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Next rehearsal: Wednesday 21 January 2026, 7 pm, St George's Church. ALL WELCOME!
Whilst studying Chemistry at the University of Kent, Nigel Russell-Sewell won a bursary to study singing for three years with Kathryn Lewis in Canterbury. He moved to London in 1994, joining the Philharmonia Chorus and was a founding member of the Quartet of St Giles-in-the-Fields. With the Philharmonia Chorus, under David Hill and Robert Dean, he sang in Europe's finest concert halls for some of the world's greatest conductors; a particular highlight was singing for Pope Saint John Paul II's 80th birthday in The Vatican. During this time, he continued to study singing with Professor Brian Trueman at the London College of Music.
Moving to Sheffield in 2000, Nigel returned to sing in his native Buxton with the Buxton Madrigal Singers under the direction of Michael Williams MBE.
Following two years of part-time study, he was awarded a Diploma in Music from the Open University in 2001.
Nigel was appointed Songman in Sheffield Cathedral Choir in 2003 a role he held until the choir was closed in 2020; singing five services a week, concerts, tours of the UK and Europe, live broadcasts on both television and radio, and a number of CD recordings. He was humbled to have sung for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at the Office for the Royal Maundy on 2 April 2015, and found trying to sing ‘Zadok the Priest’ with The Queen a foot behind him most challenging!
On stage he has sung the roles of Father (Humperdink - Hansel and Gretel), and Samuel (Sullivan - Pirates of Penzance); in concert: Dichterliebe (Schumann), Songs of Travel (Vaughan Williams), Earth and Air and Rain (Finzi), Songs of the Sea (Stanford), Folk Songs (Britten), and a programme of Victorian Parlour Songs.
Nigel conducted Sheffield Cathedral Choir regularly and played the organ for Sunday morning and evening services out of choir term time. He also regularly played the four-manual Hill organ at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist in Buxton and had the privilege of accompanying the Buxton Madrigal Singers for Choral Evensong on the Harrison & Harrison organ at Durham Cathedral in September 2011.
Nigel was Musical Director of Worrall Male Voice Choir from 2004 until 2019 with two rehearsals a week and ~20 concert engagements annually. Sadly, the choir folded due to dwindling membership but lives on through the Worrall Male Voice Choir Musical Grants Foundation, for which Nigel remains a Trustee.
From 2017 to 2022 Nigel was Musical Director of Escafeld Chorale, performing four concerts a year with varied repertoire from Elgar’s The Music Makers to choruses from musicals, madrigals, and Salieri’s Requiem.
On moving to Newcastle in 2021, Nigel deputised as a Lay Clerk in Newcastle Cathedral Choir, later taking on the role of Saturday Lay Clerk until August 2024.
He joined the Parish Church Choir at St George’s, Jesmond, in September 2022 and was later appointed Assistant Director of Music. He has directed a number of Choral Evensong services, a ‘come and sing’ day featuring Karl Jenkins The Armed Man: a Mass for Peace, and deputises for the Director of Music, Drew Cantrill-Fenwick. In November 2025 he started a new group, St George’s Community Choir.
Since September 2025, Nigel has been training to be a Reader (Licensed Lay Minister) in the Church of England at Lindisfarne College of Theology.
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