Ian Chesworth initially trained as a physicist at the University of Durham and worked as an engineer and manager in the semiconductor industry before making music his full-time profession.

He has been conducting since University when he founded the choir 'AMDG' and performed works such as the Mozart Requiem, Pergolesi Stabat Mater and the Victoria Requiem. With a special interest in voice production he has taken part in masterclasses and studied privately with Paul Spicer, Janet Lincé, Alan Hazeldine and David Lawrence.

Ian conducts a number of choirs in the Manchester area, including Manchester Philharmonic Choir and KEMS Choir as well as Bolton Chamber Choir. Recent highlights have ranged from small scale a-cappella pieces to grand opera. No stranger to working with both professional and amateur singers, he has been running highly successful Choral Workshops in Dunster, Somerset for many years which attract over 100 participants from the length and breadth of the country and even from abroad. A judge in the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition since its inception, Ian will this summer direct the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Supersing” programme.

Having taken up the organ at the age of 14, Ian has held a number of church appointments, most recently at St Clement’s, Chorlton, Eccles Parish Church and Elvet Methodist Church in Durham. He has studied organ with David Sanger, Roger Fisher and Keith Wright and is an associate of the Royal College of Organists. His experience as an accompanist has taken him far and wide, appearing on national TV and Radio, and as a solo performer his engagements have included a number of recitals as well as arranging and performing excerpts from Sir Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio which received great acclaim by the composer.

As a singer, he has had a great deal of experience both as a concert singer and on the stage. Having trained as a postgraduate at the RNCM, operatic roles have included Spoletta (Tosca), Silvio (Pagliacci), Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors) and Monostatos (The Magic Flute). On the concert platform, he has performed as the soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah, Faure's Requiem and many gala nights. He has taken part in a number of masterclasses, and received coaching from Sir Thomas Allen, Adele Leigh and Seth Riggs among others, and is currently studying with Gillyanne Kayes. In December 2000 he sang the tenor role of Howard Blake's 'The Bear' with the Northern Sinfonia and in the presence of the composer.

Active as a teacher, he is a regular singing coach to students on the prestigious Acting Course at Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as teaching at his private practice in Chorlton.