The Hall welcomes Carlos Rodríguez Otero as new Director of Music

24 Jul 2024

Carlos Rodríguez Otero
Carlos Rodríguez Otero

This August, we welcome Carlos Rodríguez Otero to St Edmund Hall as our new Director of Music. Music is an important aspect of life at the Hall and alongside core responsibilities such as directing the Choir of St Edmund Hall, Carlos will be closely involved in continuing to develop an inclusive and vibrant music scene across the College.

Carlos was born in Santiago de Compostela and grew up in Bristol, learning the violin and piano from a young age. He read Music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar, and has been a Tenor Lay Clerk at St John’s College, Cambridge, since 2021. During 2018–21, Carlos was the Director of the Fisher House Schola Cantorum and has ample experience directing choral and orchestral projects across the UK.

He has an active performing life as a tenor – regularly singing with Tenebrae and other concert and church choirs – and keeps busy by teaching music to all ages. He is also an active composer and, alongside his career as a practising musician, he is currently finishing a PhD in sixteenth-century sacred music in Northern Spain, with a general academic focus on medieval and early modern music in England, Spain and Italy. On his appointment, Carlos comments:

I am utterly thrilled to have been appointed Director of Music at St Edmund Hall. I can’t wait to start making music with the wonderful choir, honouring and building on the legacy left by my brilliant predecessor, the late James Whitbourn. As well as this, I am looking forward to facilitating a broad range of excellent and exciting musical opportunities for all members of the Hall. My very first job is to conduct the yearly choir tour to Pontigny Abbey in September – I’m sure that a week together in the valleys of northern Burgundy will set us up in very good stead indeed for the year ahead!

Welcome to St Edmund Hall, Carlos!

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