Jim Bate is Co-Founder and Musical Director of The Elgar Scholars. Music has been a vital part of Jim’s life from a very early age. He started learning the piano when he was four, and later he took up the organ, studying under Leeds Minster Cathedral Organist, Alex Woodrow. He gained an organ scholarship and a place to read Music at Lady Margaret Hall in the University of Oxford. It was while he was at Oxford that he developed his passion for choral conducting, through his involvement with his college’s sacred and secular choirs.

After graduating, Jim took a Master’s in Choral Conducting at the University of Birmingham, studying with Simon Halsey OBE and Julian Wilkins. He sings in the CBSO chorus, and was a lay clerk at Birmingham Cathedral, alongside starting his job at PwC in Birmingham. He set up a choir in his workplace, delightfully named ‘In-Voice’, and in 2022 he became Musical Director of the Warwickshire Singers. Jim was the conductor of the B:Music Workplace Voices, formerly the Birmingham City Council Choir which was set up by Gareth Malone.