Mark Foster studied at the Royal College of Music in London where he was both scholar and prize winner before joining the London Symphony Orchestra as one of its youngest members, playing the horn. He was later invited to be a founder member of the Philharmonia Orchestra where he played for some of the world’s finest conductors.
He gave up Orchestral playing in order to further his musical studies, holding various teaching and organist posts. During this period Mark became more involved with conducting and on many occasions appeared with the London Mozart Players, the city of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and several other orchestras, both in this country and abroad.
In 1992 he was appointed conductor of the Monmouth Choral society, a position which he left in April 2005. In 1998 he was awarded the Sir Charles Groves Prize by the National Federation of Music Societies (now Making Music) in honour of his long and tireless work on behalf of music in the community.
He died after a short illness on 4th July 2007, and the following concert on 27th July was dedicated to him.