Membership
CHORAL SOCIETY
INGATESTONE
British Tenor Ben Thapa studied at the
Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal
Collage of Music and the International
Academy of Voice, supported by the Musicians
Benevolent Fund, the Wagner Society and the Joanian Trust.
Currently, Ben runs a busy diary on opera and
concert stages across the UK (and abroad when
possible).
Recent successes include Arbace (Indomeno at
the Buxton Festival) and Slegfried (The Quest
for the Ring, Royal Festival Hall/Opera North)
as well as concert performances taking place in
the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St.
Martin-in-The-Fields and the Birmingham
Symphony Hall.
Hilary is a freelance musician in the London and Essex area. From
2019-2022 she was Assistant Organist and Director of the Girls’
Choir at Chelmsford Cathedral and is now concentrating more on
choral conducting.
A graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Hilary
completed her M.Mus. in Organ Performance at McGill and was
awarded the W. Douglas Clark Memorial prize and the Douglas
Mackey prize for her studies. During her time in Montreal, Hilary
was Assistant Organist at Christ Church Cathedral. Since her move
to England in 2011, Hilary has been an Organ scholar at Southwell
Minster and Director of the Minster Girls’ Choir, Travis Organ
Fellow at All Saints’ Church, Northampton and choir accompanist,
Assistant Organist at Lincoln Cathedral; where she regularly accompanied and conducted the
acclaimed Cathedral Choir, trained the probationer choristers, and was Director of the Lincoln
Cathedral Consort.
Outside her work with cathedral and parish choirs in the UK and Canada, Hilary has worked
with various community and school choirs such as the Cranmer Company of Singers, Lincoln
Minster Preparatory School Choir, Chiara, and Lincoln Diocesan Ladies’ Choir, and regularly
supports the Royal School of Church Music, both as tutor at their residential courses, and as
Area Team Leader for Essex and East London.
As an organ soloist, Hilary has given recitals at venues across the UK and has appeared on
several CD recordings both as a singer and organist, including Southwell’s acclaimed recording
of the Cavaillé-Coll organs in Sées cathedral.
You can follow Hilary on Twitter: @hilarypunnett
OUR PROFESSIONALS
Musical Director: Hilary Punnett
Accompanist: Simon Hogan
