Ron Corp

Ronald Geoffrey Corp OBE (4 January 1951 – 7 May 2025) was a British composer, conductor, and Anglican priest, best known as the founder of the New London Orchestra and the New London Children's Choir, and as the long-serving musical director of The London Chorus.

Life

Corp was born in Wells, Somerset, and grew up in the shadow of Wells Cathedral. The son of non-musical parents, he was largely self-taught as a composer. He read Music at Christ Church, Oxford from 1970, and later trained for ordination through the Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme.

He was ordained as a deacon in 1998 and as a priest in 1999 in the Church of England, serving as a non-stipendiary minister at a succession of Anglo-Catholic parishes in London: St Mary's, Kilburn (1998–2002), St Mary's, Hendon (2002–2007), and the Church of St Alban the Martyr, Holborn (2007 onwards). He was a member of the Society of the Holy Cross.

He died in Bath, Somerset, on 7 May 2025, aged 74. A celebration of his life was held at Cadogan Hall on 23 June 2026, conducted by his predecessor at the London Chorus, Dame Jane Glover, and featuring the London Chorus, Highgate Choral Society, and alumni of the New London Orchestra.

Personal life

Corp was gay, and was open about this with the musicians and choristers he worked with throughout his career. He did not have a partner. His long service at Anglo-Catholic parishes in London — communities with a long tradition of welcoming gay clergy and lay members — was part of an integrated life in which his faith, his music, and his identity were not in conflict.

Career

Corp joined the BBC Radio 3 library after Oxford and began building his career as a conductor and composer. In 1988 he founded the New London Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to championing rarely heard repertoire from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1991 he founded the New London Children's Choir, which he directed until 2023. He served as musical director of The London Chorus for thirty years, and of the Highgate Choral Society for a substantial part of his career.

As a conductor he worked with major ensembles including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and appeared at the BBC Proms. He performed at many of London's principal concert venues, among them the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican Centre, the Royal Festival Hall, and Cadogan Hall. He produced approximately twenty recordings for Hyperion Records, focusing on neglected British composers.

The London Chorus

The London Chorus — formerly the London Choral Society — was founded in 1903 by conductor Arthur Fagge and gave its inaugural concert in October of that year with Sullivan's The Golden Legend. The following February it gave only the second London performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, establishing an early association with Elgar that would define much of its repertoire. The society renamed itself The London Chorus in 2000. Its musical directors have included Sir Simon Rattle and Dame Jane Glover; Corp served as musical director for thirty years. During his tenure the choir performed at the 2012 London Paralympic Games opening ceremony and at the Royal Albert Hall Festival of Remembrance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II (2018).

Works

Corp's compositional output was large and centred on vocal music. It included four symphonies, two piano concertos, concertos for flute, recorder, and cello, three string quartets, a clarinet quintet, and more than one hundred songs. He composed several choral cantatas, including And All the Trumpets Sounded (1989) and Laudamus (1994), as well as operas for children, among them Wenceslas, The Ice Mountain, and The Pelican. His First Symphony and First Piano Concerto were recorded by pianist Leon McCawley with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Among his most distinctive works was the Dhammapada (Stone Records, 2011), a setting of Buddhist philosophical texts for the vocal ensemble Apsara, interspersed with bells recorded at significant Buddhist sites. Composed in collaboration with Buddhist writer Francis Booth and conducted by Corp himself, it reflected his long-standing engagement with spiritual traditions beyond his own Anglican priesthood.

He was also a recognised authority on choral technique and the author of The Choral Singer's Companion, published in multiple editions.

Honours

Corp was appointed OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to music. He held honorary doctorates from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Hull.