Meet the Music Team

Introducing the brains behind the music 

Musical Director

Alison Houlbrooke

Our Musical Director, Alison Houlbrooke has a wealth of experience and qualifications, including a BA (Hons), Dip Music (Open) and a Dip ABRSM for Choral Directing. She is a member of the I.S.M. and the Association of British Choral Conductors and has been awarded the ABRSM diploma.

Alison has loved music from a very young age and started to learn to play the violin and to sing at the age of seven while at Primary School. In her teenage years, she played in various orchestras, sang in choirs and led the County Youth Orchestra. Alison was also very fortunate in that she was sponsored by Herefordshire Council to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She has sung with various choirs and now sings with an international chamber choir ‘Sine Nomine’ directed by Ben Theophilus, who continue to tour all over Europe. Alison also sings with a female vocal chamber group, the Jenny Lind singers, who perform in festivals and concerts locally.

As a qualified music teacher and advisor, Alison works freelance, both locally and further afield, specializing in vocal and aural work (nursery, primary and secondary) She has also worked nationally as an Advisory Teacher for the Voices Foundation.

We are delighted that she is the Musical Director of the Hereford Police Male Choir, a post held for over 20 years. Alison has enjoyed developing our choir, our vocal and performing skills as well as broadening our repertoire.

Secretary and Deputy Musical Director

David Coulson

David studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music under Rudolph Piernay where he gained experience not only from the tuition itself but also from the opportunities of participation in opera at venues such as the Sadlers Wells Theatre. Sadly, the gig at Sadlers Wells was a non-singing role (third roman soldier from the left) so David joined the police. Singing with the Metropolitan Police Choir for 6 years finally brought the opportunity to perform in some of the great London venues including The Barbican, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Festival Hall. However, the call of his native Worcestershire was strong and so, in 1988, he transferred to the West Mercia Constabulary and joined the Hereford Police Male Voice Choir.
 
Since retirement from the police and release from shift work, he has increasingly been able to perform as a soloist, giving him the opportunity to sing works such as the Mozart Requiem, Haydn’s ‘Creation’ and Carmina Burana. He has also appeared with Worcester Opera (Sarastro in The Magic Flute), the Worcestershire  Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of St John. More recently, he has sung as soloist with the British Police Symphony Orchestra at the Symphony Hall Birmingham and the Royal Albert Hall as well as taking on a variety of roles with Consensus Opera.
 
David is one of the longest serving members of Hereford Police Male Voice Choir and is currently holds the positions of Secretary and Deputy Musical Director of the choir and is also a well-respected and talented Baritone Soloist. David has also been a featured soloist on several of the most recent choir recordings.

Accompanist

Simon Peberdy

Simon has been our very talented accompanist for a number of years. He was an organ scholar at university, studying Physics and German in the UK and Music in Germany. After a teaching career in secondary education, he moved with his family to Austria for a sabbatical year that extended to become eleven.

He returned to England in 2018, he now works as a piano tuner and freelance musician. He is the Musical Director of the Marches Military Wives Choir and is accompanist for examinations and for several Herefordshire choirs.

Simon is also an organist and composer (www.simonpeberdymusic.com). He holds diplomas in piano performance and composition. Recent compositions have been performed at The 3 Choirs Festival, Hay Festival, and Ledbury Poetry Festival, and several have featured in Ledbury Choral Society concerts.