Michael Walsh - Conductor
Michael was appointed Conductor of the CSO on the retirement of Ralph Willatt in 2005. He studied singing and organ at the RSCM and Trinity College of Music where he was awarded prizes for choir training, conducting and research including the prestigious Ricordi Opera Prize for conducting.
As well as being Conductor of the Chichester Symphony Orchestra, Michael has been principal Musical Director of CAOS Musical Productions, the Chichester Amateur Operatic Society, since 1980. He is also Associate Musical Director and Composer-in-Residence to the chamber choir Chichester Voices for whom he has composed several large-scale works with orchestral accompaniment. Several years ago, he was commissioned to write a double oboe concerto which was performed in Chichester Cathedral at one of the choir’s concerts and a Fanfare of the Heart for a concert sponsored by the British Heart Foundation. Since 2005, Michael has returned to the St Richard Singers as their conductor, having previously conducted them from 1976-1989.
Michael is editor of the Magazine Laudate for the Guild of Church Musicians and has a seat on their Council as well as that of the Guild of Musicians and Singers where he is Secretary General. He is also on the council of the Central School of Religion, the Curwen College of Music and is Registrar of the Metropolitan College of Music and Society of Crematorium Organists. In past years, he has conducted many concerts as part of the Chichester Festivities including a notable Fauré Requiem for Kosovo, the millennium Messiah in Chichester Cathedral in the BT Voices for Hospices series and Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man - a Mass for Peace in aid of the St Richard's Hospital Cancer Care Day Unit.
In 2003, his contribution to church music was recognised by the award of an Honorary Membership of the Guild of Church Musicians (HonGCM). He was also honoured that year to have been commissioned to compose a setting of the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis for the use of St. Paul's Cathedral Choir.