People

 John Treleaven
Patron of Helston Chamber Choir

john t

We are immensely privileged to have as our Patron, the world-renowned, Porthleven-born Heldentenor, John Treleaven.

John Treleaven studied at the London College of Music with William Lloyd Webber, among others, and at the London Opera Centre, Covent Garden, as well as in Naples under Maestro Campanino. At first he sang primarily in his home country at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish National Opera and the English National Opera, where he learned numerous roles. He has sung major roles in Edinburgh, Adelaide, Taormina, Amsterdam, Paris, and New York.

His highly acclaimed German debut at the Mannheim National Theatre as Peter Grimes was in 1991, a role he has since sung in Hamburg , Bremen, Frankfurt and Genoa, Buenos Aires and Strasbourg. His other repertoire is immensely varied, and has taken him to sing in Berlin, Madrid, and Helsinki.

John Treleaven is one of the most sought after Heldentenors at the major international opera houses, notably for his affinity with Wagnerian heroes: Siegfried, Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tannhaüser and Tristan. He continues to add to his extensive and hugely varied repertoire.

We were privileged that on a rare visit back home, John attended our regular choir rehearsal on Tuesday, 25th April 2017.

Martin Palmer

We are very excited to have Martin as our new MD from December 2023. He has been a choral singer himself, and has a wealth of experience teaching music, directing choirs, orchestras and many other musical disciplines.

Over the past four decades Martin has directed countless choral and chamber orchestra concerts, particularly in London and the South-West. Here in Cornwall he has built up a reputation for delivering dynamic and expressive performances, often in Truro Cathedral. When finances have permitted, he has also put on larger-scale works such as Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Holst’s The Planet’s Suite, Verdi’s Requiem, Bizet’s Carmen and Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. He is passionate about involving young people in his performances and hopes to instil in them a life-long love of music-making.

In his role as a musical director of staged musicals, he has enjoyed working with incredibly talented young casts and production teams, presenting many musicals. Probably the most memorable of which have been Les Misérables, West Side Story, Sweeney Tod and Guys & Dolls.

As a student in the 1980s, Martin was fortunate enough to study at London’s Royal Academy of Music with many amazing young performers and was exposed to numerous world class musicians and their music, not least, Sir Michael Tippet, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski, Peter Maxwell Davies, William Matthias, and organists Jean Langlais, Daniel Roth, Naji Hakim, Peter Hurford and David Sanger.

Simultaneously, Martin sang in the London Philharmonic Choir, performing regularly with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall and in the BBC Proms, alongside the world’s top soloists and conductors, not least, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, Bernard Haitink and Franz Welser-Möst.

As a Director of Music in schools he has always been thrilled to witness his pupils’ successes, both as solo performers and as members of his bands, choirs and orchestras. He has guided nearly a thousand pupils through GCSE and A level music examinations and continues to follow their achievements in later life.

Martin has since retired from classroom teaching and now directs three prominent Cornish choirs, whilst working as a freelance organist. Last year he performed the Poulenc Organ Concerto in Truro Cathedral and Widor’s 6th Symphonie pour Orgue in Coventry Cathedral. Over the past two decades he has cherished collaborating with the inspiring musicians of Truro Cathedral and he now enjoys balancing his music-making alongside his running, cycling touring, sea swimming, language learning, building projects and eating Maltesers.