Role
Dexter leads the NTU Chamber Choir for NTU Arts – the University's extra-curricular and public arts programme.
Career overview
Dexter Drown is an imaginative and versatile conductor who has been praised for his magical performances of passion, confidence, and flair.
Dexter is 2nd Prize winner at the Athens International Conducting Competition, 3rd Prize and special prize winner at the Ionel Perlea International Conducting Competition, Semi-Finalist at the Bucharest International Conducting Competition, and winner of the Abingdon Music Festival Conducting Competition. Dexter gained a Master’s in Orchestral Conducting with Distinction, and the Michael Beech Conducting Award, at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and has worked for Garsington Opera through their Conductor Mentorship Programme.
Next season, alongside his work as conductor of The Sinfonia Stellaris, Dexter will debut with Filarmonica Pitești. Other recent professional projects include premiere recordings with musicians from the Orchestra of the Swan, concerts with The Hadit Collective, Ensemble Ad libitum de Chambéry, and the Midland Sinfonia. As well as his work with professional orchestras, Dexter follows in the footsteps of Malcolm Sargent as Musical Director of the Leicester Symphony Orchestra, and this season has concerts with Oxford Sinfonia, Wolsey Orchestra, Milton Keynes Sinfonia, and the Helix Ensemble.
In addition to his passion for Orchestral music, Dexter is a distinguished and inspiring choral conductor and choir trainer. He has worked as chorus master for conductors including Sir Karl Jenkins, Toby Purser, and George Jackson in some of the UK’s most prestigious venues, conducted the Choir of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Ensemble Vocal Interlude (Grenoble), and Canzonetta (Sainsbury's Choir of the Year). Dexter is the Musical Director of Solihull Chandos Choir and is in demand as a workshop leader for Music for Everyone, St-Martin-in-the-Fields, and on the faculty of the Chester Choral Week, sharing his love of choral music with singers across the country.
In conjunction with his work with large choruses, Dexter is the conductor of the Nottingham Trent University Chamber Choir, helping shape the next generation of choral musicians, and the Musical Director of the prize-winning Sitwell Singers, Derwent Singers, and the Belper Singers. His experience in choral excellence has been recognised through collaboration with the Saltsjöbaden Chamber Choir (Stockholm) and invitations to adjudicate at the Bangor International Choral Festival.