London Oriana Choir

Last updated

The London Oriana Choir is a choral group comprising around 120 singers, based in London, England. It was formed in 1973 by Leon Lovett, who acted as conductor and musical director. David Drummond became the choir's musical director in 1996, and Dominic Ellis-Peckham began his term as musical director in September 2013. The choir has developed a following through performances at London venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank, St Paul's Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields and St James' Piccadilly. In 2016 the choir launched a five-year project 'Five 15' to promote the work of women composers with 15 new commissions from five composers, workshops and recordings. The five commissioned composers-in-residence were Cheryl Frances-Hoad (2016/17), Rebecca Dale (2017/18), Jessica Curry (2018/19), Anna Disley-Simpson (2019-2021), and Hannah Kendall (2021/22). Composer Cecilia McDowall accepted the role of Patron of the choir in 2021. The choir celebrates its 50th Anniversary in the 2023/24 season and has commissioned a new piece from Cecilia McDowall, to be premiered at a gala concert at St John's Smith Square in March 2024.

Contents

The choir tours regularly and since 2015 has performed in Portugal, Germany, Malta, Poland, and Italy.

Notable performances

Under Dominic Ellis-Peckham

Under David Drummond

Under Leon Lovett

Leon Lovett directed the choir from its inception until 1996. During this time, the choir regularly performed at the Royal Albert Hall, on BBC television and venues around London.

Recordings

Related Research Articles

Westminster Abbey Choir School is a boarding preparatory school for boys in Westminster, London and the only remaining choir school in the United Kingdom which exclusively educates choristers. It is located in Dean's Yard, by Westminster Abbey. It educates about 30 boys, aged 8–13 who sing in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, which takes part in state and national occasions as well as singing evensong every day and gives concert performances worldwide. Recent tours include to America, Hungary and Moscow. Other tours have included Australia, America and Hong Kong. The school is one of only three choir schools that educate only the male trebles of the choir, the others being Saint Thomas Choir School in New York City and Escolania de Montserrat in Spain. The headmaster is Peter Roberts, former assessment co-ordinator of St George's School, Windsor Castle. The organist and master of the choristers is Andrew Nethsingha, former Director of Music at St John’s College Cambridge.

The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s. Thereafter they began to reach a wider American audience, appearing frequently on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the United States. In 1987, they were prominently featured as guests on the Emmy Award-winning ABC television special Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Willcocks</span> British choral conductor (1919–2015)

Sir David Valentine Willcocks, was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which he directed from 1957 to 1974, making frequent broadcasts and recordings. Several of the descants and carol arrangements he wrote for the annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols were published in the series of books Carols for Choirs which he edited along with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter. He was also director of the Royal College of Music in London.

Brian Easdale was a British composer of operatic, orchestral, choral and film music, best known for his ballet film score The Red Shoes of 1948.

Francis John Roy Grier is an English classical composer and psychoanalyst.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s largest choral organisation. It presents its own annual concert series in the Sydney Opera House the City Recital Hall, and other venues in New South Wales, as well as serving as chorus for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs was a prolific and versatile English composer. Though best known for his choral music and, in particular, songs, Gibbs also devoted much of his career to the amateur choral and festival movements in Britain. He attained a high level of popularity: his work "Dusk" was requested by Princess Elizabeth on her 18th birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crouch End Festival Chorus</span> Musical artist

Crouch End Festival Chorus (CEFC) is a symphonic choir based in north London which performs in a range of musical styles, including traditional choral repertoire, contemporary classical, rock, pop and film music.

Philip Lawson is a Grammy award-winning British composer and arranger, mostly of a cappella and sacred music. For 18 years he was a baritone with the King's Singers and the group's principal arranger for the last fifteen years of that period. In 2009 the group's album "Simple Gifts", on which Lawson arranged 10 out of 15 tracks, won the Grammy award for "Best Classical Crossover Album". In February 2012, he left the King's Singers to concentrate on his writing career.

Bradford Festival Choral Society was founded as a direct result of the opening of St George's Hall in 1853. A massed choir of over 200 singers from far and wide was formed for the first Bradford Musical Festival which took place that year. When the second festival took place in 1856 another choir, consisting of rather more locally based singers, was formed and at the end of the festival it was felt wasteful to disband a group which had already gained such a high reputation. A meeting was held on 17 November 1856 under the chairmanship of Samuel Smith, the original instigator of the construction of St George's Hall, and Bradford Festival Choral Society came into being with Mr Smith as its first President. The conductor was William Jackson who had been the highly successful trainer of the chorus for both festivals. The choir sang and rehearsed at the Hall and soon gained the nickname of the “Coffee and Bun Society” as refreshments were provided for those members travelling from a distance. This arrangement was also intended to discourage possible visits to licensed premises before rehearsal!

