Patrick Russill

Professor Patrick Russill is one of the leading figures in English church music and choral conducting pedagogy.

Patrick was Fernside Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music from 1997 to 2024, and is now Emeritus Head of Choral Conducting there. He is also Director of Music of the Church of the London Oratory, since 1999, whose professional choir is recognised as one of the world’s leading choirs in the Roman Catholic tradition. 

Patrick holds a personal chair as a Professor of the University of London and was Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater 2002-2023. He has also been a guest professor in conservatoires in Helsinki, Stockholm, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Strasbourg. He was Chief Examiner of the Royal College of Organists 2005-17, and in 2015 he was honoured by the Association of British Choral Directors with its annual ‘Chair’s Award for Choral Leadership’, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of conservatoire choral conducting training in the UK. He has been awarded Membership of the Royal Academy of Music, Fellowship of the Royal School of Church Music, and the Medal of the Royal College of Organists – the highest distinctions honoris causa of each institution – for his seminal influence in the UK on choral conducting performance, conservatoire education and standards in church music.