George Guest

George Howell Guest (Bangor, 9 February 1924) was a Welsh choir director, organist and teacher who, for four decades, from 1951 to 1991, directed the choir of St John's College, Cambridge. His significance lies in the influence he exerted on Anglican choral performance and on the way boy choristers sang.

Guest's training began in the field of church music, as a boy chorister at Bangor and Chester cathedrals. After serving in the RAF during the war, he held an organ scholarship at St John's (1947-1951) under Robin Orr, whom he would eventually succeed. At Cambridge his teachers included Boris Ord and Thurston Dart. He later became a university lecturer (1956-1982) and university organist (1974-1991).

Guest's legacy includes more than sixty recordings with the St John's choir, among them notable performances of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré, Duruflé, Langlais, Victoria, Palestrina, Byrd, Taverner and Tye, which reflect a broad musical sensibility. He commissioned new works from Tippett, Howells, Lennox Berkeley and others, enriching the Anglican repertoire. He championed an expressive, outgoing style of singing, attentive to the meaning of the texts, and encouraged his singers to vary their vocal colour according to the style. He trained several generations of singers and organists, many of whom went on to become distinguished musicians.