Stella Jockel
Stella was born in Sheffield in 1932. She grew up and lived in the Hillsborough and Wadsley Bridge areas until her late 40s and worked as a primary school teacher in the city until taking early retirement. She sang in her local church choir, first at Wadsley Bridge, then, after marrying Alan Jockel, at All Saints Totley where he was the vicar. Stella became the church choir mistress and really enjoyed working with young voices as well as encouraging young organists. In her later years she also helped with music at Beauchief Abbey.
Singing was her main passion, but she also loved travelling, birdwatching, walking and the countryside, and she lent her support to organisations concerned with protecting nature into the future.
Stella sang as an alto with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus for over 60 years, joining up in 1952 aged just 20. One of her first concerts was Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, with Kathleen Ferrier and the Hallé orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli at the new Festival Hall in London. This work became her favourite piece of music, and she sang it with the Chorus in 1964, on the highly-acclaimed Warner Classics recording with Dame Janet Baker and the Hallé orchestra and choir, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli.
More latterly Stella was involved in several trips made by the Chorus to Bochum, which was twinned with Sheffield after the Second World War. She welcomed and helped with hosting choirs from Bochum on their return visit to Sheffield. The relationship with Bochum meant a lot in those post-war years, and has continued ever since, with joint performances as recently as 2021 when the Bochum choir sang Messiah with the Chorus in Sheffield City Hall.
Stella retired from the Chorus in 2013 due to health issues affecting her balance and died in 2020, aged 88. It is entirely fitting that part of her generous bequest to her beloved Chorus will be used to support young composers via this competition. She would have been thrilled.
Darius Battiwalla
Darius is music director of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus. He prepares the choir for visiting orchestras and conductors, and has conducted performances with the Halle, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Northern Sinfonia and Manchester Camerata. Since he took over, the choir has performed from memory for the first time and has appeared at the Proms and on Chandos recordings with the BBC Philharmonic. He recently directed the Chorus with Black Dyke Band in premiere recordings of the brass arrangement of Rutter’s Gloria, Paul Mealor’s new work Paradise, and in a CD of Christmas music which included several of his own arrangements.
He is a regular guest chorusmaster or conductor with choirs such as the Northern Sinfonia Chorus, Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Huddersfield Choral Society, CBSO chorus and Netherlands Radio Choir. He recently prepared the Lucerne Festival Academy for a performance of Berio’s Coro conducted by Simon Rattle, and conducted the BBC Philharmonic in a CD of music for the BBC Young Choristers of the Year.
As Leeds City Organist, Darius gives regular recitals in the Town Hall. He has appeared as organ soloist with the Halle and London Philharmonic Orchestra, is a regular orchestral organist and pianist for the BBC Philharmonic and Halle orchestras and gives organ recitals across the country.
Frances Cook
Frances is a veteran of the UK choral scene, both as singer and conductor.
She was a Choral Scholar under John Rutter at Clare College, Cambridge and subsequently sang with the UK’s finest chamber choirs, including Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen and the BBC Singers. She fell (or rather, was pushed) into choral conducting by accident, stepping into the breach to take a rehearsal of Tallis’s Spem in Alium for Richard Hickox in the 80s when she was merely expecting to be singing in Choir 1! Not long after that, she became principal Chorus Master for the St Endellion Festivals in Cornwall and also Director of the Chester Festival Chorus. In those roles she has prepared choirs for the likes of Richard Hickox, Martyn Brabbins, Vasily Petrenko, Yan Pascal Tortelier, John Wilson, Paul Daniel and Ryan Wigglesworth amongst many others.
She has worked extensively with Huddersfield Choral Society and also with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Chorus and the BBC Symphony Chorus, but most closely with the Hallé Choir as their Director from 2010-12 and then as Associate Choir Director, working closely with Sir Mark Elder.
Thom Meredith (MA Oxon)
Thom has been involved with vocal and instrumental music all his life; both as a performer and educator.
Whilst reading music at Brasenose College, Oxford he was awarded an Exhibition as conductor of the Chapel Choir, also studying singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Following a PGCE qualification from the University of Leeds he taught music in schools in Yorkshire from 1988 until 1999 before being appointed to Kirklees Music School (now Musica Kirklees) as first Assistant and then Principal.
In addition to his passion for conducting choirs – Colne Valley Male Voice Choir, Colne Valley Boys and Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir since 1989, 2010 and 2023 respectively – Thom has established a reputation as a baritone soloist and has performed various works from well-known choral works and song cycles to new compositions.
Now a freelance conductor and singer, Thom also arranges, teaches, leads workshops and runs courses and masterclasses.
Kayo Chingonyi
Kayo Chingonyi FRSL was born in Zambia in 1987 and moved to the UK at the age of six. He is a fellow of the Complete Works programme for diversity and quality in British Poetry and of The Civitella Ranieri Foundation. In 2012, he was awarded a Geoffrey Dearmer Prize by The Poetry Society and was Associate Poet at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 2015. His first full-length collection, Kumukanda, won the Dylan Thomas Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award and is now a set text on the IGCSE syllabus.
Kayo was a Burgess Fellow at the Centre for New Writing, University of Manchester before joining Durham University where he is Associate Professor of Creative Writing. He was a writer and presenter for the music and culture podcast Decode and is poetry editor for Bloomsbury. His most recent collection A Blood Condition was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the T.S. Eliot Prize, and the Costa Poetry Award. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022. His first work of non-fiction, a memoir entitled Prodigal, is forthcoming from 4th Estate.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus is South Yorkshire’s foremost large mixed-voice chorus, performing regularly with leading orchestras including the Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic, the Northern Sinfonia and Manchester Camerata, as well as with internationally renowned conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Markus Poschner, Nicholas Kraemer, Sophie Jeannin and David Hill.
The Chorus performs with Orchestra in Residence the Hallé and acclaimed soloists as part of the Sheffield International Concert Season at Sheffield City Hall and at other venues around the United Kingdom. It has participated in The Proms on a number of occasions and has developed touring and performance links with the Philharmonischer Chor based in Bochum, one of Sheffield’s twin towns in Germany, and with the Ensemble Vocal Perigueux based in Perigueux, France.
The Chorus presents a challenging and exciting programme under the joint patronage of BBC Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny and acclaimed actor Samuel West, and the vibrant and inspiring leadership of its Music Director, Darius Battiwalla.
Recent performances include Verdi Requiem, Durufle Requiem and Mahler Symphony Number 2. A mini-tour of Mozart’s Requiem with the Flemish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kristiina Posker in London, Edinburgh and Sheffield attracted rave reviews; see https://sheffieldphil.org/stunning-reviews-for-mozart-requiem-mini-tour . The 2026-27 season will feature Handel’s Messiah with Manchester Camerata, Carl Orff’s magnificent Carmina Burana with The Hallé, and the annual carol concert with Black Dyke Band, all at the City hall, and the Verdi Requiem as the finale of the Classical Sheffield Weekend Festival 2027.
The Chorus is always keen to welcome new members in all voice parts. If you love singing and would like to perform on stage with a large symphonic choir, you are welcome to try the Chorus out any Tuesday evening. Visit www.sheffieldphil.org for further details, and contact