New ISM President
15 May 2003The Incorporated Society of Musicians has a new President.
Professor John Morehen JP, the President for 2003-04, took over from Guy Woolfenden at the Society’s annual general meeting and gala dinner, held at the Alveston Manor Hotel, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 27 April.
Professor George Caird became President Elect for the year. He will take over as President from John Morehen at the ISM’s next annual general meeting and dinner, in Nottingham, on 18 April 2004.
Biographical notes of the ISM’s new President and President Elect are below.
At the Society’s annual Specialist Section meetings, also held in Stratford-upon-Avon during the annual conference, Paul Esswood became Warden of the Performers & Composers Section for the coming year, Colin Mackay Warden of the Private Teachers Section, and Shirley Taylor Warden of the Music in Education Section.
Presidents of the ISM, and Wardens of the Society’s three Specialist Sections, serve for one year. They precede their 12 months of office with a year as President (or Warden) Elect, and follow it with a year as Past President (or Warden).
Ends 06/2003
Note to Editors: The Incorporated Society of Musicians, founded in 1882, is the UK’s professional body for musicians. It aims to promote the art of music and uphold the honour and interests of the musical profession by protecting the interests of musicians, raising professional standards, and providing legal advice and other benefits to its members. Its 5,000 members include performers, teachers, composers, conductors, organists, writers and others involved in professional musical work.
Contact: Neil Hoyle, ISM Chief Executive, tel: 020 7629 4413.
PROFESSOR JOHN MOREHEN JP MA PhD FRCO(CHM) FRCCO FRSA – ISM PRESIDENT 2003-04
John Morehen was educated at Clifton College, and at New College, Oxford (1961-64), where he was organ scholar. From 1964 to 1967 he pursued research at Cambridge, though this was interrupted when he spent a semester at the College of Church Musicians, Washington DC, as holder of the Ralph H Lane Memorial Scholarship (1966). He subsequently held lectureships at the College of Church Musicians, and at American University, Washington DC, before returning to England as sub-organist of St George’s Chapel, Windsor (1968-72). He was appointed lecturer in music at Nottingham University in 1973, becoming successively senior lecturer (1982), Professor (1989) and Head of the School of Humanities (1998-2001). During a period of leave in 1979, he was a temporary adjunct lecturer at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
John Morehen is an authority on English music of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. He has been closely involved with several major editorial projects, including Early English Church Music, The English Madrigalists, and The Byrd Edition. He has been a regular Radio 3 recitalist and broadcaster since 1964, and has trained choirs for performances conducted by Lord Menuhin, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir David Willcocks and others. He has also given many presentations in North America and Europe at conferences on computer applications in musicology.
John Morehen has served as adviser to the Leverhulme Trust, president of the East Midlands Choirs Charitable Trust (1993-2000), panel member of the Humanities Research Board (1994-97), and adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (1996-2000). A member (and former chairman) of the ISM’s Nottingham Centre, he was also Warden of the Society’s Music in Education Section in 1995-96.
PROFESSOR GEORGE CAIRD MA FRAM FRCM FLCM – ISM PRESIDENT ELECT 2003-04
After studying at the RAM (1969-72) and Cambridge University (1973-76), George Caird pursued a freelance career as an oboist, which included orchestral playing, chamber music and solo engagements. He worked with many of London’s major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and City of London Sinfonia, and particularly as a member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from 1984 to 1991. He has also been a member of a number of leading ensembles, notably as a founder-member of the Albion Ensemble.
George has toured for the British Council in China, the Far East, India, Egypt, Tunisia and Canada, as well as performing in concerts and broadcasts in most European countries. He has recorded for the Chandos, Nimbus, Hyperion, Meridian and Proudsound labels with solo and chamber repertoire. In July 1996 he was the director of Stage 96, a chamber music course run by La Caixa de Pensiones in Catalonia, and in September 1996 he was a juror in the Munich International Oboe Competition. George has also sat on adjudication panels for the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the Audi Junior Musician, the Shell-LSO Competition, the YCAT Awards and the Chamber Music Competition for Schools.
George has also been involved in many areas of music education: teaching, devising education programmes, coaching chamber ensembles, conducting and coaching youth orchestras, and as a founding member of the British Double Reed Society. He was appointed as a professor of oboe at the RAM in 1984, where he became head of woodwind in 1987 and head of orchestral studies in 1991. Since September 1993, George has been principal of Birmingham Conservatoire, University of Central England. He holds a number of directorships and trusteeships, including Symphony Hall Birmingham and Arts Council, West Midlands. George is currently secretary of the Federation of British Conservatoires, and chairs the Music Education Council.
