The Festival conductor, Roger Sayer, was a chorister in Portsmouth, and studied at the Royal College of Music under the late Nicholas Danby. He then became an organ student at St Paul's Cathedral and in 1981 became organist of Woodford Parish Church, where he built up a strong musical tradition. In 1994, he was appointed Organist and Director of Music at Rochester Cathedral , and also conductor of the Rochester Choral Society . He has taken his cathedral choir on numerous tours abroad, always to great acclaim. He regularly tours Europe, the USA and Scandinavia as a freelance recitalist and accompanist, and has made many recordings and broadcasts. He is an examiner and adjudicator, and also musical advisor to the RSCM, for whom he runs many courses and musical events. A member of the organ department of Trinity College of Music in London, Roger played at St Paul's Cathedral in 2002 as part of the cathedral's Celebrity Series of concerts, and in 2003, gave recitals in Holland, the USA, Iceland and in the UK.