For most of the 1990s Andrew McFarlane was the choir's musical director. Andrew graduated in Music from St Chad's College, Durham University and had studied conducting with Arthur Davison, George Hurst and Adrian Leaper, as well as being an accomplished bassoon player and teacher.
In the early 1990s, the choir's membership was smaller than it had been for some years, and this affected the scale of the works which could be staged. Although the choir continued to perform large works such as the Messiah with orchestral accompaniment, the cost of these concerts, combined with the declining membership revenues, made it necessary for the society to re-assess its plans for future programmes.
Under Andrew's musical direction, the choir met this challenge by improving its ability to sing unaccompanied, and performing a number of earlier works by composers such as Byrd, Gibbons and Tallis which, though they could be technically challenging, required fewer resources. The 1994 concert in St Mary's Church, Hitchin, featuring the Palestrina Missa Dies Sanctificatus, and the successful Pastime With Good Company concerts staged at Christmas as an alternative to the traditional carol concerts, were highlights of this era.
The choir returned to Handel's Messiah in 1997, with a performance staged at St Christopher's School with members of the school's choir, in aid of the Voices For Hospices charity.
Andrew's association with the choir ended in 1998, when he and his family moved to Essex, where he now conducts the Maldon Choral Society