Our Musical Director
Julie Harmer M.Sc (Hons), LRSM, DipABRSM
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I am very excited and proud to be the new Musical Director of Harwich and Dovercourt Choral Society from January 2018
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My musical life began when my mum taught me to play the recorder when I was five. Then seeing and hearing James Galway playing the flute inspired a life long love of the flute which inevitably led to flute lessons and music exams.
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Originally from London, my family relocated to Dorset in 1979, where I continued to play the flute, recorder and later piano. There, whilst studying O level music, my school music teacher Jim Crump invited me to join his choir at Holy Trinity Church, Weymouth, where as a teenager I first experienced choral singing in four part harmony as an alto in the church choir - which I loved. I went on to study music at Royal Holloway College, University of London gaining a B.Mus (Hons) degree.
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Although a career in computing and IT followed, music has always been a very important part of my life. I enjoy teaching flute, theory and piano and also performing. Inspired by my own church singing experience I have been choir and musical director at All Saints' Church Great Oakley sins 2004, where I have led the choir in learning and performing a very wide range of music from the renaissance to the present day. I am also Musical Director of a workplace choir in Ipswich, and Musical Director of Clacton Concert Orchestra.
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I really enjoy the process of rehearsing and preparing music for performance, taking pieces and songs from the "unknown" ( and sometimes "tricky" with maybe some problem solving along the way !) to hearing it take shape and being ready for performance day.
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The sound and experience of singing together is amazing. Please do join us as HADCS starts a new chapter in its long history.
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