Ben Parry studied Music and History of Art at Cambridge, and was a member of King’s College Choir, while also performing in musicals, Gilbert & Sullivan and jazz cabaret.
In the mid-1980s he joined The Swingle Singers, toured globally and performed with some of the world’s greatest musicians including Pierre Boulez, Stephane Grapelli, and Dizzy Gillespie. He also wrote many of the group’s arrangements at this time, and co-produced four albums for Virgin Classics and EMI.
Moving to Edinburgh in 1995, Parry took up posts as Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, Director of Choral Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and conductor of Haddo House Opera. He also co-founded the Dunedin Consort, which has gone on to establish itself as Scotland’s premiere baroque ensemble.
He moved back to England in 2003, becoming Director of Music at St. Paul’s School, London, then of Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music, and subsequently his current position as Artistic Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.
As co-director of London Voices he has conducted many major film soundtracks, from The Hobbit to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, and performed in major concert houses around the world.
Ben is Assistant Director of Music and Bye-Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge, where he is responsible for the mixed choir, King’s Voices. He is also Music Director of Aldeburgh Voices, the resident choir at Snape Maltings. Ben’s own compositions and arrangements include the popular Faber Carol Book and a burgeoning catalogue of choral music for Peters Edition and Oxford University Press.
He has enjoyed commissions from, among others, the BBC Singers, St John’s College, Cambridge, Washington DC, Chelmsford, Ely, Norwich and Worcester cathedrals, and his music has been heard at the BBC Proms and on the TV hit series, Glee. He is also a house composer for the commercial library music company, Audio Network. Ben features on the credits of well over 100 recordings, appearing variously as singer, conductor, co-director, director, producer, chorus master, and composer. He was made an honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2013.