The authorities at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Peter Stobart as the Cathedral’s new Director of Music.  Mr Stobart will take over from the current Director, Mr Malcolm Wisener, who is retiring, at the end of September.

Mr Peter Stobart, new Director of Music at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork

Originating from Yorkshire, Peter Stobart has spent the last eight years forging his musical career in London.  He studied choral conducting for two years at the Royal Academy of Music with Patrick Russill and Paul Brough. He was the winner of the Alan Kirby prize for choir training 2007/8 and the Thomas Armstrong Prize for Choral Conducting 2008/9 and took part in masterclasses with David Hill and the BBC Singers.

Peter began his career working as the organ scholar of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and as the organ scholar at the College of St. Hild and St. Bede, University of Durham for three years. It was here that he read a degree in music and also directed the Durham University Chamber Choir. After graduating, he sang as a Lay Clerk in Peterborough Cathedral choir and he conducted the chamber choir St. Peter’s Singers, and the Peterborough Children’s Choir.

He has been the Head of Extra-Curricular Music at St Dunstan’s College, Catford for the last six years and directed the Southampton University Chamber Choir, the A Cappella Singers of Weybridge, and the vocal chamber group Novem Altare. He will also be leaving his current post of Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church, East Sheen, London.

Mr Stobart is a choral specialist who has led workshops and choral days with singers of all ages. He has run ‘Come and Sing’ events on Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem and has curated a series of Bach’s Cantatas and Passions and Handel’s Chandos Anthems.  He has a particularly enthusiasm for Baroque music and uses period instrument ensembles regularly.

As a Tenor, Peter has recently sung solo roles in performances of Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion and Magnificat, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He has also been a regular deputy singer at Westminster Abbey.

In 2014 Peter became the Artistic Director for the Voices of Hangzhou Youth Choir based in a large city near Shanghai. He ran a summer school there during July and August 2014 for fifty children aged 8 to 16 and performed on Chinese National Day. He will return in next month to expand the work of the choir there.

On announcing the appointment, the Dean of Cork, Very Revd Nigel Dunne said:

I am looking forward to welcoming Peter to the Cathedral at the end of September to build on the excellent work of Malcolm Wisener of the last seven years.  Peter will bring a wealth of experience of choral experience and direction with all age groups to the post, taking the Cathedral Choir on to the next stage of its development as one of the best Cathedral choirs in Ireland.