Frances Cooke read music at Clare College Cambridge where she was a choral scholar under John Rutter. She studied singing with Marjorie Thomas at the Royal Academy of Music and has enjoyed a busy career singing with all the leading chamber choirs, including The Sixteen, Tallis Scholars, BBC Singers, Choir of the Enlightenment and the Richard Hickox Singers. Throughout her career she has also taught singing and now teaches at the King's School, Chester.

Frances has been chorus master for the Chester Festival Chorus for 20 years, preparing them in a diverse range of works, including two world premières, for such eminent conductors as Tortelier, Petrenko, Hickox, Christophers and  David Hill. During this time the Chester Festival Chorus has also been invited on four occasions to sing at the BBC Proms, a rare accolade for a regional, not to mention 'part-time', choir that is not affiliated to an orchestra. 

Frances has had a long association with the St Endellion Festival in Cornwall. It was there that she first started chorus mastering and, over a period of 20 years, collaborated with the late Richard Hickox CBE on innumerable choral works and operas.

She has also worked extensively with the Hallé Choir and has recently been appointed as the Hallé  Choir Director

She is also in demand as a leader of choral workshops and is a tutor for the Association of British Choral Directors.

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