Director of Music

 Director of Music: Matthew Redfearn

Matthew Redfearn grew up in a village on the boundary of West and South Yorkshire in the days when it cost only 2p to catch a bus all the way to Sheffield. But he never took advantage of this stunning offer and instead came to Sheffield to be Director of Music at Ecclesall Parish Church in October 2002, after seventeen years of voluntary involvement with music in worship at Herne Hill Baptist Church in South East London and nineteen years of training to be and working as both a general medical practitioner and musician.

He initially qualified in medicine from King's College, London but an increasing passion for music, fuelled by his involvement with both church music and community music, led him to study part-time for a music degree at Goldsmith's College, London. During his music studies, as well as performing on the trumpet, he became particularly interested in orchestrating, arranging and composing. A subsequent year on a postgraduate composition course at Trinity College of Music finally convinced him to stop working as a medical general practitioner and pursue a musical career. This, in God's good timing, coincided with an invitation to be the Director of Music at Ecclesall Parish Church.

Matthew's involvement with music in worship began when he was prompted to explore the Christian faith at the age of sixteen, having noticed the positive effect faith had had on his brother's life. He attended Wakefield Crusaders (an interdenominational, mixed Christian youth group) where he gradually became convinced of the truth of the gospel message and committed his life to Christ on April 10^th 1980. His conversion quickly led to him being drawn into an involvement with sung worship both at Wakefield Crusaders and St Andrew's Church, Wakefield where he sang and played guitar and trumpet in the music group. On moving to London for his medical studies, he spent a year at All Souls, Langham Place, where he played trumpet in the orchestra for a year under the baton of the inspirational Noel Tredinnick. He also gained experience leading sung worship at King's College and King's College Hospital Christian Unions throughout his medical student years. But he is particularly grateful for his seventeen years at Herne Hill Baptist Church where he gained much experience leading sung worship with a music group, improvising on the trumpet, arranging music for singers and instrumentalists and co-founded a mixed choir, the Akathist Singers.

For several years before his move to Sheffield, Matthew played trumpet in G.H.Q. (a semi-pro jazz quintet), The Big Swing (a semi-pro big band), led the trumpet section of Southwark Concert Band and taught trumpet in his spare time. He also co-founded the Southwark Sinfonietta which he conducted and for which he wrote some original compositions.

Matthew currently works 3/4 time in his post as Director of Music at All Saints where he oversees the music in worship at all services apart from the youth services and organises the music for most weddings, some funerals and special events requiring music, ensuring that as far as possible the music supports the overall vision of the church. Major responsibilities since 2002 have included reorganising the music in worship to cover an increased number of morning services, arranging and directing the music for an Advent service for a live BBC TV broadcast, directing concerts given by All Saints' musicians, leading sung worship at a regional Alpha training event, organising and directing the annual advent and carol services and chairing the P.C.C.'s Worship Working Group.

In his remaining time Matthew teaches upper brass at Birkdale School, where he also directs the senior school brass ensemble. He is currently working on trumpet and piano material for performance at local venues. His hobbies include the arts in general, hillwalking, gardening, reading and dreaming of owning a two-seater, classic sportscar. He is married to Indira, a speech and language therapist, currently working full-time in the home. They have two children, Olivia and Daniel who are often delightful.  

Day off: Tuesday

Contact Matthew Redfearn 0114 266 2329 Send E-mail