Roy McCormack
Roy took over as conductor in September 2000 but sang with the choir for several years before. He started singing at the age of 11 in a good local church choir and began playing the flute. After finishing his A levels he went on to study a degree, in Music, with the University of Wales at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. After completing the course and being employed in several other jobs, he studied his PGCE at the Didsbury School of Education in Manchester. He worked for six years in Shotton Hall Comprehensive, Peterlee and then spent eight years as the Head of Music at Risedale Community College in Catterick Garrison. Over the last few years his ICT teaching has increased to the point where he is no longer teaching music.
His conducting experience includes conducting two choral societies whilst studying for his degree, conducting a student orchestra in college, conducting the college School's Opera, performances of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel and presently conducts the Intermediate Wind Band at the Northallerton Music Centre. He has sung with various Church choirs, The South West and Midlands Cathedral Singers, the Highnam National Opera, his college chamber choir, the National Youth Choir of Wales, the North Yorkshire Chorus, Richmondshire Choral Society and the Wensleydale Chorus. As well as still singing with the Wensleydale Chorus he also plays flute in the Richmondshire Orchestra. His latest music adventure is having some of his compositions published by Spartan Press. This consists of a book of 10 compositions published for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, cello, trumpet and trombone.
As a tenor he is invited to sing with many choirs and has learnt the useful ability of looking at other singers when he sings a wrong note.
Su McCormack
Su started playing the flute and piano form an early age (one of her flute teachers being George Galway, brother of the famous James Galway). After completing her A levels she went on to study for a B.Ed. degree with the University of Wales at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and the South Glamorgan Institute of Education. When she finished her degree in 1988 she took up the post of second in department at Richmond school, North Yorkshire, where she is still teaching today as Head of Department. Her School orchestra has been invited to take part in the Finals of Music for Youth, London, and the school string orchestra and other ensembles took part in a very successful tour of America. The next tour will be in Europe (Austra, Germany and France) in Easter 2006.
Her previous playing experience includes principle flute/piccolo with the Rochdale Youth Orchestra with whom she also performed a Mozart Piano Concerto as part of a Concerto Series. She has accompanied the Richmond School Singers and is at present the principle flute in the Richmondshire Orchestra and conductor of Junior Band at the Northallerton Music Centre.
Her biggest problem is that she is married to the conductor who constantly comments on her piano playing.
