Olympic Torch Choir Artistic Team

Chris Baldwin: Artistic Director, Playwright
Chris has written and directed 150 plays for theatres across Europe including the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, Salisbury Playhouse, Proteus Theatre, Spiral Theatre, Brandenburg State Theatre, Germany, Teatro Nerea, Spain, Teatro Sambhu, Spain, Spiral, Spain. He has an international reputation as a teacher of theatre practice teaching regularly at the Royal Academy of Theatre, Madrid, Central School of Speech and Drama, London and Rose Bruford College, London. His play Cosima won "Best Play 2004" at the European Festival of Theatre in Gijon, Spain in March 2004 performed by Miman Theatre, La Mancha Spain. His play Bright Angel (co-written with Bernd Kessler) was called “best German history play for a decade” by national German Radio at the German premiere at Brandenburg Theatre in 2003. He is Visiting Professor at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. He is the author of five books on theatre published by Crowood Press, Ñaque (Spain) and the New Culture Foundation (Bulgaria). During 2011 Chris was Artistic Director of the Four Winds Festival in Rutland.

Nick Bicât: Composer
Nick has written over 150 scores and soundtracks for film, television and theatre. Twice nominated for a BAFTA, his film and television scores include A Christmas Carol (George C Scott), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Antony Andrews/Sir Ian McKellen/Jane Seymour), Wetherby (by Sir David Hare), and The Reflecting Skin (by Philip Ridley). He has composed for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, written eleven musicals and an opera The Knife, with Sir David Hare, (best musical score, 1989 New York Drama Desk Awards. Other collaborators include Tony Bicât, Edward Bond, Adrian Mitchell Howard Brenton and Ted Hughes. His orchestral work Under the Eye of Heaven was performed at the Barbican and London Arena. Other concert performances include When Will There Be Peace?, an internationally televised open air concert for the International Red Cross in Geneva, and in 2000 Symphony in Morris Minor, commissioned to mark the millennium, and performed in Oxford to an audience of 50,000. As a songwriter, he has written for Emma Kirkby, Deniece Williams and P.J. Harvey. His song Who Will Love Me Now?, sung by P.J. Harvey, was BBC Radio 1 top film song for 1998. Albums include Under the Eye of Heaven (Virgin Classics), with the London Chamber Orchestra. A choral work Beslan/Requiem, recorded by Andrew Parrott and the Taverner Consort, is due for release in 2009. He wrote the score for, "The Way the Winds Blow", lyrics by Chris Baldwin performed at Rutland Water in June 2011 with a mass orchestra and chorus.

Adrian Lucas: Musical Director
Adrian Lucas is a freelance conductor, organist and continuo player, as well as running his own recording company, Acclaim Productions.
His musical roots lie in cathedral music and he held posts at St John’s College Cambridge and Portsmouth, Norwich and Salisbury cathedrals before moving to Worcester Cathedral in 1996. During his tenure there, he was responsible for the design and installation of the Kenneth Tickell quire instrument in 2008 as well as continuing a vibrant programme of touring, broadcasting and recording with the Cathedral Choir.
In 1996 he was also appointed Artistic Director to the Worcester Three Choirs Festival. From then until 2011 he was directly responsible for 5 Worcester festivals, introducing a wide variety of new musical threads to the great tradition of this long-lived institution. These included a number of commissioned works from Francis Pott, Andrew Gant, Jackson Hill and Cheryl Frances-Hoad; a number of cross-over concerts including performances of music from the Sacred Concerts of Duke Ellington and late night events by the David Rees-Williams Trio, Respectable Groove and Acoustic Triangle; and plenty of opportunities to hear the choristers and layclerks of the three Cathedral Choirs in action.
Adrian Lucas has been Musical Director of the City of Birmingham Choir since 2002, continuing a long and distinguished line which includes David Willcocks, Meredith Davies and Christopher Robinson. As an organist, Adrian continues to give recitals both nationally and internationally. He has played in churches and concert halls from Sydney to Seattle and particularly enjoys broadening the instrument’s repertoire into the realms of jazz.
Adrian is also active as a composer, arranger and orchestrator. He has a portfolio of pieces to his name which includes choral works from short a-capella carols and motets through to Creation Canticles, a 41 minute work for solo soprano, chorus and orchestra. Alongside this are many arrangements for brass ensemble, mainly commissioned for special occasions, and a number of transcriptions of orchestral works.