Merel van der Knoop is our MD, having led the choir covering for our previous Music Director’s maternity leave. She gained a Bachelor's degree in solo piano from the Rotterdam Conservatoire in The Netherlands and then went on to study Piano Accompaniment at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama from which she graduated with a Masters in Music and a Masters in Music Performance, Guildhall Artist degree.
Merel currently works as a freelance accompanist and vocal coach besides teaching singing, piano, leading choirs and being staff accompanist in two private schools in Wimbledon. She is also a classical artist on board P&O cruises and took up the position of covering Head of Music at the Hall School in Wimbledon from 2016 – 2017. In 2021 she became MD of the South London Military Wives' choirs.
Besides being active as an accompanist Merel also took acting classes at Morley College and City Lit. She was part of the City Lit Rep Company which took Hamlet to the RSC Open Air Festival in Stratford upon Avon. Merel currently also works as an extra for tv commercials and feature films.
Merel van der Knoop is our MD, having led the choir covering for our previous Music Director’s maternity leave. She gained a Bachelor's degree in solo piano from the Rotterdam Conservatoire in The Netherlands and then went on to study Piano Accompaniment at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama from which she graduated with a Masters in Music and a Masters in Music Performance, Guildhall Artist degree.
Merel currently works as a freelance accompanist and vocal coach besides teaching singing, piano, leading choirs and being staff accompanist in two private schools in Wimbledon. She is also a classical artist on board P&O cruises and took up the position of covering Head of Music at the Hall School in Wimbledon from 2016 – 2017. In 2021 she became MD of the South London Military Wives' choirs.
Besides being active as an accompanist Merel also took acting classes at Morley College and City Lit. She was part of the City Lit Rep Company which took Hamlet to the RSC Open Air Festival in Stratford upon Avon. Merel currently also works as an extra for tv commercials and feature films.
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David Morris is currently standing in as our Music Director.
David holds a Masters degree in Performance Practice from Trinity College of Music, now Trinity Laban. He was Commended in the Wilfred Hamilton Clarinet Prize and subsequently gained both his LTCL and DipABRSM. Alongside London’s Transport Choir, David founded and conducts both BT’s office choir in London and the Bloomsbury Band of Flutes and Clarinets, and shares the conducting at The Palace Band in Muswell Hill. He has created and led over 150 performances. A choral singer himself, David has performed in all the major London concert halls and toured abroad. |
Previous posts include band conductor at Barnet Music Centre and an assistant conductor at the Chandos Chamber Choir. David has taught clarinet and saxophone in schools across North London and delivered whole-class clarinet and singing tuition. He has tutored on adult courses at Morley College and Benslow Music Trust. His articles have appeared in the music press and he remains a commercial consultant for Samek Music. During COVID, David qualified as a secondary school teacher.
Like many in LTC, David is also an engineer and, as a Physics graduate, was for many years also a global commercial leader in the development of international optical fibre subsea telecommunications cables.
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Like many in LTC, David is also an engineer and, as a Physics graduate, was for many years also a global commercial leader in the development of international optical fibre subsea telecommunications cables.
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