Choral conductor Jeremy Backhouse is best known as the director of the London chamber choir, the Vasari Singers. He has also led the Guildford Philharmonic Choir, later renamed the Vivace Chorus, and the Salisbury Community Choir, as well as guest conducting several of Britain's leading choral ensembles. Backhouse began his musical career as a boy chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, rising to the rank of Senior Chorister. For a time, he worked as an editor, beginning in 1980 for Britain's Royal National Institute of Blind People, where he transcribed printed music into Braille musical notation. He also held editorial posts with the EMI Classics label and with the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes before turning to freelance conducting. Backhouse is most familiar as the conductor, since 1980, of the Vasari Singers. This choir won the Sainsbury's Choir of the Year competition in 1988 and has gained a reputation for high-quality, accessible choral performances. The group performs at major concert venues around London, as well as in cathedral and chapel venues around Britain. Under Backhouse, the Vasari Singers are frequent guests on the Classic FM and BBC Radio networks. In 1995, Backhouse was appointed conductor of the Guildford Philharmonic Choir, later renamed the Vivace Chorus. Both with this group and with the Vasari Singers, Backhouse has been a strong advocate of contemporary music; with the latter ensemble, he has commissioned more than 25 new works. He also served as the director of the Wooburn Singers from 1998 to 2004 and has been a guest conductor with BBC Singers, the Philharmonia Chorus, and the London Choral Society, among other groups. Backhouse has made more than 20 recordings as the director of the Vasari Singers, many of them devoted to contemporary music. He has appeared on the EMI, Signum, and Guild labels, among others. Since 2011, Backhouse and the Vasari Singers have been associated mostly with the Naxos label, where they released the thematic choral recital, Heaven Full of Stars, in 2020. ~ James Manheim