Grace Rossiter - musical director & conductor

“…with Finchley Children’s Music Group, which is positively flourishing under Grace Rossiter’s exceptionally efficient and well-articulated musical direction…”
Roderick Dunnett on Michael Finnissy’s Mankind

Grace is a conductor, singer, teacher and repetiteur and was herself a member of the Finchley Children’s Music Group for 10 years.

Grace began her musical training as a member of FCMG and initially intended to pursue a career in singing.  Her first professional engagement was the role of “Third Boy” in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.  Before leaving London to read music at Bristol University, she took part in a conducting master class with the BBC Singers for Radio 3 and developed a new interest in conducting.  Whilst at Bristol, she conducted both the University Chamber Choir and Orchestra and on graduating, she worked with choirs and operatic societies in the south west as a conductor and repetiteur before returning to London in 2001 when she was appointed Musical Director of the Finchley Children’s Music Group.  She made her BBC Proms debut with the choir in 2004, conducting the children’s chorus in Britten’s War Requiem. In the same year she released a disc with FCMG, Bethlehem Down (Naxos), to critical acclaim.  One of her arrangements from this disc has been recently recorded by the BBC Singers for Radio 3.  Grace has conducted FCMG performances at the RFH, RAH, Barbican, St John’s Smith Square and Kings Place. 

FCMG enjoys a busy and varied concert diary, and with the choir, Grace has worked with conductors including Kurt Masur, James Levine, Richard Hickox and Sir Colin Davis.  The choir has also performed at many large scale events, including singing with Madonna at Wembley for Live Earth. Grace has recently conducted the premieres of two song cycles for choir and small ensemble by James Weeks and John Pickard, and the London premiere of Michael Finnissy’s opera Mankind.  She will conduct the premiere of Terry Mann’s Common Dance at the Borough Hall, Greenwich in October. 

As assistant Musical Director, her opera credits include Falstaff (Verdi), Madame Butterfly (Puccini), La Belle Helene (Offenbach), Der Freischütz (Weber), Eugene Onégin (Tchaikovsky), The Mikado (Gilbert & Sullivan), The Beggar’s Opera (Gay), The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert & Sullivan), Orpheus and Euridice (Gluck), The Bartered Bride (Smetana).  Grace has conducted FCMG productions of Anything Goes (Porter), The Magic Flute (Mozart), The Boyfriend (Wilson), La Belle Hélène (Offenbach), Die Fledermaus (Strauss), Kiss me, Kate (Porter), The Gondoliers (Gilbert & Sullivan), Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach), and scenes from Carmen (Bizet), Così fan tutte (Mozart) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten). 

Actively involved in community music-making, Grace is also Musical Director of Finchley Choral Society and the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of North London, as well as running her busy teaching practice.  Future performances with FCS include Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Florian Chamber Orchestra, Duruflé’s Requiem and Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater.  Grace has also worked with Enfield Chamber Orchestra, Camden Singers, City of Bristol Girls Choir, Bright Angel Theatre Company, Bristol Opera, and New Youth Opera. She has recorded for Naxos, film, radio and television, and has performed throughout the UK, Europe and Australia.