Born in the borough of Chingford, Essex, England, Rose grew up playing hymns on the piano at his local Sunday school, and later accompanying the choir on the harmonium at the mission church of St Anne's in Chingford Hatch. Upon leaving the Sir George Monoux Grammar School, Walthamstow, at the age of 16, Rose worked in the insurance departments of W. H. Smith & Son and Joseph Rank Ltd.
Career
In 1956, he joined Martindale Sidwell's choir at Hampstead Parish Church as a bass, and two years later to became organist and choirmaster at St Andrew's Church, Kingsbury. While at Kingsbury, Sir Thomas Armstrong offered rose Rose a place at the Royal Academy of Music to study organ with C. H. Trevor. In April 1960, whilst still a 25-year-old unqualified academy student, Rose became the youngest cathedral organist in the country when he was appointed as the first Organist & Master of the Choristers at the new Guildford Cathedral. At Guildford he founded a choir to sing the daily services, their first public appearance being the service of consecration on 17 May 1961 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh. The choir made several recordings in the cathedral for EMI Records, of which some were awarded platinum, gold, and silver status. In 1971, Rose succeeded George Thalben Ball as Religious Music Adviser to the BBC's Head of Religious Broadcasting. In 1974, he was invited to move to St Paul's Cathedral, initially as sub-organist, and in 1977 was appointed to the specially created post of Master of the Choir. He took over those duties at the Silver Jubilee Service for Queen Elizabeth II on 3 June 1977, for which he wrote a setting of Psalm 121. He subsequently directed the choir in their daily worship services, several state occasions, as well as a visit to the USA and Canada in June 1980. Under Rose's direction, the choir explored popular music and made a gold-selling recording of "My Way" and on the Chris Squire and Alan White Christmas single "Run with the Fox"; Squire was a former Kingsbury choirboy. Soloists from the choir also provided the original recordings of "Walking in the Air" from The Snowman, and the closing signature tune – Geoffrey Burgon's setting of the Nunc Dimittis – for the TV series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Several of the choristers also took part in the Paul McCartney song "We All Stand Together" for the animated filmRupert and the Frog Song. Rose left St Paul's in 1984 after a major difference of opinion with senior members of the clergy. After leaving St Paul's, Rose became Master of the Choirs at the King's School, Canterbury. His last cathedral post was in 1988, as Master of the Music at the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, from which he retired on 25 December 1997. In the 1998 Birthday Honours list, Rose was appointed OBE for his services to cathedral music.
