large-scale masterpieces by John Adams, Francis Pott, Joseph Phibbs, Eleanor Alberga and so on.
Adrian has been Artistic Director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales since 1999. He has prepared the chorus for hundreds of concerts, (including dozens of BBC Proms), many of which he has conducted himself, including significant works by Delius, Britten, MacMillan, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and many more. He has conducted well-received CDs with the orchestra, including the first performance of the Mass “Via Victrix” by Stanford, and the majestic “Missa Cambrensis” by Grace Williams.
For many years, Adrian was conductor of Bristol Choral Society with whom he performed all the great oratorios, mostly with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Adrian was educated at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Herbert Howells and at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was the Organ Scholar for the famous College Choir. He studied the piano with John Barstow , and the organ with Dame Gillian Weir. He has had fruitful partnerships with many great singers and instrumentalists over the years, including Emma Johnson,(Clarinet),Maggie Faultless, (Violin) and James Gilchrist,(Tenor). He is pleased now to be accompanying Leora Cohen, with whom he is sharing a number of concerts this year.
