Sing with a Leading
London Chamber Choir
If you love
Singing in a chamber sized group
Enjoy varied, brilliant and ambitious repertoire
Seek a haven of harmony and inclusivity
Membership FAQs
Join the Choir
We welcome great amateur singers who are willing to dedicate themselves to exploring engaging repertoire in a relaxed rehearsal environment.
As a small choir, we have the opportunity to build connections and provide mutual support.
Rehearsals
We rehearse Tuesday evening rehearsals during ‘school’ term times from 6:45pm to 9:00pm, with a short break for tea/coffee and socializing.
We have a relaxed style to rehearsing, however singers are expected to learn the music between rehearsals so that everyone can focus on crafting and enjoying the music.
email Helen at citychamberchoir@gmail.com
Commitment
We organise 4 concerts a year, but also occasional evensongs, day workshops, other performances and social events.
Members are expected to attend the majority of rehearsals and notify the choir committee of planned absences.
Audition
Entry is by a relaxed audition with Steve. Auditions consist of scales, sight-reading and a short prepared piece. We then ask you to join a rehearsal.
To arrange an audition e-mail Helen Godwin, our membership secretary, with details of your singing experience, your voice part and a contact number.
Subscriptions
Choir members pay a subscription which we use to cover the rehearsal venue costs and promote concerts/events.
2024-25 season will cost £110 per term.
Young people under 26 pay only half the subscription. Bursaries are offered on consideration by the committee.
Music Costs
We have a fabulous librarian who voluntarily organises everyone’s music.
However, members pay for the music and are asked to print their own copies when needed
6:45pm – 9:00pm
Tuesdays in school term time
Monument & Bank Tubes
St Mary-at-Hill Church
Lovat Lane
London EC3R 8EE
What We Love Singing
Duruflé Requiem
Duruflé Requiem | Villette Tu es Petrus; Three motets | Poulenc Salve Regina | Alain Chanson à bouche fermée | Messiaen O sacrum convivium
Featuring Duruflé’s sublime Requiem and its luminous choral writing. The rest of the programme includes music by Messiaen, his celebrated O sacrum convivium, Poulenc’s heartfelt Salve Regina, and sumptuous motets by Villette. , Organist Richard Pinel showcases Our Lady of Victories’ glorious new Skrable Grand Organ with solos by Langlais.
Stephen Jones conductor | Richard Pinel organ | Aino Konkka mezzo soprano | Mirjam James cello
Byrd 400 Celebration
Byrd: Ave Verum | Sing we merrily; Blow up the trumpet | Make we joy to God | Come woeful Orpheus | Retire my soul | Roderick Williams: Ave Verum reimagined | Huw Watkins: The Phoenix and the turtle | Tallis: Why fum’th in sight | If ye love me | A new commandment | O Lord give thy Holy Spirit | Weelkes: O Lord grant the King a long life | O care thou wilt despatch me | Tomkins: O God the proud are risen | Too much I once lamented.
City Chamber Choir commemorates the 400th anniversary of the death of of one of England’s greatest composers, William Byrd (c.1540–1623), with a programme built around works by the master himself and pieces by composers who influenced or were influenced by him.
7:30pm Tuesday 11 July 2023 | St Mary Aldermary, London EC4
Da Vinci Requiem
Cecilia McDowall Da Vinci Requiem | Parry Songs of Farewell | Finzi Ecologue
A spring programme of British music: The solemn and moving Songs of Farewell by Parry represent a pinnacle of choral writing from the early twentieth century, a fact reflected in the use of one of its pieces at the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II. Bringing us right up to date is the 2019 Da Vinci Requiem. This significant seven-movement work from City Chamber Choir’s President Cecilia McDowall presents an imaginative pairing of extracts from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci with texts from the Latin Missa pro defunctis. Da Vinci’s reflective and penetrating insights into the nature of mortality and all that it encompasses cast new light on the familiar Requiem texts. Sure to become a classic, the work is powerful and mysterious, and reflects the composer’s longstanding interest in Leonardo. It is also full of gorgeous melodies and harmonies. Gerald Finzi’s serene Eclogue for piano and strings completes the programme.
Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra | Stephen Jones conductor | Tamsin Raitt Soprano | Thomas Isherwood Baritone | Tom Jesty piano
7:30pm Tuesday 21 March 2023 | Holy Sepulchre London, London EC1
Iberia and Beyond
Music from Spain, Portugal & the Americas
Ramirez Misa Criolla | Magalhães Asperges me| Duarte Lobo Pater peccavi | C. de Morales Tu es Petrus | F. Guerrero Salve Regina II | Ericsson Salve Regina – to the mothers in Brazil | Piazzolla Libertango | Castelnuovo-Tedesco Romancero Gitano
We are delighted to be joined by an instrumental ensemble of guitars, percussion and keyboard. Our programme contrasts the austere beauty of church music written by masters of polyphony in sixteenth-century Lisbon, with a heady mix of twentieth century classics from Latin America and Spain, including Ramirez’s charming and tuneful folk mass and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s wonderfully atmospheric settings of poems by Lorca. Completing the mix is Piazzola’s celebrated Libertango and Ericsson’s exploration of Salve Regina, subtitled ‘to the mothers in Brazil’, which brings us full circle to Lisbon once more, and Francisco Guerrero’s passionate setting of the same text.
Stephen Jones conductor | Nigel Woodhouse guitar | Forbes Henderson guitar | Luke Bainbridge percussion | Tom Jesty keyboard
7pm Tuesday 18 October 2022, St-Mary-at-Hill, London EC3
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