The Military Wives Choirs is delighted to announce the appointment of Joanna Tomlinson as Artistic Director to succeed Hilary Davan Wetton who is retiring from the post after seven years of distinguished service to the Choirs.
Hilary has maintained and enhanced the standards of the network 0f 70 choirs worldwide and has been an exceptional ambassador for our remarkable women. During his time as Artistic Director, Hilary has made a number of highly successful recordings as well as directing some prestigious concerts with groups of Military Wives Choirs in major venues in England and in Scotland. The Choirs have commissioned a number of new works for female voices and produced some outstanding videos, most recently November Sunday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVGXCvFXsyw which led to an invitation from the King to perform at Buckingham Palace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9VpsVztvUk
Hilary has been instrumental in developing the skills of the Choirs’ individual Musical Directors through workshops, choir visits and online consultations. His exceptional commitment to and rapport with the singers in the MWC network has been a vital resource throughout his tenure; he has raised our aspirations and achievements throughout his time with us and he will be much missed.
His successor, Joanna Tomlinson, has established an outstanding reputation for her work as conductor, singer and vocal coach with choirs of all ages and sizes. As Principal Conductor of National Youth Choir’s Female/Non-Binary choir for five years, she made numerous recordings and conducted at venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London. In her time as Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Farnham Youth Choir they were winners of two gold medals in the 2019 European Choir Games and featured in the live final of ITV’s X-Factor in 2018.
Choirs that Joanna works with regularly include Constanza Chorus and Whitehall Choir in London, and she often features as guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Chorus, Epiphoni and at the Royal Opera House on their Sing at the ROH programme. She has delivered workshops and community singing programmes for Glyndebourne Opera, the Association of British Choral Directors and Association of Teachers of Singing.
Having gained a Distinction in Singing from the Royal College of Music, Joanna brings to The Military Wives Choirs the experience of singing with world class professional choral groups such as the BBC Singers, London Voices, Gabrieli Consort, Philharmonia Voices and Sonoro.
As Artistic Director Joanna will guide the Board on the musical development of, and core repertoire for, our network of 70 choirs worldwide and the development of our cadre of Musical Directors who work with each of our choirs. Joanna will take up the appointment on 1 Mar 25
Caroline Paxton, Chair of Trustees –
“We are sad to see Hilary leave us. He has worked tirelessly with us on a number of key projects over the last 7 years. He is a remarkable, much-loved advocate for our charity and has been key to our musical development in that time. He has left big shoes to fill so we are delighted to announce Joanna’s appointment after an exacting 7 month search. Joanna brings a special energy to her engagement with our choirs and makes them feel superbly confident in her presence. The Board, the Charity, the network and I are excited to embark on this new chapter with Joanna.”
Hilary Davan Wetton, said:
“It has been a very special privilege to make so much high-quality music with these remarkable women. Their commitment to hard work in rehearsal and fervour in performance has been inspiring and I wish the Choirs continuing success in the future under the leadership of their fine new Artistic Director.”
Jo Tomlinson said:
“I’m absolutely delighted to take on the role of Artistic Director of this very special organisation. There couldn’t be a clearer example of what an impact singing together makes to people’s lives, and I’m honoured to get to work with singers who are so expressive and passionate. Congratulations to Hillary on a wonderful tenure, and I can’t wait to get started, and to build on their extraordinary successes under his artistic leadership.”
