Manvinder rattan biography
- Manvinder is one of the U.K.'s most experienced conductor trainers with a considerable track record of success in both choral and orchestral training.
- Biography.
- · Manvinder has been Musical Director of the John Lewis Partnership Music Society since 1995.
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Born Oldham in 1928, James was the only child of parents who worked in the Lancashire cotton trade. He had piano and later organ lessons with a local teacher, Arnold Eastwood and started his musical life as a choirboy in his local church choir alongside Margery Thomas, five years his senior, who inspired him when she sang the contralto solos in ‘Messiah’, and who later went on to be one of Britain’s greatest singers.
After leaving school, he worked in local government until he won a place at the Royal Manchester School of Music. There he took joint first studies of piano, with Iso Ellison, and also organ, and later studied voice with Elsie Thurston. He then became a music teacher at Hollinwood Secondary Modern School in Oldham, where he started a school choir, winning festivals and doing broadcasts for BBC North.
It was at this point that he realised that success in music can boost self-confidence which was what youngsters at the school lacked, and that it can help people achieve in other areas. He believed wholeheartedly that music is for everyone and that singing can bind peop
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The Choir (TV series)
British television series
| The Choir | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary Reality television |
| Directed by | Dollan Cannell (Unsung Town) Sing while you work S2 Peter Coventry (Episode 1) Stuart Froude (Episode 2) Tim Hancock (Episode 3) |
| Presented by | Gareth Malone |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 28 + 10 Specials |
| Executive producers | Jamie Isaacs Lucy Hillman (Military Wives, Unsung Town Revisited) |
| Producers | Pete Cooksley (Sing while you work) Ludo Graham Rachel Morgan (Sing while you work Series 2) Dollan Cannell (Unsung Town Revisited) Stephen Finnigan (Military Wives) |
| Running time | 60 min |
| Production companies | Twenty Twenty BBC |
| Network | BBC Two |
| Release | 4 December 2006 (2006-12-04) – 5 December 2016 (2016-12-05) |
| The Choir: Revisited | |
The Choir is a BAFTA award-winning TV series following Gareth Malone as he tackles the task of teaching choral singing to people who have never had the chance, or experience to sing before.
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Biography
But music wasn't his intended career and Manvinder joined John Lewis as a graduate trainee in 1989 in Sheffield where he sang with the Cathedral choir and then to Portsmouth where he also sang with the Cathedral Choir. A move to John Lewis Watford brought his first contact with the John Lewis Partnership Music Society, first as as performer and then, from 1995, as its Musical Director, initially in addition to his role as a selling manager, and from 2006, as his primary role in the company.
in 1994, its single choir gave two performances a year; now with over eight choirs around the country, activity has grown hugely. Manvinder established The Cavendish Singers, an award-winning chamber choir, and The Cavendish Ensemble, voted one of London's top five amateur orchestras in 2009 by Classical Music magazine. Find out more about the John Lewis Partnership Music Society here.
Manvinder enjoys delivering singing workshops around the country; seeing people sing when they always believed they couldn't is something he finds very fulfilling. He has been known to have a roomf