John Dexter - Director

John Dexter was born in Guildford, Surrey. He was educated at Guildford Grammar School, Jesus College Oxford, University of London, and the Royal College of Music where he studied orchestral conducting with Norman Del Mar. From 1975 to 77 he was Organ Scholar in St Paul's Cathedral and Assistant Organist in Holy Trinity Brompton.

As a schoolboy he studied conducting with the composer Edwin Roxburgh; he conducted the Guildford Singers; he sang a specially commissioned solo work for Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother. At the age of 16 he was awarded his first diploma, ARCO.

As a student he was Assistant Conductor of Schola Cantorum Oxford, Conductor of the Kodaly Choir, occasional organist and conductor of the BBC Singers' Radio 4 morning live morning service; he worked as a free-lance rehearsal accompanist under Martindale Sidwell, John Elliott Gardiner, Ian Humphris, John Poole and Barry Rose; he accompanied and conducted the choir of St Paul's Cathedral for services and recordings, featuring on three LPs, two as organist and one as producer. He was awarded Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, Associate of the Royal College of Music and Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Music.

He held the position of Organist and Master of the Choristers in St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin from 1977 to 2001. He has recorded for Guild Records, Pinewood Records, Polygram and BBC Radio 3; he has conducted the Guinness Choir, Third Day Chorale, RTE Chamber Choir, RTE Concert Orchestra, Orchestra of Cecelia, Hibernian Orchestra, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in part of a concert in the Point Theatre featuring St Patrick's Cathedral Choir with Placido Domingo, and the Irish Chamber Orchestra in various concerts including Sir Peter Pears's seventieth birthday concert (1980) in which Pears sang Britten's Nocturne.

He has conducted BBC Songs of Praise twice, BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong more than 15 times, as well as films, ads, documentaries and concerts.

He is currently Music Teacher in St Patrick's Cathedral Grammar School, Conductor of the Goethe-Institut Choir, Chorus Master of the Dublin County Choir and the Founder and Conductor of John Dexter Harmony.

As a composer, most of his work has been in the area of arranging and adapting music for St Patrick’s Cathedral, for JDH and for his Family Ensemble. The Goethe Institut Choir commissioned a new work Hilariter from him for its 40th Anniversary Concert in the National Concert Hall in December 2005.

John Dexter lives with his wife Alison and their seven children in Ballinteer.

"There is nothing to beat the sound of boy trebles. They still provide the soprano line in the world’s finest choirs – King’s College Cambridge, Westminster Cathedral, Vienna Boys, Regensburg Cathedral, to name just a few that top the CD charts in classical music. They have been traditionally associated with church music, but when they branch into folksong arrangements, barbershop, contemporary Irish or pop close harmony the results melt the heart."  -- John Dexter

Gavin Maloney - Assistant Director

Gavin Maloney was appointed Assistant Conductor of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in September 2004. 

Gavin (born in Dublin in 1982) began playing the violin aged four.  He studied with Maeve Broderick at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and Richard Deakin at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. As a violinist he has participated in master classes with Sally O'Reilly and Igor Ozim and Christopher Rowland.

Gavin has participated in conducting master classes with George Hurst and Rudolpho Seglimbini in England. In 2001 he was selected for the International Conducting Course in Dublin presented by Dublin Master Classes and RTE. As a competition finalist, he conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.  In 2002, at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum, Salzburg, he was selected to conduct the Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra.

While in Manchester, Gavin conducted the Royal Northern College of Music Repertoire Orchestra and was Director of the RNCM Clarinet Ensemble.  He has conducted all the major ensembles of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and in April 2003, he conducted the Dublin Youth Symphony Orchestra on tour in Italy.

Gavin is Assistant Director of John Dexter Harmony, a unique choir featuring boy trebles and professional close harmony singers.

In 2004, Gavin toured southern Germany with the Dublin Concert Band.  Their first CD, which he produced and conducted with Fergus O'Carroll has recently been released.

Gavin conducted a concert with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in June 2005, and three concerts with the Dublin Concert Band at a wind music festival in St Tropez, France.

Gavin became Musical Director of the Ulysses Chamber Choir in September 2002.