Behind every performance is a musical director and an accompanist who bring the choir together, week in and week out.
Robyn was born and brought up in Ironbridge, the youngest daughter of the late Dr Tony Whitney. She was educated at Coalbrookdale Church of England school and at Abbots Bromley, where she was first able to study music, going on to the Royal Academy of Music in 1972 to gain her LRAM diploma.
Choral singing has been part of her life from the very start: she was a member of the first British Youth Choir, a founder member of the Midlands Chorale, and has sung with many other choirs and musical groups over the years. She first stepped in to direct the Abbey Chorale when their director fell ill — and simply carried on — and has also led the Darby Singers, the mixed-voice community choir in Telford.
Since retiring in 2006 from the picture-framing and art business she ran with her husband Trevor, music has become the centre of Robyn’s life — as a soloist, accompanist and conductor. She describes directing the Hadley & District Orpheus as a tremendous challenge, and one she thoroughly enjoys. There is a lovely thread of history to it, too: not long after joining the choir, she came across a photograph from 1934 of her grandfather, Dr Cyril Whitney, conducting his own male voice choir — the Ironbridge Glee Singers.
Robyn steps down at the end of 2026. The choir is now seeking her successor — see the vacancy.
The choir’s accompanist is Peter Smith. Born in Walsall, Peter has been playing piano and organ for societies across the Midlands for over fifty years, and still loves the combined sound of voices and instrument.
He has accompanied groups of every age and ability — church choirs as organist, chorale groups as music director, trios and quartets, opera and operatic societies, community choirs and countless soloists. A composer and arranger across many formats, he looks forward to adding to the choir’s repertoire in time.
Peter joined the Orpheus in 2022 with his wife Sheila, following his retirement from local government and five years in Cornwall, where they were closely involved with Duchy Opera, Truro Operatic and Penzance Operatic societies.
Born in Bilston, Sheila is a coloratura soprano in her own right, singing a wide variety of songs and styles for every kind of occasion. Peter’s wife, she has been a guest soloist with the Hadley Orpheus over several years — and always looks forward to the next chance to sing with the choir.