The Sandgate Choir
Musical Director
Christopher Larley
Christopher Larley read music at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, graduating in 1995.
From 1996 to 2004 he was a Tenor Lay Vicar of Chichester Cathedral, and from January 2004 he has been Director of Music at St. Paul’s Church, Chichester.
From 1996 to 2015 he worked as a peripatetic singing and percussion teacher at many West Sussex school.
In 2015 he was appointed Director of Music at Great Ballard School, a thriving prep school set in the idyllic Sussex countryside. A position he stepped down from in July 2021 to focus on freelance music making once again.
Christopher has previously conducted Bognor Regis Choir, Chichester Chorale and Brighton Chamber Choir. He stepped down from the conductorship of Chantry Quire – a chamber choir dedicated to the promotion of new music alongside choral favourites - in December 2015 after a fruitful 16 years at the helm.
As director of St. Paul’s Choir, he has helped strengthen the links between the parish and their sister church in Berlin, touring there several times. A specially commissioned choral work The Tree of Peace was performed in 2016 to celebrate 30 years of this partnership.
He is very proud to be the conductor of the Chichester Vocal Orchestra, one of five choirs in the world that aims to inform, educate, and inspire audiences with the tale of the choirs formed in the Second World War POW camps in the Far East. The CVO has performed on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Songs of Praise.
As a tenor soloist, Christopher maintains a busy schedule of concerts, most recently including Haydn Creation, Beethoven Choral Symphony, Chilcott Requiem, Schubert Mass in Bb, Goodall Eternal Light, Mozart Mass in C, Coronation Mass, Solemn Vespers, Handel Messiah, and song recitals of music by Gurney and Wesley.
When not teaching, conducting or singing, Christopher enjoys playing and watching cricket; following the fortunes of Wales on the rugby field, Grimsby Town FC, and long distance running.
He is married with two daughters.
