Richard Mayo BY CAMERON PYKE
He cares about this music deeply and studies the scores with an appropriate reverence to previous interpretations. Bernard Haitink is perhaps the conductor whose artistry he most admires. Richard has also founded and directed two new groups – the Dulwich College Chamber Choir and the Dulwich College Chorus. He founded the former in 2011, not least because it was clear to him that in the College was a group of very capable singers. The group was augmented by other capable singers, including OAs, parents and for- mer parents. The highlight for this group was the perfor- mance he conducted of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor in St James’s Church Piccadilly in October 2021, the Choir’s tenth anniversary, just as the country was emerging from the pandemic. The orchestra was led by Lesley Larkum and included a number of senior Music Award holders and music staff from the College. The performance, given to a near capacity audience, had a particular resonance, joy and energy. The author also remembers a deeply moving and beautifully phrased performance of Fauré’s Requiem in the same year, a reminder that live mu- sic-making should never be taken for granted. Richard also introduced the annual Choral Concert in March 2006, founding the Dulwich College Chorus with a performance of Haydn’s The Creation in Great Hall. Subsequent highlights have been the performance in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge in 2015 of Duruflé’s Requiem and the first of three commissioned works by Cecilia McDowall with text by the Master, Some Corner of a Foreign Field . A sequence of large-scale performanc- es have been equally memorable: Elgar’s The Spirit of England in 2014, Holst’s The Hymn of Jesus in 2023 and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius at Southwark Cathedral
Richard’s 20 years as Director of Music at the College have been marked by an outstanding commitment to perfor- mance, to the Classical canon and to the commissioning of choral works from contemporary composers. All of this has been achieved with a characteristic humanity and pas- toral sensitivity towards the pupils involved. His conducting of the Chapel Choir for its services in Chapel, as well as joint evensongs with JAGS and visits to English cathedrals, has exemplified this vision. The Quatercentenary Service in St Paul’s Cathedral, at which the choir sang Finzi’s ‘God is Gone Up’, accompanied by James Orford OA, was a very memorable occasion, and Richard’s assistance in the planning and logistics was characteristically generous. The inception of the College’s Carol Service at Southwark Cathedral, a decision taken by the Master for December 2010, has also been significant; many have come to love the unique ambience of this wonderful building, with its sublime vaulting and external rattle of trains. There was also a tour to Washington DC, New York and Philadelphia in 2017 with over 50 College musicians, which included the premiere of De Profundis, by Cecilia McDowall, in St Thomas’s Church, Fifth Avenue. Richard was also heav- ily involved in the Dulwich Olympiads of 2015, 2019 and 2024; the most recent, in Singapore, included 32 musi- cians from the College and JAGS. Richard strongly believes in the importance of perfor- mance as a living tradition. There are many facets of this. Highlights of his conducting of the Symphony Orchestra have been Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra in 2006, movements from Tchaikovsky’s sym- phonies, and Brahms Symphony No.1 in 2023–24. These have been meticulously rehearsed in the Great Hall, with Richard giving our players confidence in their phrasing whilst never making performances seem unduly ‘safe’.
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THE ALLEYNIAN 712
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