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John Railton

p, org,
Musician / Composer / Conductor of Classical

John Railton was a musician, composer, conductor and teacher. He was born in Streatham, south London, and educated at Battersea grammar school and Cranleigh school, Surrey. He studied organ and piano at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1947 he joined the London Bach Society and for many years assisted Paul Steinitz, its founder, as rehearsal pianist and assistant conductor. He took a teaching post at Ealing grammar school, where his choirs became much in demand by the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra; they performed music outside the normal scope of secondary schools with conductors such as Charles Mackerras, Antal Doráti, Colin Davis, Constantin Silvestri and Pierre Boulez. For 21 years he conducted the Ernest Read Music Association's Christmas concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. As a music adviser in Hertfordshire he established the Hertfordshire County Youth Choir and Orpheus Youth Choir and in Hitchin he formed the North Herts Guild of Singers and the Orpheus Choir. In his last years in the West Country he taught at Dartington College of Arts, directed the Dartington Community Choir, taught adult music appreciation groups and worked with the East Cornwall Bach festival, the Exeter University Singers and the Exeter Chamber Choir. He founded and directed the Devon Guild of Singers and Players and was organist and choirmaster at St Andrew's Church, Ashburton. In 1959 he founded the Ealing Youth Orchestra, which has produced many professional musicians. He became a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1968 and was appointed MBE in 2012.

Instruments

• Piano
• Organ

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