Derek Holman

Who is Derek Holman?

Derek Holman, CM is a choral conductor, organist and composer.

Holman attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1948 to 1952 and studied with Sir William McKie, Eric Thiman and York Bowen. He holds the degree of Doctor of Music from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal School of Church Music and the Royal College of Organists. He was an instructor in the Royal Army Educational Corps with the British Army of the Rhine from 1952 to 1954, master at Westminster Abbey Choir School from 1954 to 1956, assistant organist at St Paul's Cathedral from 1956 to 1958, then an organist at Croydon Parish Church from 1958 to 1965. In 1960 he founded the Croydon Bach Society. He also held positions at the Royal School of Church Music from 1956 to 1965.

Holman moved to Canada in 1965, working as choirmaster at Bishop Strachan School until 1970 and organist and choirmaster at Toronto's Grace Church on-the-Hill until 1979. He began teaching music at the University of Toronto in 1966. He directed the Concord Singers of Toronto from 1973 to 1975 and the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus from 1975 to 1985.