Andrew Cleary, 40, takes charge of Portsmouth Festival Choir having already made his mark in a wide range of the city's musical activities, principallly as director of music at the grammar school since January 2005..

His new choir was formed in 1971 to perform in the now-defunct Portsmouth Festival, and among Andrew's aims is to develop a close relationship with the Portsmouth Festivities, founded by the grammar school in 2000.

He conducted one of the major events of this year's festivities, a performance of Monteverdi's Vespers 1610.

He also wants to take his new group to festivals overseas, explaining: 'It is good for adult groups as well as school choirs to go abroad. There's nothing better to bond a choir than to go away for a few days and sing a lot in that time.'

Andrew was conductor of Portsmouth Baroque Choir for about eight months but was then approached by the larger festival choir and was attracted by the opportunity to explore a wider repertoire - including larger-scale works demanding a more robust sound with a semi-professional orchestra.

'Both choirs rehearse on Monday evenings, so I couldn't do both,' he says.

He hopes to increase the size of the festival choir from about 65 members to about 80 initially, but insists he is not trying to compete with the bigger Portsmouth Choral Union.

Two years ago Andrew founded the now-flourishing girls' choir at Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral, where he is sub-organist, and all the festival choir's three concerts this year will be there.

'The new season has been put together very much with choral development in mind. It's good for gelling choirs, developing ensemble and tone.

'But it would be exciting to commission new music. It might be only five minutes but the way forward is to include new works alongside established repertoire. Choirs won't last much longer if we keep going round the basic repertoire.'


Forthcoming concerts at the Anglican Cathedral:
December 13: Bach's Christmas oratorio.
March 28: The Creation by Haydn.
June 27: Serenade To Music, including music by Vaughan Williams, Purcell, Britten and Rutter.
More information at www.portsmouthfestivalchoir.org.uk.