Roger Langford
Biography
Roger was born in Hampstead, London and was brought up in Lichfield. He attended St Chads Cathedral School in Lichfield as was a chorister at the Cathedral, and Repton School, Derbyshire as a music scholar.
He then studied for a year at the Royal College of Music as a viola player and singer, but left because he felt he was too young to be in such an institution. Following this he was a teacher for a year at a prep school in Salisbury, where he taught everything under the sun except science.
Roger then entered York University, studying music, and on the whole had a fantastic time. He performed on stilts in Spanish in Manuel de Falla's Master Peter's Puppet Show , appearing as Don Quixote and broke a violin (legitimately) in Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell Davies. During this time he also sang with the Yorkshire Bach Choir taking part in many memorable performances of all of Bach's major choral works. He joined the internationally-renowned vocal ensemble Chiaruscuro , directed by Nigel Rogers and was lucky enough to perform at an early age in Holland, Germany, France and Italy. Chiaruscuro 's repertoire was mainly Renaissance and Baroque, and a highlight for Roger was singing the part of Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea in Padua. He also sang in York Minster as a Songman.
Following his studies at York Roger took another year out working in a company information firm in the City and teaching long-haired actors how to sing at East 15 Acting School.
He then won a scholarship to study singing at the Royal Academy of Music with Joy Mammen. There he concentrated principally on opera taking main character parts in Beatrice & Benedict (Berlioz), The Rape of Lucretia (Britten), The Crucible (Ward), and The Secret Marriage (Cimorosa). To support himself financially Roger worked in Villandry, an exclusive delicatessen on Marylebone High Street, where he developed a love of fine food and wine whilst serving the likes of Lulu, Wendy Richards, Elizabeth David and k d lang.
Following this rather extended educational period Roger finally made it on to the stage as a freelance opera singer for most of the 1990s, working for the likes of English Touring Opera, the English Bach Festival Trust, Pavilion Opera, Scottish Opera and European Chamber Opera. During this time he took lead roles in The Fairy Queen and Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Mozart's Cosi fan tutti and Don Giovanni , Don Pasquale (Donizetti) and La Boheme and Tosca (Puccini).
During non-singing periods Roger taught singing at two girls' schools in South West London, where he was also musical director for performances of Guys & Dolls , Fiddler on the Roof and HMS Pinafore .
In 2001 Roger and his wife Mel decided to leave the big smoke to return to Mel's home town of Hereford, and, as chance would have it, Mel spotted the GBS' advert for a conductor in Classical Music magazine. Roger decided to go for the audition because he had always wanted to conduct and it was a mere 20-odd miles from Hereford to Abergavenny. As luck would have it, he got the job. For the first seven months Roger commuted weekly from London, taking the opportunity to enjoy the delights of the hostelries of Abergavenny after most rehearsals.
In July 2002 the move to Hereford was finally made. By this time Roger had decided to embark on a PGCE course in secondary music, which he has now successfully completed. He now teaches secondary music in a large comprehensive in Hereford and a small private school (Lucton) in north Herefordshire. He also does a day's singing teacher at a school just outside Hereford and fills in any spare time with private pupils and taking a weekly music and movement class for adults with learning difficulties. More recently he has acted as singing coach for the children and nun's chorus in The Courtyard's (Herefordshire's Centre for the Arts) production of The Sound of Music . In September 2004 Roger became conductor of the Hereford Chamber Choir, a medium-sized vocal ensemble, which mostly performs a capella choral music in and around Hereford.
From the moment he got up to conduct the GBS in his audition Roger felt at home and experienced a strong rapport between the choir and himself. He was elated by the audition and even more so when several weeks later Alun Rolfe phoned to offer him the job. His first three have been a continually enjoyable, fascinating and challenging time. The choir has gone from strength to strength, and the standard has risen by dint of the hard work of everyone involved. For Roger, particular highlights include the Christmas Oratorio (Dec 2002), Stainer's Crucifixion (Easter 2003), Haydn's Harmonie Mass (December 2003), Bach's St John Passion (Easter 2004), Handel's Messiah (December 2004) and Brahms Deutches Requiem (Easter 2005).
Roger's future plans for the choir include Haydn's Nelson Mass and Bach's Magnificat (Christmas 2005), and the B minor Mass at Easter 2006.