Our Team

Steel City Choristers only exists because of the strength of our community and all of the support we receive. We are grateful to everyone involved, and always open to new offers of help!

Director of Music – Eleanor Jarvis

Eleanor is a recent graduate of the University of Manchester, having studied a Bachelor of Music with emphasis on conducting. She has experience leading a good variety of ensembles, with a grounding in both choral and instrumental conducting.

Eleanor is a committed singer, having been a chorister since the age of ten. She has conducted two chamber choirs as well the University of Manchester Chorus which has a membership of over 200 singers. In 2021 she founded The Marie Consort to provide further performance opportunities and chamber choir experience to the University students. Eleanor is currently tutored by Robert Guy and has participated in several conducting masterclasses with the Royal Philharmonic Society, Cardiff International Academy of Conducting as well as Musicfest Aberystwyth.

Other Musical Leads

Vivien Pike

Singing teacher

Vivien Pike provides one-to-one singing lessons for our choristers. She has taught hundreds of young singers, including two BBC Young Choristers of the Year and Lesley Garrett. In July 2023 we nominated Vivien for Classic FM’s Music Teacher of the Year award. You can read our nomination here.

Sarah Carroll

Singing teacher

Sarah provides small group singing lessons for our younger choristers during Friday rehearsals. She has been a tutor with the National Youth Choir and works locally with Concerteenies and Sheffield Music Academy. Sarah studied music at Sheffield University.

Kate Caroe

Juniors lead

Kate leads our Juniors section. Kate sang with the Michelmas Singers in Teesside before singing in Trinity Hall and Pembroke College chapel choirs in Cambridge. From 2003 to 2020 Kate ran a Kodaly singing group for home educated children. She serves on the advisory board of Sheffield Music Hub and her six children have all sung in Steel City Choristers.

Jeremy Dawson

Changing Voices tutor

Jeremy runs the Steel City Choristers’ Changing Voices section. He developed his love of music at home and at school. As an undergraduate, he sang as a choral scholar at Durham Cathedral and as a member of the Rodolfus Choir. He sang as a Lay Clerk at Sheffield Cathedral for 23 years before becoming a Steel City Clerk. He is committed to supporting boys to continue singing as and once their voices change.

Yo Tozer-Loft

Community Workshops lead

Yo led our Community Workshops for the Reasons to Sing! project. Yo is a professional singer and storyteller who set up the Food Glorious Food choir in 2015 to highlight the injustice of food poverty. She has run community choirs around Sheffield since 2012, and in 2020 she set up a guitar circle.

Patrons

Hilary Davan Wetton

Patron

Hilary Davan Wetton is Artistic Director of the Military Wives Choirs. He was the founding conductor of the Holst Singers and is the Musical Director of the City of London Choir, Associate Conductor of the London Mozart Players, founding Conductor and now Conductor Emeritus of the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, and Musical Director of the Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Elizabeth Watts

Patron

With a voice described by International Record Review as “one of the most beautiful Britain has produced in a generation” Elizabeth Watts is “now established as one of Britain’s leading sopranos” (The Guardian). She studied music at the University of Sheffield and taught the choristers singing at Sheffield Cathedral. In 2013 was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by the University of Sheffield, and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 2017.

Lindsay Gray

Patron

Lindsay Gray was Director of The Royal School of Church Music, Headmaster of The Cathedral School in Llandaff, Founder and Director of the Llandaff Cathedral Girl Choristers. He founded The Caritas Consort in 2013, and continues to direct the chamber choir alongside mediation & consultancy work for cathedrals & churches.

Joshua Stephens

Patron

Joshua Stephens is Sub-Organist at Winchester Cathedral. He was the Founding Director of Steel City Choristers, having previously been Acting Director of Music at Sheffield Cathedral and Second Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral.

Hugh Facey

Patron

A proud Yorkshireman, born in Huddersfield. Founder and Chairman of award winning Gripple Ltd and Loadhog Ltd. Hugh’s interests include cricket and rugby and watching Sheffield Tigers whenever he can.

Advisors

Ian Naylor

Sheffield Music Hub

Ian is Head of Music Education in Sheffield. He is an experienced music educator and conductor who believes that all young people should be given the opportunity to excel as musicians.

Neil Taylor

Choral Director, organist

Neil is Music Director of St George’s Singers, Manchester, and Keele Bach Choir; he appears frequently on radio and television as a conductor, organist or pianist. He has held Cathedral posts in St Albans, Norwich and Sheffield, and his commercial CD recordings as organist and conductor have attracted high critical acclaim.

Timothy Peters

Tenor, Conductor and Composer

Timothy is a Lay Clerk at Guildford Cathedral, peripatetic Music teacher at Freemen’s School and Music Director of Surrey’s LGBTQIA+ Choir, Surrey Rainbow Choir. In 2022 he was appointed as Fellow of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. His career started in Sheffield with the commencement of his Music undergraduate degree at the University of Sheffield.

Esmé Page

Choir mum, Truro Cathedral

Esmé is co-founder of Sing2G7 which saw Cornish choristers lead 27,000 young voices in 31 countries to influence the 2021 G7 Summit in Cornwall. She is also founder of charity Cornwall Hugs Grenfell and is excited by communities stepping out in courage and compassion.

Stewart Campbell

Creative Industries Consultant

Stewart has a wealth of experience in music management, having led cultural programmes and organisations in the arts, higher education, and voluntary sectors. He holds a Bachelors degree in Music; a Masters degree in Business Administration; a PhD in music sociology; chartered status with the Chartered Management Institute; and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Stewart is also a tenor and has sung regularly with cathedral choirs across the country.

Nick Waterfield

Parson Cross Initiative

Nick is Chair of Parson Cross Initiative Projects (PXI). He is a Pioneer Minister within the Methodist church, working with local churches, community groups and others in Parson Cross, Sheffield. In 2017 PXI was given charitable status, with a focus on social inclusion.

Trustees

Kate Caroe

Chair of Trustees

Kate is a home educating mum of six and a founding director of OutoftheBox Training, a social enterprise that uses stories to inspire creativity and playfulness and promote wellbeing.

Jeremy Dawson

Treasurer & Operations

Jeremy is Professor of Health Management at the University of Sheffield and a former Lay Clerk at Sheffield Cathedral. He is an Extreme Cellist, and chair of the Hallam Sinfonia.

Chris Caroe

Secretary, Fundraising & Friends

Chris joined the civil service having started his career as a management consultant. He is a policy advisor in the Department for Education. He enjoys photography, gardening and hill walking.