Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir

The RLSBC is delighted to announce the appointment of Jim Bate as its 19th Musical Director, to succeed Lee Dunleavy from the start of the 2024-5 concert season.

Jim is increasingly making his mark in the musical life of the area, both as a choral conductor and also as a singer. His successful appointment follows a three stage recruitment process, consisting of a written application, an interview with the committee, and an audition with the whole choir. Jim passed every stage with flying colours!

Music has been a vital part of Jim’s life from a very early age. He started learning the piano when he was four, and later he took up the organ, studying under Leeds Minster Cathedral Organist, Alex Woodrow. He gained an organ scholarship and a place to read Music at Lady Margaret Hall in the University of Oxford. It was while he was at Oxford that he developed his passion for choral conducting, through his involvement with his college’s sacred and secular choirs.

After graduating, Jim took a Master’s in Choral Conducting at the University of Birmingham, studying with Simon Halsey OBE and Julian Wilkins. He sings in the CBSO chorus, and was a lay clerk at Birmingham Cathedral, alongside starting work at PwC in Birmingham. He set up a choir in his workplace, delightfully named 'In-Voice', and in 2022 he became Musical Director of the Warwickshire Singers. He also co-founded and co-directs the Elgar Scholars with Laura Bailie, and conducts the B:Music Workplace Voices, formerly the Birmingham City Council Choir which was set up by Gareth Malone.

Jim says: “I am extremely excited to get started with RLSBC. Whilst studying for my conducting master's degree, this very choir was quoted as one to look out for later down my career and so applying for this role was an easy decision. I am very grateful to my mentors Julian Wilkins and Simon Halsey for all of their support and leadership in the run up to this post. I aim to continue the choir's superb trajectory in becoming one of, if not the best choir in the region. I think it is important not to lose touch with the choir's roots in the music of the Bach family, but I also believe that RLSBC's acclaim is an ideal platform for promoting new and exciting music as well as music by underrepresented composers.”

We are looking forward enormously to working with Jim, and to exploring unfamiliar musical territory under his leadership as well as revisiting old favourites, in this exciting new chapter in the history of the choir.