British husband and wife choral team to retire

It is a hugely dramatic work with 22 choruses. It tells the story of the Israelites’ deliverance at the Red Sea and has depictions of hailstorms and plaques of locusts.  All it needs from the singers is a vivid sense of theatre, enormous virtuosity and sheer stamina!  The choir, though in fact amateur, comes to it with training, experience and the commendations of many professionals who have performed beside them.  Most of them, 48 at present, have studied singing at one time or other, many with John who was a private teacher of singing in the city from the 1970s until three years ago.

John, former Evening News music critic, says: “It means I can mould their sound. I know their voices. We know each other’s vocabulary.”  Throughout his time as a conductor his wife Alison has accompanied the rehearsals and he says it is “Team Aplin” that is retiring.  Like him, Alison graduated in music from the University of East Anglia which is where they met.  The piano is her main instrument but she never wanted a solo career.

“I have always been interested in accompanying people,” she said. “One day John asked me to accompany a pupil and it went on from there.”

This was just one of several “serendipitous moments” in John’s life. “Everything I have done has been by accident or chance,” he said.