Meet The Team

Charles MacDougall - Conductor

Charles MacDougall, known equally for his singing and his transformative work with choirs and singers, was appointed director of Finsbury Park Singers in early 2023.

A former member of internationally-acclaimed vocal ensemble VOCES8, he now sings for a number of other ensembles, including Gabrieli Consort and Players London Voices (appearing on numerous film soundtracks) and London Early Opera (including as a soloist on their releases Handel at Vauxhall, Vol.1 & 2, Signum Classics), as well as undertaking solo engagements internationally.

An accomplished choral conductor and vocal coach, he is Chorus Director for Gabrieli ROAR, Vocal Ensembles Coach and Tutor in Vocal Studies at Junior Trinity (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) and directs 3 choirs in London. Recent directing highlights include conducting the world premieres of both Errollyn Wallen’s MAP: Songs For Children Everywhere for Britten-Pears Arts in Hull and Snape Maltings, and David Bruce’s Songs of Home for the 25th anniversary of The Voices Foundation at St. John’s, Smith Square. He is extremely active as a workshop leader, presenting sessions for the BBC Singers, UK Choir Festival, Association of British Choral Directors, LSO and Stay At Home Choir.

As an educator, he was part of the team that received the Music and Drama Education Award for Excellence in Primary/Early Years 2018 and he helped devise and deliver the daily Virtual Sing for children on lockdown in 2020. In 2021 he wrote the first volume of Inside Singing, a choral resource for primary school choir leaders, shortlisted for Outstanding Music Education Resource in the Music and Drama Education Awards 2023.

A fierce advocate for the importance of music and music education, he is the Choral Director of Voices Foundation, an Ambassador for Britten-Pears Arts, a Trustee of IntoOpera, and a Director and Trustee of the Choral Foundation, Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace.

Hannah Brine - Founder and Musical Director

Hannah Brine founded Victoria Park Singers in 2013, not long after she moved to the area. We originally rehearsed at the Royal Inn on the Park, and Victoria Park remains Hannah’s favourite part of London.

Hannah’s choirs have performed at events including the Royal Variety Show, Olivier Awards, BBC Proms and TV and recording projects. In 2022 she led the Wilderness Festival Choir and will return again this year. She also leads an annual singing retreat.

Her song Ray of Sunlight was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Youth Choir and she has been commissioned by the South Bank Centre to compose for Victoria Park Singers.

As a vocal coach, she taught at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, and is an advocate for good vocal health.

Recording credits include various releases on Black Hole, Perfecto, Armind, Cafe Del Mar, BBC and Disney. When not leading choirs she loves to write songs – usually in the folk and pop genres, however her song You & I, written for Ciaran McAuley & Roger Shah, was number one in the global trance charts (2022).

Jonathan Williams - Accompanist

Jonathan read music at the University of Cambridge, receiving a BA (Hons) and MPhil, before going to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music.

Since then, he has worked as an actor, singer and musical director for numerous productions in the West End, the UK and Europe.

He has been a musical director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, working on its recent productions of The Shoemaker’s Holiday, Oppenheimer, Doctor Faustus, Don Quixote and The Alchemist.

Jonathan also works regularly for the education departments of the Royal Opera, Wigmore Hall and English National Opera, providing workshops for children, students and families. He is a keen quizzer and will be appearing on the next series of Only Connect on BBC2.

Judith Ogden - PA to Hannah Brine

Judith grew up in Oxfordshire and studied for a degree in Music at Bristol University, graduating in 1994. Whilst a student she combined her musical activities – playing viola in the university orchestras and singing – with a role in the artillery regiment of Bristol University Officers’ Training Corps, part of the Territorial Army.

After graduation, she worked for a marketing production company in Bristol, and then for a marketing consultancy in Bath, before becoming a freelance arts administrator, and graphic and web designer in 2002. In her spare time, she sings in two Bristol-based choirs and plays badminton at club, league and county level. Her musical highlights include singing the alto solo in Handel’s Dixit Dominus in a performance with Exultate Singers in Dubrovnik.

She has appeared as a singing extra in Christmas specials of Call the Midwife and Casualty, and on the soundtrack for TV ads and drama series, as well as on the sci-fi film Annihilation. She is married to the conductor and composer David Ogden, and has four children aged from 16 to 26 years.