Michael is a Lancastrian, educated in Blackpool. It was here that he gained his initial musical grounding, learning the piano and the organ (though not, it is noted, under the tuition of Reginald Dixon).

He then joined the army, passing through the Army Junior School of Music at Pirbright and the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall. Joining the Band of the Grenadier Guards as a pianist, organist, and trumpeter, he performed in a number of State functions in the Royal Palaces.

After serving five years in the Grenadier Guards, Michael enrolled at the Royal College of Music to study piano and piano accompaniment, where he was kept very busy with solo and accompanying engagements.

On graduating, he remained at the College as a postgraduate repetiteur in the opera department. In parallel with his studies, Michael also served as Director of Music for two churches on the Isle of Dogs.

Since leaving the RCM, Michael held positions as Organ and Choral Scholar at The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and as Organist and Choir Master at St. Paul's Church in Bedford, before taking up his present post as Director of Music at St. John's Wood Church.

At the same time as holding down these 'day jobs', Michael has followed a flourishing freelance career as an organ and piano recitalist. He has performed at Wigmore Hall, Westminster Abbey and Chester Cathedral, amongst others, and has given radio broadcasts for Radios 2 and 3 and the World Service. He has also toured in Europe. Afurther appointment of a local significance was a year spent as Assistant Conductor and Repetiteur with the Aeolian Singers in Hemel Hempstead.

With all this behind him, Michael has a great deal to offer us at The Chiltern Choir. We have been enjoying stimulating and enjoyable Tuesday night rehearsals, punctuated with a series of memorably exciting concerts.