ALDEBURGH MUSIC CLUB ANNOUNCE PRESIDENTIAL CHANGES
Aldeburgh Music Club have announced changes to the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Club.
After 15 years as President, Sir Humphrey Burton CBE becomes President Emeritus, while former Vice President, Robin Leggate, now takes on the role. Diana Moore becomes a new Vice President.
Humphrey Burton, who retired to Aldeburgh after a distinguished career as a leading producer of arts and cultural programmes on television, became President of the Club in 2010. He was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours for services to classical music, the arts and the media. Following his new appointment as President Emeritus, he said:
I am very proud to have served as President of a choir that was founded over 70 years ago by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, two of my musical heroes. We are fortunate to have a visionary conductor in Tom Appleton, and an ever-reliable and imaginative accompanist in composer Jonathan Rutherford. I am sure my successor will enjoy as happy a time as I did in the presidential seat!
Robin Leggate also retired to Suffolk, after an equally distinguished career as an operatic tenor, singing leading roles in the world’s major opera houses, including over 900 performances as principal tenor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. One of his major roles was that of Captain Vere in Britten’s Billy Budd for Flanders Opera. He was frequently invited to take masterclass-style rehearsals for Aldeburgh Music Club, and in 2013 he was made a Vice President. Now taking on the role of President, Robin said:
I am very honoured to have become the President of the AMC, which was founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, both of whom have been a huge influence throughout my career. I am also delighted to follow in the illustrious footsteps of Humphrey Burton, who has served the choir admirably for so long. I shall endeavour to continue to help guide this community choir in its artistically excellent work.
Lowestoft-born Diana Moore is a professional mezzo soprano, who has delighted local audiences as a soloist for Aldeburgh Music Club on many occasions, not least by stepping in at virtually no notice earlier this year to sing in Britten’s Abraham and Isaac. Her career has taken her to many of the world’s major concert venues, working with some of the world’s leading conductors. Diana said:
It’s a huge honour to be formally associated with the choir brought into being by musical giants, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. The musical legacy of Britten and Pears had a profound effect upon my early development as a musician growing up in Suffolk. Aldeburgh Music Club are such a joyous group of singers, inspired and lifted by the indefatigable Tom Appleton at the helm! I’m in rather startlingly good company!

Diana Moore joins fellow mezzo Dame Ann Murray DBE, who has been a Vice President of the Club since 2017.
Chairman of Aldeburgh Music Club Christopher Wheeler commented:
Sir Humphrey Burton has been a great friend of the Choir these last 15 years, and we are proud that he will continue his connection as President Emeritus. We are delighted that Robin Leggate, another long-standing friend of the choir, will succeed him as President, and that mezzo Diana Moore has agreed to serve alongside Dame Ann Murray as a Vice President. We are indeed blessed to have such exceptional musicians supporting us.
Background note
Aldeburgh Music Club was founded in 1952 by composer Benjamin Britten along with his partner, the tenor Peter Pears, following representation that there was insufficient opportunity for amateur music-making in the town. The Aldeburgh Music Club Choir continues to this day to mount regular concerts of a high standard in venues such as Snape Maltings Concert Hall and Orford Church, with professional soloists and accompaniment, under the musical direction of Tom Appleton. Their next concert will be Handel’s Messiah at Snape Maltings on 29 November 2025, when Diana Moore will be one of the soloists.

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