Avi Taler
Avi starts as our new MD from September 2025.
Avi is an Israeli-born conductor, choral director, and educator with a strong passion for community music-making. He studied orchestral and choral conducting at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv and the Royal College of Music in London, where he worked with leading conductors and collaborated on opera and orchestral projects.
Avi has extensive experience working with amateur and youth ensembles, including serving as Music Director of the Ashdod and Ness-Ziona Youth Concert Bands, and conducting community and educational projects across Israel and the UK. He has led choirs of all levels and, in July 2023, made his debut at the Royal Albert Hall conducting over 1,100 young singers in a major event celebrating inclusion and diversity.
Passionate about fostering a love for singing, Avi brings warmth, energy, and musical insight to every rehearsal. He is delighted to join Oxshott Choral Society as its new Musical Director and looks forward to building on its proud tradition of joyful, inclusive music-making.
For more information see www.AviTaler.com
Valerie Beynon
Our E
meritus conductor is Valerie Beynon BEM ARCM DDMES.Valerie was born and brought up in Sheffield and enjoyed music - dancing, singing and piano from an early age. She furthered her musical studies at school in North Wales, Dartington College of Arts and Rolle College, Exmouth following a course for musical education in schools. She continued her singing studies and achieved her ARCM in singing teaching.
In 1970 she moved to Oxshott taking a teaching post at Danes Hill School and becoming involved in village life, she formed a village choir for children, the Oxshott Junior Singers, and took on the WI choir, whilst still enjoying her own choral singing with the Leatherhead Choral Society. Her involvement in the Leith Hill Musical Festival through her singing led her to re-found the Oxshott Choral Society in 1975, which immediately took part in the Festival.
Although Val retired from Oxshott and Horsley Choral Societies at the end of the 2024/2025 season, she continues to be involved with music in Oxshott as Director of Music at St Andrew's Church.
