Music Director

Founder Harry Fearnley appointed Simon Lindley Music Director of St Peter's Singers on the Choir's foundation in the Spring of 1977 and Dr Lindley has served in this capacity ever since. The long and distinguished service of Principal Soprano Sybil Chambers [1938-1998] proved integral to the ongoing development of St Peter's Singers; many of Sybil's former singing students still sustain close connections with the choir. Additionally, St Peter's Singers remains fortunate in benefitting from the devoted commitment of some of the North of England's leading vocal soloists in performances that enjoy widespread critical acclaim.

The choir's first presentation of Bach's Mass in B minor for the Bach Tercentenary in 1985 has been followed by many subsequent performances; the two Passion settings and the Christmas Oratorio also feature regularly in the annual programme and there have been two Bach Festivals in 1996 and 2000. For the past few years, the Singers have presented Fulneck Baroque events with orchestra on August Bank Holiday Monday at the Moravian Church, Fulneck, near Pudsey. The 2010 programme, at 3.00 pm on 30 August, comprises Handel's four anthems for the 1727 Coronation and his Anthem on the Peace of 1748

Closely involved with the rich West Riding choral and banding tradition, Simon directs many community choir events - including major Come Sing and Christmas presentations in support of charitable causes. Simon is Music Director of Overgate Hospice Choir, Halifax and of Leeds College of Music Community Choral Society. Simon is also Conductor of Sheffield Bach Choir, to which post he was appointed in 2009, and currently serving as Guest Conductor of Doncaster Choral Society.

He is a frequent and welcome guest director of choir courses - particularly those in the United States arranged by the Royal School of Church Music - and his small-scale liturgical compositions and carol arrangements are performed throughout the English-speaking world. His setting of Ave Maria, now available for SATB choir as well as in the upper-voice original, is in the choral repertoire of countless choirs in parish churches, chapels, schools and cathedrals and has been recorded many times, most recently by Katherine Jenkins in her Sacred Arias anthology. Simon has more arrangements of Easter Carols currently in print than any other composer.

Educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford and the Royal College of Music, Simon came to Leeds in 1975 to succeed his distinguished predecessor Dr Donald Hunt as Organist and Master of the Music at the City's Parish Church [St Peter-at-Leeds]. The year following, he was appointed fourth City Organist, also in succession to Dr Hunt.

Simon was previously Peter Hurford's first full-time assistant at St Albans Cathedral and Director of Music at St Albans School. At the School, the boys' choir of sopranos and altos fast became a feature of London musical life with regular concerts at leading venues and BBC recordings.

Choral work during student days in London included the direction of choirs in the City of London. He retains strong links with the City to this day - as Chairman of the Friends of the Musicians' Chapel at the National Musicians' Church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate [and also as a Churchwarden of St Sepulchre's] and as a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Simon's interests include cooking, walking, travel - especially rail travel, inland waterways, local history, writing, printing and typography. He is very widely travelled as a solo organist, and an extensive discography includes two best-selling Naxos releases [French Organ Music from the Parish Church and Handel Concertos with Northern Sinfonia], and an award-winning performance of Khachaturian's Organ Symphony with the BBC Philharmonic.

Simon is a Fellow and Vice-President of the Royal College of Organists [he was the College's President from 2000 to 2003] and of Trinity College of Music. He was President of the Incorporated Association of Organists from 2003 to 2005. Simon holds honorary Fellowships from Leeds College of Music, the Guild of Church Musicians, the Guild of Musicians and Singers, and, most recently, from the Royal School of Church Music.

In Autumn of 2001, an honorary doctorate of Leeds Metropolitan University was conferred upon him in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the musical and civic life of his adopted city and in Spring 2006 he was presented with the coveted Spirit of Leeds award by Leeds Civic Trust,and in February 2009 was made an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of Leeds.

Family roots in Belgium and Yorkshire continue to exercise an uncanny influence on his life and career. He is a leading interpreter of Belgian organ music and committed whole-heartedly to the support and enhancement of Yorkshire's musical heritage. His maternal great-grandmother, Marie Brema, sang the part of the Angel in the première of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and his own links with the music of Elgar include an acclaimed performance of the Organ Sonata at the 1975 Henry Wood Promenade Concerts broadcast on BBC Radio Three live from the Royal Albert Hall.

He has four children. The eldest, Nicolas [married with two children and a former Parish Church Head Chorister] lives in Tampa, Florida, USA. York University graduate Dominic is an Economic Adviser to the Consumers' Association. Benedict and Rebecca have both remained in Leeds after graduation from universities in Leeds and Newcastle