Andrew Cleary
Andrew Cleary, our Musical Director, is a lively and invigorating conductor who inspires us to sing enthusiastically and to aim for a high standard of performance.
Andrew is a versatile musician and currently works as a freelance vocal coach, accompanist, organist, choral director and conductor. He is an associate lecturer in music and musical theatre at the University of Chichester Conservatoire, and music director at St Ann’s Church HMNB Portsmouth.
Andrew’s family instilled him with a love of singing, and he began his musical training as a chorister at York Minster and then St Alban’s Cathedral. He read music, specialising in performance and conducting, at the University of East Anglia, alongside an organ scholarship at Norwich Cathedral. In 1990, Andrew moved to study at the RCM, directing Le Nouve Musiche. He became assistant organist at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, making regular broadcasts for BBC Radio and television and directing the St Martin’s Scholars.
After discovering a love of teaching, Andrew settled in Portsmouth as Director of Music at The Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS), where he worked closely with the Chamber Choir and the London Mozart Players. A particular highlight was conducting the massed Royal British Legion bands and PGS Chamber Choir, in the work They shall not grow old, with Bryn Terfel and Catherine Jenkins at the Royal Albert Hall. The PGS Glee Choir won the Portsmouth Schools’ Glee Competition in 2010 and in the same year, Andrew was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award for his performance of Tansy Davies’ work: As with voices and with tears.
Andrew’s wide musical tastes are reflected in his ability to inspire musicians and singers to engage with music of many genres. From conducting the St John Passion with the London Mozart players and founding Portsmouth Cathedral Girls’ Choir, Andrew relishes the teaching and production of musical theatre and jazz. He performs regularly as an organist and harpsichordist, and is equally happy taking on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 as he is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
During spare moments, Andrew has completed the London Marathon four times and also enjoys cycling, swimming and hill walking.