Cecilia McDowall is a British composer, particularly known for her choral compositions.

The Bach Choir is a large independent musical organisation founded in London, England in 1876 to give the first performance of J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merton College Chapel</span> Church in Oxford, England

Merton College Chapel is the church of Merton College, Oxford, England. Dedicated to St Mary and St John the Baptist, the chapel was largely completed in its present form by the end of the 13th century. The building retains a number of original stained glass windows, and is noted for its acoustics. A choral foundation was established in 2008 by Peter Phillips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Kennedy Scott</span> English organist and choral conductor

Charles James Kennedy Osborne Scott was an English organist and choral conductor who played an important part in developing the performance of choral and polyphonic music in England, especially of early and modern English music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Joseph</span> English composer (1894–1929)

Jane Marian Joseph was an English composer, arranger and music teacher. She was a pupil and later associate of the composer Gustav Holst, and was instrumental in the organisation and management of various of the music festivals which Holst sponsored. Many of her works were composed for performance at these festivals and similar occasions. Her early death at age 35, which prevented the full realisation of her talents, was considered by her contemporaries as a considerable loss to English music.

The Fairhaven Singers is a chamber choir based in Cambridge, UK, directed by Ralph Woodward. The choir is a mixed ensemble of about 48 amateur singers singing choral repertoire from the 15th century to the present. Among the major works it has performed are Bach's St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Mozart's Requiem, Brahms' Requiem, and James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross. It has commissioned and premiered new works from composers that have included Jonathan Dove, Will Todd, Bob Chilcott, Carl Rütti and Cecilia MacDowall.

Joseph Phibbs is an English composer of orchestral, choral and chamber music. He has also composed for theatre, both in the UK and Japan. Since 1998 he has written regularly to commissions for Festivals, for private sponsors, and for the BBC, which has broadcast premieres of his orchestral and chamber works from the Proms and elsewhere. His works have been given premieres in Europe, the United States and the Far East, and he has received prestigious awards, including most recently a British Composer Award, and a Library of Congress Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation Award. Many of his works have been premiered by leading international musicians, including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Sakari Oramo, Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, and the Belcea Quartet.

Melodia Women's Choir NYC is a women's choir in Manhattan dedicated to exploring, creating and performing classical and contemporary music composed for women's voices. An ensemble of 30 singers, Melodia performs concerts in New York City, and supports emerging women composers through commissions and performances.

St Albans Bach Choir is an amateur choir based in the English cathedral city of St Albans. Since its founding in 1924 it has performed a wide range of choral music including but by no means limited to the great Bach masterpieces. It strives for the highest possible standards of music making, employing soloists of the highest calibre and professional orchestras. Performances are normally held in St Albans Cathedral. Currently, the Musical Director is Andrew Lucas, Master of the Music at the Cathedral.

Jocelyn Hagen is an American composer. She composes primarily for voice: solo, chamber and choral, but also has composed for chamber, wind, and orchestral ensembles. She has explored large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, and opera.

References

  1. Ferrer, Darah (2022-07-14). "A Choral Concert Night And Realisations About Women In Music". The Telling. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  2. Halperin, Malina Saval,Shirley; Saval, Malina; Halperin, Shirley (2019-05-18). "Madonna at Eurovision in Tel Aviv: 'Never Underestimate the Power of Music'". Variety. Retrieved 2020-01-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Unknown. "All women line-up for London Oriana Choir's Greenwich Concert" . Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  4. Michaels, Sean (2 December 2014). "Pete Townshend announces symphonic reimagining of Quadrophenia". The Guardian (UK). London. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  5. Partington, Angela (11 March 2003). "One enchanted evening". The Guardian (UK). London. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  6. "Gorbachev Gala Draws Starry Crowd". Women's Wear Daily. 7 June 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  7. "Robert Plant Headlines Electric Proms". Classic Rock magazine. September 14, 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  8. Maddocks, Fiona (13 March 2011). "Women composers: Notes from the musical margins". Observer (UK). London. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  9. "Armstrong Gibbs Odysseus". Cecil Armstrong Gibbs "Odysseus" & George Dyson "Four Songs for Sailors", BBC Concert Orchestra and London Oriana Choir. Dutton Vocalion. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  10. Greenfield, Edward (10 December 2004). "Walford Davies: Everyman, Ferrari/ Johnston/ Staples/ Putnins/ London Oriana Choir/ Kensington SO/ Drummond". Guardian (UK). Retrieved 4 June 2013.