Meet the team who keep the Pinkie magic alive!
Artistic team
Musical Director, Murray Hipkin
Murray, Musical Director
Murray studied at York University, the Guildhall and the National Opera Studio before joining the Music Staff of English National Opera where he still somehow manages to hold down his day job as Répétiteur and Assistant Conductor.
He has been North London Chorus’s Musical Director since 2003 and took on the Pinkies in 2010 and the ENO Community Choir in 2016. For ENO he has conducted The Mikado, The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance, Kismet and The Duchess of Malfi. He was Assistant Conductor and Chorus Master on ENO’s Sweeney Todd with Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel, and Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close.
Other career highlights include working with Stephen Sondheim on Pacific Overtures (ENO), coaching Björk for two projects, accompanying rehearsals of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (ENO), conducting over 170 performances as Musical Director of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium, working with his cousin, Rufus Norris and Damon Albarn on Dr Dee (ENO), hearing his English translation of Gluck’s Le cinesi performed at the Wigmore Hall and conducting Britten’s War Requiem in Berlin in November 2013(NLC).
Accompanist, John Flinders
John Flinders, Accompanist
John studied at the University of York and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and now has a flourishing career as a soloist, accompanist, coach and teacher. His recordings on the Clarinet Classics label have been acclaimed by BBC Music Magazine, the Sunday Times and Gramophone. In 2014 he featured as piano soloist on the soundtrack of the major ITV series ‘The Great War: The People’s Story’ and in 2015 he gave three performances of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto.
Other recent performances have included Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto K449 at Aberystwyth MusicFest, where he is co-director of the annual Classical Vocal Course.
John joined the Pink Singers in 2011, and has travelled with them to Iceland, India, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands. He performs regularly with singers and instrumentalists, coaches the next generation of British musicians at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and is a teacher and accompanist at St Paul’s Girls’ School.
Artistic Director, Oliver Gilbody
Oliver Gilbody, Artistic Director
Oliver studied drama at the BAFTA Award winning ‘Television Workshop’ and performed in several theatre productions and television series including; Chris Cross, Very Big, Very Soon and Dark of the Moon.
He attended South Nottinghamshire Music School and went on to study music at the University of Sussex and the London Guildhall. Oliver performed as part of the group Pop and won Best Vocal Act at the 2000 Loot Music Awards.
He has performed as a backing dancer on the popular French television music show; Hit Machine and as a dance and vocalist contestant on BBC 1’s live Saturday night programmes; Strictly Dance Fever and Music Live! Pop Pickers Finalists.
Previously he has been the Artistic Director for 9 Pink Singers’ concerts.
Management committee
The management committee are the backbone of the choir ensuring we keep the choir running from week to week and it’s a fun environment for all our wonderful members. The committee is drawn entirely from the choir. Want to contact us? Details are below.
Contact us:
Chair, Zoë Burdo: chair@pinksingers.co.uk
Musical Director, Murray Hipkin: md@pinksingers.co.uk
Artistic Director, Oliver Gilbody: ad@pinksingers.co.uk
Concerts Producer, Simon Wilkinson: concerts@pinksingers.co.uk
Contents Manager, Charly Milton: multimedia@pinksingers.co.uk
Marketing and Publicity Director, Stephen Coote: publicity@pinksingers.co.uk
Membership and Social Secretary, Paul Roets-Truesdale: membership@pinksingers.co.uk
Communities Director, Jezza Donovan: communities@pinksingers.co.uk
Events Manager, Gareth Moss: events@pinksingers.co.uk
Treasurer, Louise Thomas: treasurer@pinksingers.co.uk
Secretary, Jen Edge: secretary@pinksingers.co.uk