Our musical director and conductor, Reginald Searle, graduated from the Royal School of Music in 1963. He has now retired and this has allowed him to concentrate on writing more music. St Neots Sinfonia has premiered several of his works.

He taught in two London schools and worked part time in the music profession, singing a range of music from opera to television variety shows. He moved to Suffolk and taught for five years before taking up the post Director of Music at Longsands School, St Neots.

He founded the Longsands Choral Society in 1971 which soon became independent under its present name St Neots Choral Society.

He changed to teaching mathematics in 1975 when he became a Housemaster at the school, and returned to solo singing. In 1989 he founded the St Neots Sinfonia.

On September 9th 2024 it was announced that Reginald has been shortlisted for the Lady Hilary Groves Prize in the 2024 Making Music Awards. This prestigious award recognises individuals from a Making Music member group who have made an outstanding contribution to music in their community. See the announcement here