Quintin Beer
Quintin Beer is a choral director, prize-winning conductor and well-established as a versatile musician.In addition to his role with Saffron Walden Choral Society, he is Director of Music at St Peter's College Oxford and at St Cuthbert’s Church Earl’s Court. He was appointed Associate Conductor of Ex Cathedra in September 2021.
Quintin gained his MA in Choral Conducting from the Royal Academy of Music, studying under Patrick Russill and graduating with Distinction in July 2019. He was awarded the DipRAM, the Academy's own premier prix for an outstanding performance in a final recital. At his graduation ceremony, Quintin was the recipient of the Academy's Foundation Award, a prize for excellent studentship and all-round contribution to the institution.
A music graduate of St John’s College Cambridge, Quintin sang in the world-famous College Choir as a Choral Scholar during his undergraduate degree. He remains very active as a baritone, frequently singing as a deputy in the choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St George’s Chapel Windsor and other London churches and cathedrals.
Quintin’s recent professional highlights include a concert of English Baroque music with Les Pages et Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles in the Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles in May 2022. In July and August 2022, Quintin was a Chorus Master at the world-renowned St Endellion Festival, conducting concerts and services, as well as preparing the chorus for an immersive performance of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, directed by Rory Kinnear and conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, with Mark Padmore in the title role, Roderick Williams as Balstrode, and Sophie Bevan as Ellen.
On the international stage, Quintin is establishing himself as a major player; he won third prize at the first ever Conducting Competition at the International Choral Festival of Preveza, Greece, 2022 He has also won Best Interpretation of a French Baroque Piece at the International Competition for Young Conductors, Paris, 2019, second prize at the Dima International Music Competition, Cluj, Romania, 2018 and gained a place on the Jury’s List of the World Choral Conducting Competition, 2019. He was awarded a fellowship to the Yale School of Music 2019 Summer School programme in Norfolk, Connecticut under the direction of Simon Carrington. He was made Associate Conductor of the Brandenburg Choral Festival in November 2019 and has previously been contracted by the Rundfunkchor Berlin. In October 2019, he conducted the Choeur de l'Orchestre de Paris in movements from Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil and a new commission Brightest Star by Cecilia McDowall.
