Our Patron

Russell is delighted to renew his connections with choral singing in his home town, and proud to be Patron of Helston Chamber Choir.

His composition Salmow Kernewek (Cornish Psalms) was performed by Helston Chamber Choir in Summer 2025 with Russell’s support and wonderful introduction at the concert. 

Russell Pascoe was born in Helston, has led the Midday Dance and is a Bard. He is a composer and conducts Truro Male Choir. As a lad, he was a founder member of Helston and Kerrier Music Society (Helston Choral) the parent body of Helston Chamber Choir where John Simpson, the first conductor, helped nurture his passion for choral music.

Important early compositions include: Four Cornish Folksongs for voice and piano (composed for Benjamin Luxon and later orchestrated); the opera, The Murder of Charlotte Dymond and the orchestral works The Martyrdom of An Gof and Yseult of the White Hands.
The choral works, Love’s Agonie (Three Medieval Lyrics) and Salmow Kernewek (Cornish Psalms), Pader an Arleth, a setting of the Lord’s Prayer in Cornish, Missa Brevis, Truro Evensong Canticles and Salutation Carol have all been recorded by Truro Cathedral Choir under the direction of Christopher Gray.
 
In response to a commission from Three Spires Singers, Russell teamed up with Anthony Pinching to create the Secular Requiem in 2012. This has recently been recorded by BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Truro Cathedral Choir. It was Gramophone’s Critic’s Choice for January 2023 https://youtu.be/rlXRlBWsctk?si=IUsJ40dNyQKifwyM

The Choir Committee

The Choir Committee: Chair: Susannah Garland, Deputy Chair & membership secretary: Lucy Coombes, Treasurer: Sarah Paddock, Librarians, Sarah Bayes & John Sell, Catering, Lucy Lucey, Friends and Donors, Irene Jones, Banners, David Peirce, Secretary: Heather Thorn. Please use the contact form for any enquiries.

Martin Palmer -Director of Music

We were delighted when Martin joined us 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 6^th 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.

 

Ruth Best – Accompanist

We are very lucky to be accompanied in our rehearsals and some concerts by the talented Ruth Best. Ruth graduated in music at Southampton University where she gained a BA and Masters Degree in Music Performance. 
 She is an accomplished performer of piano, organ and violin. Ruth accompanies many choirs as well as Helston Chamber Choir including  Tresillian Singers, Kernow Voices Choirs, Eight in a Bar, Good Afternoon Choirs, Pralla Singers and Treverva Male Voice Choir.