Timothy Brown (conductor)
Timothy (Tim) Brown (born 9
December 1946) is an English choral
conductor. He was a chorister at Westminster
Abbey, and later an alto choral scholar at
King's College, Cambridge, under the
direction of Sir David Willcocks. He went on
to become a lay clerk at New College, Oxford,
and later as a schoolteacher for a number of
years.
In 1979 he succeeded John Rutter as
Director of Music at Clare College,
Cambridge and Director of Choir of Clare
College Cambridge. In his time at Clare he
released several acclaimed recordings with
the choir (largely on the Naxos label) by
composers including Rutter, Vaughan Williams and Stainer.
In 1986 he re-founded the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, directing
annual performances of all the major Bach and Handel oratorios. He later
founded the London-based professional chamber choir, English Voices.
Many of his students have gone on to form successful careers in music,
notably Norwich Cathedral organist David Dunnett and musician and plantcollector Jeremy Thurlow.
He is known as one of the best living choral conductors in the world.
He has edited a number of choral volumes for Faber Music and is a
contributing editor to the complete edition of music by William Walton,
published by Oxford University Press.
In 2010, he retired as Director of Music at Clare College, and became
Visiting Director of the choir of Robinson College, Cambridge, aiding its
meteoric rise in the choral world. In 2011 he founded The Zürich Singing
Academy; he now divides his time between Zurich and Cambridge.