Musical Director

Crouch End Festival Chorus is one of the world’s leading symphonic choirs, a result achieved under the exclusive direction of David Temple, in his roles as conductor and chorus master. His imaginative and innovative programme planning, including several ambitious commissions, has brought the choir to the forefront of music-making in the UK.

>> Read an interview with David in Choir and Organ Magazine (June 09)

David came to London in 1972 and joined the London Philharmonic Choir, where he sang as a tenor under chorus master John Alldis. He performed with many great conductors including Boult, Stokowski, Solti, Haitink, Tennstedt, Barenboim, Giulini and Rattle.

In 1984 he became musical director of the newly formed Crouch End Festival Chorus. Since then, CEFC has progressed from being a reputable local choral society to a choir of international standing, regularly drawing in substantial audiences at major London venues. David’s recent work with the choir includes the Berlioz Te Deum at the 2009 BBC Proms and Britten’s War Requiem at the Barbican.

David’s interests include pop and rock music, and he has worked with the rock band Travis, as well as with The Divine Comedy and Goldfrapp. David worked closely with Ray Davies of the Kinks on his choral piece The Flatlands, and singers from CEFC accompanied Ray and his band in the climactic concert of the BBC’s 2007 Electric Proms - followed by two performances at the Hampton Court Festival. David has now recorded an album of new choral versions of Kinks classics and has recently toured the USA with Ray Davies. The success of the choir’s work with Ennio Morricone led to an invitation to accompany superband Oasis in their concert at the 2008 Electric Proms.

Under David’s direction, CEFC singers have been invited several times to record background music for the BBC’s Doctor Who, and the choir has appeared on the soundtracks of numerous films, including the Hollywood blockbusters Journey to the Center of the Earth and Prince Caspian. David has worked regularly with film composers Gabriel Yared and Ennio Morricone, who is a patron of Crouch End Festival Chorus.

David has also been Musical Director of Hertfordshire Chorus since 2000. Hertfordshire Chorus’s latest commission is a work by Steve Block, Solaris, which premieres at the Barbican in May 2010.

David is supported by CEFC’s principal accompanist Peter Jaekel and associate accompanist Paul Ayres.

You can email David by clicking here.