Manvinder Rattan | Musical Director

Manvinder Rattan has been Musical Director of Hertford Choral Society since September 2021, prior to which he was musical director at John Lewis Partnership where he was responsible for the company’s 15 choirs, orchestra, jazz band and music tuition service. Travel featured strongly in the annual programme with performances in Rome, Venice, Florence, Athens, Dubrovnik, Palma, Lyon, Siena and Sorrento. The chamber choir, The Cavendish Singers, regularly covered services at Westminster Abbey and the orchestra, The Cavendish Ensemble, was voted one of London’s top five amateur orchestras by Classical Music magazine. Manvinder is also conductor of the Morley College Chamber Choir, an institute which has previously counted Holst, Vaughan Williams and Tippett on its staff.

Manvinder was CEO of The Voices Foundation from 2021-2024, an organisation which promoted more and better singing for children through training teachers to lead singing in the classroom, with a particular emphasis on children in deprived areas. From 2006 to 2023 Manvinder was also Head of Conductor Training for Sing for Pleasure, the UK’s largest provider of training for choral conductors and is in demand to lead conducting workshops both here and abroad. 

Manvinder was a judge on Gareth Malone’s BBC2 series, The Choir – Sing while you work – and he is still often greeted in the street when there’s a rerun on somewhere. He’s a popular judge for choir competitions including, in the past, for the BBC Choir of the Year.

As well as his musical commitments to HCS, he is Musical Director of Serafine Chamber Choir and Sinfonia, professional ensembles with whom he has released the premiere recording of Oliver Tarney’s acclaimed Magnificat and in 2021, the premiere recording of Don Gillthorpe’s Jazz Missa Brevis. 

In 2016, Manvinder was awarded an honorary doctorate by York St John University for his services to music and conducting and in 2021 he was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Schools of Music in Choral Directing. Recent projects have included Come and Sing events at the Royal Opera House and directing Messiah in Nairobi.

Looking ahead, Manvinder will be leading an Indian classical music cruise in India.

Manvinder can be contacted at md@hertfordchoral.org.uk