Chandos Chamber Choir creates a newsletter periodically to keep our friends, supporters and followers up-to-date with the activities and events of the choir. It is delivered via our friends email mailing list.
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Below is a list of all past issues...
Jazz Fauré Requiem - meet the musicians
Mon, 3 Nov 2025Faure Requiem 11 November
Meet the musicians
We're delighted to be accompanied by a quintet of accomplished jazz musicians for our performance of this special jazz version of Fauré's Requiem, including the arranger himself Charles Beale who will play piano on the night. Book now to secure a ticket at our early bird rate.
Charles Beale is an internationally acclaimed choral director, arranger, jazz educator, author and coach, known for his visionary leadership and pioneering work in activist choral singing and music education. He was a jazz piano professor at the Royal College of Music for seven years.
A London-based musician, bass player, producer and audio visual creative, Gareth Huw Davies will join us on double bass. Over roughly thirty years as a professional musician, Gareth has worked on countless recordings, broadcasts, concerts, gigs, theatre shows and big band outings, including with the Will Todd Trio.
Simon Lea is a British session, touring drummer and percussionist. He is a versatile musician covering a wide range of genres including funk & soul, pop, rock, hip hop and jazz. From 2006, he was house drummer at Ronnie Scott's.
Graeme Flowers, on trumpet and flugelhorn, has performed live with artists such as Quincy Jones, Taylor Swift, Paul Weller, Michael Buble and Jamie Cullum. He has also performed on, and written music for three Clint Eastwood movie soundtracks.
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Finally, we are delighted to welcome Leo Richardson on saxophones. Leo has been making a name for himself on the London Jazz scene, being nominated in the London Music Awards for Rising Star in the Jazz category. He regularly hosts the Late Late Show at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with his own quartet.
Left to right: Charles Beale, Gareth Huw Davies, Simon Lea, Graeme Flowers and Leo Richardson
We cannot wait to perform with such a talented group of musicians and hope you will join us for what promises to be an unforgettable evening. The last word goes to Charles Beale, who explains his inspiration for the piece:
"Jazz and classical music overlap in so many ways. This version of the Fauré Requiem grew from an intuition thatFauré’s harmony - French, late Romantic, understated - was similar in many ways to that of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.
"What followed was in some ways a bonkers but in others totally appropriate re-imagining: to keep the vocal parts of the Fauré Requiem exactly as is, but to replace the existing instrumental parts, which are conventionally piano, organ or small orchestra, with a jazz quintet.
"So my intention here was to leave Fauré’s much loved piece entirely unchanged, but also to refresh it, by adding improvising jazz musicians, who could celebrate and comment on Fauré’s music as the choir sings."
Ticket sales now open for Chandos Chamber Choir's forthcoming concert
Wed, 15 Oct 2025Ticket sales now open for Chandos Chamber Choir's forthcoming concert
Book your early bird ticket for 11 November
Chandos Chamber Choir is delighted to present our next concert on Tuesday 11 November where we will be performing a special jazz arrangement of Fauré's Requiem in collaboration with some of London's best-loved jazz musicians. Book now to secure your seat at our early bird rate.
This interpretation of Fauré's Requiem, premiered in 2002, is a jazz version by acclaimed choral director, arranger and jazz pianist Charlie Beale. As well as choir, the arrangement is written for piano, double bass, drums, trumpet, flugelhorn and saxophones.
We can't wait to share this piece and other themed music with you, so book now to reserve your seat. Please note the slightly later start time of 7.30 (bar opens at 7.00).
It's today
Thu, 10 Jul 2025Last call for Orlando Gibbons
Places still available for today's concert
Chandos Chamber Choir are delighted to present our collaboration with Chelys Consort of Viols to mark 400 years since Gibbons' untimely passing at the age of 41. We are looking forward to sharing some of our favourite pieces by Orlando Gibbons, as well as instrumental pieces by his older brother Edward and his son Christopher. Take the last opportunity to book ahead now (there will be tickets available on the door too).
We cannot wait to welcome you to this very special evening commemorating one of the most beloved English composers.
Join Chandos Chamber Choir this Thursday
Fri, 4 Jul 2025Join Chandos Chamber Choir and Chelys Consort of Viols
Book your early bird ticket for A Consort of Gibbons on 10 July
We are looking forward to sharing the exquisite music of Orlando Gibbons on Thursday 10 July at St Mary-le-Bow. Early bird ticket sales will close shortly, so don't miss your opportunity to secure your place at a discount rate.
We are delighted to be partnering with Chelys Consort of Viols for our forthcoming concert of music for voices and viols by Orlando Gibbons and his brother Edward and son Christopher. The members of Chelys are among the UK’s leading exponents of the viol, particularly as a consort instrumentand they frequently collaborate with other period instrumentalists and singers, especially enjoying repertoire for voices and viols.
As well as Gibbons' more familiar sacred works, madrigals and instrumental pieces, Chelys and Chandos will perform together The Cryes of London, a consort song which captures the sounds of the city’s streets with market stalls and tradesmen offering their goods and services, along with the piteous pleas of beggars asking for help. This entertaining piece captures the sights and sounds of London streets, some of which are familiar to this day.
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Shoreditch Church: Hair Brooms (Richard Phillips, 1804)
Don't miss the opportunity to enjoy this collaboration marking the 400th anniversary of Gibbons' death.
