John Naylor - Music Director

John Naylor was a chorister at Durham, a choral Scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, and a member of the choir at the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, The Monteverdi Choir and a founder member of the chorus of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

John founded The Lydian Singers in 1980 (disbanded in 2022) - they were one of the leading chamber choirs in the NW of England. Over the years they sung in most of the cathedrals in the UK and Eire and toured extensively in Spain, Italy and France.

John also conducts Nantwich Choral Society and the fully professional Northern Concordia Orchestra with whom he has performed many of the major works in the choral repertoire.  He is a popular and successful director of ‘Singing Days’ with ad-hoc groups of singers of all levels of experience and is particularly noted for his friendly encouragement of singers of all ages and abilities.

John was awarded the British Empire Medal for Services to Music in the 2026 New Years Honours List. 

Willow Northeald - Accompanist

Willow Northeald was born and raised in Hexham, Northumberland. Their musical education began as a chorister in Hexham Abbey with studies on the abbey’s famous organ with the then director of music, John Green. They went on to study the organ and harpsichord full-time at the Royal Northern College of Music. Since completing studies Willow has been sometime organ scholar at Chester Cathedral, and is currently Assistant Organist at St John the Divine, Kennington. Willow is accompanist to many choirs around London and beyond, including the Vasari Singers, the Vivace Chorus, Voces Usuales, the Open University Chapel Choir, and the Charpentier Consort. During daylight hours Willow is Assistant to the Minor Canons of Westminster Abbey, responsible for organising the Abbey’s statutory liturgy. Willow is a Trustee and Treasurer of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship. But there is nothing they like more than travelling around the country on foot with little more than a map, a tent, and a tiny cooker for comfort, avoiding anywhere photographed by Google.