Our Musical Director - Ben Gunner
Our Musical Director, Ben Gunner, founded the Royal Free Singers in 1973, while teaching music at the Princess Margaret Royal Free School in Windsor. It is now called Trevelyan School, but we are still called the Royal Free Singers and we are still proud to call Ben our Musical Director after all these years!
Ben Gunner studied organ, singing and conducting at Trinity College of Music, London. He was Head of Music at the Royal Free school from 1977 to 1989. He sang with many of London’s leading chamber choirs throughout the 70’s and 80’s, an experience which inspired him to set up his own choirs and orchestra. In the early 1980s he founded Schola Tamesis, a choir and orchestra specialising in the baroque and classical repertoire.
In addition to the Royal Free Singers, Ben is also the Conductor of the Orchestra of London and undertakes freelance conducting engagements in Europe, as well as being Director of Musica Europa, a concert tour agency.
“I still remember the first time we sang with about 15 parents from our school back in 1973. We were in the geography room, we had no piano and keyboards hadn’t even been invented! I had no idea that RFS would grow from those humble beginnings into the wonderful community of 100 singers and friends that it is today. I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved - both musically and socially - and always delighted to welcome new members into our family.”
Our Accompanist - John Chantrey
We are incredibly fortunate to have John Chantrey LRAM, ARCM, LTCL as our regular accompanist. With his amazing musical ability and wonderful sense of fun, John is a much loved member of the RFS 'family'.
John began his musical training at the age of four and, at only 13, was awarded the Princess Helena Victoria medal for gaining the highest marks in the country for the Grade 8 examination. After studying piano accompaniment with Paul Hamburger, he won a major scholarship to Trinity College of Music, London, where he was a member of the professorial staff for over 30 years.
His piano playing has taken him to many parts of the world and he was particularly honoured to have played for the late Dame Isobel Baillie. As a choir accompanist he has had the privilege of playing for the Brighton Festival Chorus under the direction of Sir Normal Delmar, André Previn and Lord Menuhin, and for the Royal Choral Society, Windsor Festival Chorus and the Slough Philharmonic Chorus.
Jonathan Willcocks was born in Worcester, England and after early musical training as a chorister at King’s College Cambridge and an Open Music Scholar at Clifton College he took an Honours degree in Music from Cambridge University where he held a choral scholarship at Trinity College.
As a composer, Jonathan’s music is published by Oxford University Press, the Lorenz group of companies, MorningStar and Prime Music (represented in USA/Canada by MorningStar). His published music includes major choral works, music for children's choirs, many shorter pieces (including anthems and secular choral music), orchestral and instrumental works. There are now many recordings of Jonathan’s music, and his music is frequently performed and broadcast in many parts of the world.
Jonathan is currently Musical Director of the Guildford Choral Society, the Chichester Singers and the professional chamber orchestra Southern Pro Musica. In recent seasons freelance conducting and workshop engagements have taken him to many parts of the world including USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, China and most of the European countries as well as the United Kingdom. These engagements have seen him conducting concerts in many of the world’s finest concert halls, including the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Perth Concert Hall, Australia as well as closer to home in the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. In May 2016 he also took on the position of Conductor of the Leith Hill Musical Festival.
Jonathan’s extensive choral and orchestral conducting experience results in many invitations to take choral workshops and adjudicate competitions. Although his career now focuses principally on his conducting and composition work, he has in the past held major posts in general and specialist music education – most recently at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Our Past Performances
Spring 2026
Autumn 2025
Summer 2025
Spring 2025
