Jonathan Rathbone

Jonathan was a chorister at Coventry Cathedral and later, a choral scholar at Christ's College Cambridge, where he read mathematics. He then studied at the Royal Academy of Music where he specialised in singing and composition, winning prizes in choral, conducting and orchestration. Jonathan joined the Swingle Singers in 1984 and was musical director for eight of the twelve years he sang with them. During that time he created the majority of their arrangements.

He has worked with many of the world's leading musicians and orchestras, both classical and commercial; these include the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Pierre Boulez and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Luciano Berio. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, New York, with jazz great Stéphane Grappelli and recorded backing vocals for Beatles producer George Martin and French pop star Etienne Daho.

He left the Swingle Singers in 1996 in order to spend more time writing, arranging and orchestrating. He is in constant demand as a choir trainer, works with vocal ensembles all over Europe and adjudicates choral competitions. Closer to home he directs three choirs in North London, and is musical director at St Mary's Church Walthamstow.

He is now an in-house composer with the music publishers Peters Edition. He is currently working on a large scale commission for a choir in London and various other works for choirs around the world. His book on sight singing was published last year, and a new book Christmas Pieces for Choir and Orchestra is in preparation. He is also very busy as an orchestrator, having written over 130 orchestral and string arrangements in the last year. He often travels to Prague to oversee the recording of these arrangements using members of the Prague Symphony Orchestra.