Praise Hymn

He's an all-singing, all-dancing musician. Now Ben Parry is showing he's no slouch as a conductor, finds Philip Gates

WHAT do Dizzy Gillespie, Stephane Grapelli and members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus have in common? The answer is they have all worked with Ben Parry, former choral scholar of King's College, Cambridge, ex-Swingle Singer and now the conductor of both the SCO Chorus and the Dunedin Consort.

Since arriving in Scotland in 1995, Parry's rise has been rapid. He took over as conductor of the SCO Chorus and is also currently music director of Haddo House Opera and director of choral music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

But arguably his most influential move was to found the Edinburgh- based Dunedin Consort with singer Susan Hamilton. Since it was established, the Consort has taken the Scottish classical scene by storm, performing critically acclaimed concerts - including performances at the Edinburgh International Festival - undertaking tours around Scotland and abroad, performing on radio and also releasing a debut CD with Linn Records, entitled In The Beginning.

Yet the success of both the Consort and the SCO Chorus should come as no surprise to those who know Parry, for his life has been packed with plenty of good singing, world tours with groups including both King's and the Swingle Singers, and even a run on a West End show.

"Really, with the Consort what you see is what you get," he says. "We use singers from all over the UK - and we have a huge pool of about 90 as we perform so many different styles of music. We really need flexibility with singers. "

Parry, the son of organist and music teacher John Parry, was brought up in Ipswich. He won a choral scholarship to sing at King's College choir under Stephen Cleobury and, while studying as an undergraduate, sang seven services a week with the choir during term time as well as undertaking tours and concerts outside term and performing in the world-famous Christmas Eve service of nine lessons and carols.

After graduation, Parry performed with a song and dance group which was fun but didn't pay well. "Then I saw an advert for the Swingle Singers, who were looking for a baritone. I needed to find some sort of job so I applied. There were hundreds of people who applied and I managed to get through the audition and get the job, something which I'm proud of."

So Parry became a Swingle Singer at the age of 22, and remembers his five years with the group fondly. "I had a wonderful time. It was really good training ground for ensemble singing as well as being able to arrange a lot of my own music. I also got the chance to work with some famous names and sing in top venues." He got to travel all over the world too - something he found harder as the years went by. "I got married early on and we [he and his wife Kathryn Greeley] wanted to start a family. But I was on the road for eight months of the year and it gradually took its toll, so I decided to leave."

Parry then spent a year in the West End show City Of Angels before Kathryn, a professional violinist, was offered a job with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. That proved a turning point. "I thought, 'What do I want to do now? Do I carry on singing, write or conduct?' So I came up to Edinburgh to see what there was. I wasn't doing anything, while Kathryn was very busy, so to begin with I was really a house-husband."

He wasn't housebound for long. Soon he landed the post of SCO chorus-master - and, since the Consort was founded, he has never looked back. Indeed, the future looks very promising in both the short and the long term. This week the SCO Chorus and the Dunedin Consort are teaming up, with Parry directing, for two concerts entitled Hymns And Psalms, featuring music by Benjamin Britten and Henry Purcell.

"Despite the fact that 300 years separate them, Britten and Purcell really do complement each other so well. And they are two of my favourite British composers," says Parry. "Being from Suffolk I know all about Snape Maltings and Aldeburgh where Britten was so influential. In fact, my dad worked with Britten and provided many of the schoolchildren who sang in Britten's operas. I decided to give the concerts the title Hymns And Psalms because Britten wrote many great works as hymns - Hymn To St Cecilia and Hymn To The Virgin - while Purcell wrote a lot of psalm settings."

Perhaps Parry himself has a lot in common with Britten and Purcell. They both had a passion for music and music-making. And so does he.

The Dunedin Consort and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus will perform Hymns And Psalms at Glasgow Cathedral on March 9, and at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, on March 10. The album In The Beginning is out now on Linn l CD reviews: Pages 10 and 11 www.dunedin- consort.org.uk

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