Meet Our Conductors
Stefan Parkman, Interim Conductor
One of the world’s most highly respected choral conductors, Stefan Parkman has held the positions of chief conductor of the WDR Radio Choir Cologne, the Danish National Radio Choir, the Swedish Radio Choir, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Choir, and the Uppsala Cathedral Boys’ Choir. He was artistic director of the Academy Chamber Choir of Uppsala from 1983-2023 and is a frequent and sought-after collaborator with major choirs and orchestras across Europe. He has also conducted ensembles in Japan, Australia, and the United States. His extensive discography includes recordings for Chandos, Dacapo Records, Footprint and Coviello Classics.
Stefan Parkman held the Eric Ericson professorship in choral conducting at Uppsala University from 1999-2021. After his retirement, he was visiting professor of choral conducting at Universität der Künste, Berlin, and this academic year he is visiting professor of choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik (conservatory) in Dresden. Parkman is also serving as the conductor of the Dresdner Kammerchor in four programs for their 2023-2024 touring season.
Parkman was vice president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 2016-2021 and he frequently teaches in masterclasses, seminars, and workshops in Sweden and abroad. In 1997, he was made Knight of the Dannebrog Order by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and received the Litteris et Artibus Medal from His Majesty the King Carl XVI Gustaf in 2012.
Masaaki Suzuki, Principal Guest Conductor
Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained the Collegium’s music director ever since, taking the group regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement and truth of his performances. In addition to conducting, Suzuki is also renowned as an organist and harpsichordist.
He is regularly invited to work with renowned European soloists and groups, such as Collegium Vocale Gent and the Freiburger Barockorchester; he recently appeared in London with the Britten Sinfonia in a program of Britten, Mozart, and Stravinsky. Forthcoming engagements with other ensembles include the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2001 Suzuki was decorated with the Federal Order of Merit from Germany.
Suzuki’s impressive discography on the BIS label includes his interpretations with Bach Collegium Japan of Bach’s major choral works and sacred cantatas. With forty volumes now completed, the Times has written: “it would take an iron bar not to be moved by his crispness, sobriety and spiritual vigor.”
His commitment to sacred music is reflected both in his deep reflection on theological meanings in the music he conducts, and also in his interest in music of congregations. Following his return to Japan from the Netherlands, he launched a project to translate the entire Genevan Psalter into Japanese. This collection is now used in Christian churches throughout Japan.
David Hill, Past Principal Conductor
Professor Hill has a long and distinguished career as one of the leading conductors in Europe. He has held appointments as chief conductor of the BBC Singers, musical director of the Bach Choir, chief conductor of the Southern Sinfonia, music director of Leeds Philharmonic Society, and associate guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In the 2019 New Year’s Honours for services to music, Hill was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Southampton, an honorary Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music, and an honorary membership to the Royal Academy of Music. He has been Master of the Music at Winchester and Westminster Cathedrals, music director of the Waynflete Singers, artistic director of the Philharmonia Chorus, and director of music at St. John’s College, Cambridge. With over one hundred recordings to his credit, he has performed virtually every style and period in the choral repertoire from Gregorian chant to Renaissance polyphony, from Baroque oratorios to modern masterpieces for chorus and orchestra. He has commissioned dozens of works from leading composers of today, including Judith Bingham, Francis Pott, Patrick Gowers, Sir John Tavener, Philip Wilby, and Jonathan Dove. Hill maintains an active career as organist and pianist in recitals worldwide.
Professor Hill left Yale in June, 2024.
Simon Carrington, Founder and Past Conductor
Simon Carrington, professor emeritus in the practice of choral conducting at Yale, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in music, performing as singer, double bass player and conductor, first in the UK, and latterly in the USA and round the world. From 2003 to 2009 he was professor of choral conducting at Yale University and founder and director of the Yale Schola Cantorum, a twenty-four-voice chamber choir which he brought to national and now international prominence. During his Yale tenure he led the introduction of a new graduate voice degree for singers specializing in oratorio, early music and chamber ensemble, and, with his faculty colleagues, he guided two Yale graduate students to their first prize wins in consecutive conducting competitions at American Choral Directors Association National Conventions. From 2001 until his Yale appointment, he was director of choral activities at the New England Conservatory, Boston, where he was selected by the students for the Krasner Teaching Excellence Award and from where he received an Honorary Doctorate in 2014. From 1994 to 2001 he held a similar position at the University of Kansas.