Alldis was educated at
King's College School, Cambridge and
Felsted. He then returned to
King's College, Cambridge as a choral scholar under
Boris Ord from 1949 to 1952. After leaving
Cambridge University, Alldis quickly became highly regarded as a choral conductor. In 1966, the
London Symphony Orchestra engaged him to form and direct its first standing choral group. However, he switched to the
London Philharmonic Choir in 1969, In 1973, he directed the choir in the
Westminster Abbey performance of
Duke Ellington's Third Sacred Concert—a recording that was to be the penultimate one made by the great bandleader. He also conducted the London Philharmonic Choir and brass section in the recording of
David Bedford's
Star Clusters, available on the Classicprint label. In 1977, he recorded
Sounds of Glory for Arcade Records, a celebration of choral classics, which won a gold disc. Alldis conducted a number of other ensembles, in music ranging from the
Renaissance to the present. From 1966 to 1979, he led the choir of the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama. From 1971 to 1977, he served as joint chief conductor of
Radio Denmark, mainly leading its
Danish State Radio Chorus. From 1979 to 1983, he conducted the
Groupe Vocal de France, recording music by
Francis Poulenc and
Gabriel Fauré. From 1989 to 1990, he was music director and consultant for the Cameran Singers in Israel and briefly became guest conductor of the
Hallé Choir in Manchester. From 1978 to 1987, he conducted the
American Choral Symposium in
Manhattan, Kansas. From 1985 to 1998, he was a permanent guest conductor with the
Netherlands Chamber Choir, with whom he made several CDs including English Choral Music on the Globe label. From 1989 to 1997, he guest-conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus and the
Central Philharmonic Society of China in Beijing. In 2002, he conducted the
Lyon Opera in the first performance of
Messa Sulenna by the
Corsican composer
Jean-Paul Poletti. From 1975 to 2003, John Alldis served on the
Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, and from 1971 to 2004 he conducted the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra. Alldis won Grammy Awards for his work with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Georg Solti, was an Honorary Fellow of
Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1994 was named a Chevalier de
L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He was married to the violinist and teacher Ursula Alldis, and had two sons, the jazz pianist
Dominic Alldis and Robert. ==References==