Brain tumour conductor insists show must go on

Published on Tuesday 22 July 2008 11:07

THE new director of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus has vowed to work at this year's International Festival –despite just having a tumour removed from his brain.

Christopher Bell, 47, who has conducted choirs and orchestras across the world, has vowed to beat cancer and continue his glittering career.

Speaking prior to a successful operation on July 15, the National Youth Choir of Scotland reportedly said: "I'm not going to let this bloody thing stop me. I am absolutely determined.

"It's not my time. This is not my time. There is so much more to be done."

He has hired conductors to lead the chorus at this year's festival, but expects to be working behind the scenes and hopes to be involved in rehearsals.

Mr Bell was working in the United States, where he is chorus director at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago, Illinois, when he noticed both numbness and tingling in his fingers, and twitches in his arm.

Doctors in Chicago said there was "an unwanted growth" pressing on his brain, and he needed surgery as soon as possible. After returning to Scotland, he was told he had a meningioma brain tumour.

A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh International Festival said: "Christopher is a force of nature, a man of incredible energy and spark. He and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus have been working extremely hard for their performances and will kick off the Festival on Friday, August 8, in rousing style."