Special People
We are delighted to have the support and guidance of some very special people, whose expertise, knowledge and experience of the choral music world is invaluable in helping us present exciting and innovative programmes.
PRESIDENT – Marcus Farnsworth
Baritone Marcus Farnsworth, the Choir’s President, is now much lauded for both his singing and his conducting. Marcus was a chorister at Southwell Minster, then studied music at Manchester University, where he conducted the University Chorus, and built a strong connection with St George’s Singers as Assistant Conductor. Following graduation with first-class honours, he went to the Royal Academy of Music in London, winning the 2009 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Kathleen Ferrier Competition in 2011. He now performs all over the world as a recitalist, and on the opera and concert stages, and was most recently seen on BBC Four in the role of the Traveller in Britten’s Curlew River with Sir Willard White and Ian Bostridge.
In 2014 Marcus established the Southwell Music Festival, for which he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, a singular honour for one so young. In addition to his busy performance schedule and his work as Artistic Director of Southwell Music Festival, he also holds a position as Head of Vocal and Choral Studies at Chetham’s School of Music. Marcus retains strong links with Manchester and St George’s Singers.
VICE PRESIDENT – Sasha Johnson-Manning
Sasha Johnson Manning graduated in voice and cello from the Royal Academy of Music in 1985, and has worked as a full-time soprano and composer ever since. She first came to the attention of St George’s Singers when, in 2001, we commissioned her to write a piece for the Choir. Sasha’s three-movement setting of Psalm 91 made her an SGS favourite, and since then we have been fortunate to have commissioned a number of her works: a setting of Wendy Cope’s The Christmas Life in 2005; a setting of Dryden’s A Song for St Cecilia’s Day as a gift for Stephen Williams in 2006; and in 2018 the husband of our librarian, Gwyneth Pailin, asked Sasha to set Blake’s Divine Image as a gift to mark a special birthday. Most recently the Choir collaborated with the Wittingham Lives Project to commission War’s Embers for performance at the RNCM, marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War.
As a composer Sasha specialises in writing for voices and for eight years held the position of composer-in-residence of the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus of Missouri, culminating in a Requiem for St. Louis. Sasha has composed for Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Lynne Dawson, Claron McFadden and the London Baroque. In 2007 she composed the music for a major new piece, The Manchester Carols, a festive suite of new carols with words by Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, the premiere of which took place at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Sasha became a Vice President of the Choir in 2018.
VICE PRESIDENT – Stephen Threlfall
An experienced and highly versatile musician, Stephen is a conductor, cellist, educator and creative director with a string of award-winning projects to his credit. He has built an enviable reputation as a conductor, and has created a number of arts and community projects involving an impressive number of guest musicians, artists and specialists. His numerous concerts, recordings and broadcasts include major festivals and venues, many with professional orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic and Northen Chamber orchestras, Manchester Camerata and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Formerly sub-principal cello with the BBC Philharmonic, Stephen was Director of Music at Chetham’s School of Music (1995–2019) where he pioneered many new and collaborative ventures, some of them involving St George’s Singers. Stephen now enjoys an ongoing career as a freelance conductor and chamber musician. In 2020 he became Artistic Director of the Lake District Summer Music Festival and in 2023 was appointed Conductor of the Orchestra of Square Chapel. A consummate communicator, Stephen brings his experience, enthusiasm and creative vision to the artistic direction and programming of concerts, festivals and collaborative educational events.
VICE PRESIDENT – Stephen Williams
Stephen Williams was a chorister at Carlisle Cathedral, and after graduating from Leeds University, studied singing and conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music. He became a music teacher at Manchester Grammar School, but then began a conducting career with Leeds University Chamber Choir. After that he was appointed Musical Director and Chorusmaster of many British choirs, including the BBC Daily Service Singers, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus, St Endellion Festival Chorus, Manchester Chamber Choir, Manchester University Chorus, The Chapter House Choir and from 1996 to 2006 was Musical Director of St George’s Singers. He was Director of Music at Shrewsbury School, and with Uppingham School Chapel Choir he performed in New York, Cologne, Brussels, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as at the Royal Albert Hall for the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance. As an education consultant he has run workshops and singing days for many choirs, as well as for the ABCD and Making Music.
