President: Mark Elder CBE

Music Director: James Morgan

Accompanist: Sylvia Holford

Conductor Emeritus: Laszlo Heltay

Sylvia Holford played for the BFC during its early years and became its regular pianist in the 1980s, having been the accompanist for Laszlo Heltay in Oxford with his Collegium Musicum Oxoniense and the Kodaly Choir. She also made the piano reduction for Kodaly’s ‘Music Makers’ written for Laszlo and Merton College. As the BFC pianist and as a BBC accompanist she has played for many famous conductors and soloists, among them Stravinsky, Colin Davis, Ashkenazy, Charles Mackerras and Simon Rattle.

In l972 Sylvia took on a second career as general manager of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and founded the Academy Chorus three years later under Laszlo Heltay’s direction. A chance encounter with a London agent while playing for the BFC and Bernstein led to her introduction to Richard Bonynge and Joan Sutherland with whom she subsequently worked extensively, accompanying Joan on two recital tours of the USA and acting as repetiteur for their recordings. Sylvia now lives near Lewes and continues playing (and singing!) for the BFC.