Peter Roberts appointed Headmaster of Westminster Abbey Choir School
Monday, 25th February 2019
Peter Roberts has been appointed Headmaster of Westminster Abbey Choir School and will take up the post in September 2019. He is currently Assessment Co-ordinator at St George’s School Windsor Castle. He will succeed Jonathan Milton, who is retiring this summer after 17 years as Headmaster. Westminster Abbey Choir School educates the thirty boys who sing in the Abbey Choir.
Peter Roberts, a former pupil at St George's, has a first class combined honours degree in Spanish and Portuguese from King's College, London. He became Queen Mother's Scholar of the Middle Temple before practising as a barrister and becoming in-house lawyer at Hyperion, which has produced records with the Abbey choir for many years. After PGCE training at the Institute of Education, he taught at Tidemill Academy in Deptford before moving to St George's five years ago. He has been much involved in church music, as a choral scholar, as a member of the Holst Singers and as Administrator of the Edington Festival.
Peter and his wife Emily, Operations Manager for Live Music Now, have two sons aged 15 and nine.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said:
We are delighted to have appointed Peter Roberts, from a very strong field, as Headmaster of Westminster Abbey Choir School. The Choir School has a vitally important role within the life of the Abbey; it offers an excellent musical, spiritual and general education for the choristers, many of whom have gone on to achieve at a very high level. Jonathan Milton has been an outstanding Headmaster since 2002, working closely with James O'Donnell as Organist and Master of the Choristers. I am confident that Peter Roberts will also be an excellent Headmaster and wish him well for the future.
Peter Roberts said:
It is humbling to have been selected to work alongside and lead the Choristers and Staff of Westminster Abbey Choir School. As former chorister parents, Emily and I are acutely aware of the needs of young musicians working at the highest levels of church music and look forward to maintaining and building upon the successful, warm and happy atmosphere so ably fostered during the past two decades by Jonathan Milton, James O'Donnell and their colleagues. Over the same period, we have been fortunate to work with many choristers from Westminster Abbey as part of the Edington Festival and have always been taken by their kindness and professionalism. The prospect of joining the Abbey community and getting to know the boys, parents and staff is thrilling indeed.