Now booking 10 July - A Consort of Gibbons
Tue, 10 Jun 2025Save the date: Thursday 10 July
Book now for A Consort of Gibbons
In this anniversary year marking 400 years since his death, join us for a carefully selected programme of Orlando Gibbons’ works, from well-loved classics of English church music through to wistful madrigals.
Book now to reserve your seat.
Last call for Fire and Water
Sun, 23 Mar 2025Join us this Thursday 27 March for Fire and Water
We have been busy putting the finishing touches to our programme for this Thursday at St Mary-At-Hill, and are proud to present an exciting selection of pieces showcasing the two elements of fire and water.Book now to reserve your seat for this fabulous concert.
For a sneak preview, click on the images below.
Katerina Gimon, Fire (L) and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (R)
Please note that the full programme for this concert is available online only here. You will be able to access the programme via QR code at the concert itself, but why not take the opportunity to download it in advance so you have it to hand... or let it tempt you to come if you were undecided.
Join Chandos Chamber Choir on 27 March to celebrate fire and water
Sun, 16 Mar 2025Voyage from the frozen seas of the north to tropical volcanoes
Book now and join us on Thursday 27 March for an evening of extremes as we contrast all things fire and water.
We look forward to taking you from the frozen climes of Thule to the volcano of Fogo 'amidst an ocean of flying fishes'. Thule (also spelled Thyle or Tile) is referenced as the most northerly location in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. It has been identified as Iceland, Greenland, Shetland or the Orkneys, as well as various other northern European locations, but the common theme is that it is the edge of the map. In Thule, the period of cosmography by Thomas Weelkes, we will explore the contrast between Thule and the volcano Fogo in Cape Verde.
Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus (1590-1557) and satellite image of Fogo by Jesse Allen (NASA Earth Observatory)
Both are cited as extremes of ice and fire and their descriptions occupy most of the text of this madrigal, but Weelkes claims that the inner turmoil he is experiencing from being in love is even more wonderous than these natural phenomena.
At the other end of our spectrum perhaps is Dominick DiOrio's Day of fire and sun which is more internally focussed, with the emotions described by Sara Teasdale's poem driving the outward manifestations of sun and sea.
Join us at St-Mary-At-Hill on 27 March for these and many more elemental works.
Booking now open for Chandos' spring concert on 27 March
Sun, 23 Feb 2025Book now for our spring concert
For our spring concert, Chandos Chamber Choir is proud to present a programme of song themed around the elements of fire and water. Book now to reserve your seat.
Our programme features predominantly contemporary music, including a number of pieces by Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, with works by Katerina Gimon, Dominick DiOrio and Ben Parry. Longer established favourites by Edward Bairstow, Thomas Weelkes and Thomas Morley are also part of our repertoire.
One of our key works for this evening is Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae which recounts the tragedy of the shipwreck of the car ferry Estonia in 1994, where 910 people lost their lives. Mäntyjärvi’s haunting piece combines elements of plainchant and folksong, with the Latin text bringing together the contemporary announcement of the shipwreck on the Latin-language Nuntii Latini news programme broadcast by the Finnish Broadcasting Company with excepts from the Requiem mass and Latin texts of Psalm 107 They that go down to the sea in ships.
From our contemporary composers, we will also perform two other pieces by Mäntyjärvi, as well as Katerina Gimon’s Fire and Water, Day of Fire and Sun by Dominick DiOrio and Flame by Ben Parry.
We hope you will join us at St Mary-At-Hill on 27 March for this exciting programme. Book now to reserve your seat.
Merry Christmas from Chandos Chamber Choir
Mon, 9 Dec 2024Best wishes for the festive season
Thank you to everyone who came to our concert last Thursday - we had a fabulous time, and hope you enjoyed our programme as much as we did.
This isn't quite the end of term for us as we have two further engagements this week. We are proud to be supporting the Carers Trust at their Christmas concert on Tuesday 10 December (more information here), and we are also carol singing in aid of St Mungo's at Charing Cross on Wednesday 11 December. If you are passing through, do stop to say hello.
We wish you a very happy Christmas, and look forward to seeing you at one of our concerts in the new year.
Last call for Stars on Thursday 5 December
Sun, 1 Dec 2024BOOK NOW FOR YOUR TRIP TO THE STARS
With less than a week to go until Chandos' Christmas concert on Thursday 5 December, don't miss your chance to join us for this celebration of the heavens. As you can see from the photo, we are putting the final touches to our preparations. Following on from profiling our contemporary composers in our last issue, we're sharing here some of the pieces by our earlier composers. Book now to ensure you don't miss out.
Book now for Chandos' Christmas Concert
Sun, 17 Nov 2024Join Chandos Chamber Choir on Thursday 5 December to get into the festive spirit
We are looking forward to sharing a range of works spanning the centuries from early music to the present day, and this issue of our newsletter includes details of some of the contemporary works we are looking to share with you on 5 December. Scroll down to find about more about the works by some of Chandos' favourite contemporary composers - and don't forget to reserve your seat.
Save the date - Chandos Christmas Concert Thursday 5 December
Thu, 7 Nov 2024Welcome to our new look newsletter
(and apologies if you have received this twice)
Unfortunately we experienced a technical issue with our mailing list and have had to reissue this newsletter, so please excuse us if this email duplicates one you received on Tuesday.
Chandos Chamber Choir is delighted to launch our new look newsletter with information on our forthcoming Christmas concert on Thursday 5 December. Entitled 'Stars', our programme is filled with all things heavenly - read on for more information, and follow the link to our new ticket sales page to book your place.
