Ben Vonberg-Clark took over as Music Director of the University Choir in 2020.
He conducts the London Youth Boys Choir, One Tree Hill Choir and St John the Divine Kennington. He also runs singing courses and ‘Come and Sing’ days internationally and most recently in China. Ben is fully committed to providing high-quality music to as many adults, students and children as possible – especially those for whom music or musical tuition would otherwise be inaccessible.
Ben has also established himself as a leading tenor performing in recitals and concerts around the country. He trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, King’s College London, the University of Vienna and Durham University. On moving to London in 2012 he became increasingly in demand as a tenor and undertook MA in vocal performance at Trinity Laban. He is now taught by operatic tenor Nicky Spence. He has sung in the Aldeburgh Festival, at Britten’s Red House, and twice as part of the North Yorkshire Moors Chamber Music Festival. He has also performed with the BBC Singers, The Sixteen, Tenebrae, the Eric Whitacre Singers and Stile Antico.
Ben’s first love is teaching, and he has taught at a children’s theatre in Vienna and set up three children’s choirs for St. John the Divine Church in London where child poverty in the parish is 95% higher than in the rest of the country. There are now 90 children coming to sing each week, aged 5-17, as part of three choirs. These choirs have sung in Covent Garden, Cadogan Hall, Peterborough, St. Albans and St. Edmundsbury Cathedrals, twice live on Radio 2’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show and also have an annual residential in St. John’s College Cambridge. Recently one of the choristers gained a place in the Chapel Royal Choir, St. James’, and a full scholarship at City of London School.
During the pandemic he taught via Zoom, FaceTime or Whatsap and ran a virtual choir each Tuesday at 1pm. Autumn 2021 saw a return to face to face rehearsing with the University of Essex Choir.
Ben took over as Music Director from Richard Cooke who had held the position for 39 years.