Russell Medley

Russell has had a long association with us.  He has been our Musical Director since 1983 and was our accompanist for 10 years prior to that.

Russell trained at the Royal Manchester and Royal Northern Colleges of music where he studied piano, conducting, double bass and composition achieving, amongst other things, the Performance Diploma with Distinction in Accompaniment. On completing his studies, he joined the staff of the RNCM, firstly as an accompanist in the school of Keyboard Studies and later as a repetiteur in the school of Vocal and Opera Studies. He also studied organ with Michael English and joined Sale Choral Society as accompanist under Michael's direction . At this time he was also awarded the Accompanists Prize in the NW Arts concert series.

During his career he has recorded for the BBC,ITV and Radio Telefis Eireann and worked with numerous international singers and conductors.

He has accompanied many choral societies as well as guesting as conductor, and has led masterclasses both in the UK and abroad.

He has been Musical Director of the Northern England Chorale, The Lindow Singers and Hoylake Choral Society. He has recently celebrated 40 years as MD of Sale Choral Society. For many years he was Accompanist and Asst Chorus Master to the Halle Choir in Manchester and in September 2024 was appointed accompanist to the Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, a role he is thoroughly enjoying.

Russell has a vast repertoire of choral music and has conducted most of the major works as well as many smaller and contemporary pieces. For thirty years he was a national and international examiner for the ABRSM examining in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Africa, Italy, Austria, Holland, U.S.A. as well as most of the UK.