Reading Festival Chorus is a chorus which was formed in 1945 to give performances of larger scale choral works. It is based in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings in central Reading (RG1 4BW) and new members are always welcomed.
The Chorus appointed Greg Hallam as its Musical Director in 2018, and its patron is the pianist John Lill.
The Chorus is twinned with the Johanneskantorei of Düsseldorf, Germany, with whom they performed Handel's Messiah in October 2015 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chorus.
The chorus sings a diverse programme of classical music programme, with works such as Mozart's Requiem, Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man in 2005 to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and a summer programme of English and American Folksongs by Tippett and Aaron Copland.
Their 2014-15 Season comprised the Brahms Deutsches Requiem; Haydn, Mass in a Time of War and Parry, Songs of Farewell; Elgar's Music Makers and Chilcott, Aesop's Fables. In 2016-17 they performed a concert of Mozart at Douai Abbey, (including Mozart Solemn Vespers), Judas Maccabeus by Handel on 8 April 2017, and Rutter Requiem and The Mass of the Martyrs by their then-Musical Director Edward-Rhys Harry on 1 July 2017.
The 2017/18 Season included: Bach, Christmas Oratorio and Saint-Saens, Oratorio de Noel (December 2017); a programme of European and American choral classics with their interim Musical Director, Andrew Haase (24 March 2018); and Schubert, Mass in G, Handel, Dixit Dominus with Greg Hallam (14 July 2018).
The 2019 programme included Lenten Reflections (a seasonal programme including Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm and Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri) on 23 March and Verdi's Requiem (sung with RFC's twin choir, the Johanneskantorei Düsseldorf on 22 June in the Great Hall of the University of Reading, and again in the Johanneskirche, Düsseldorf on 21 September 2019). [1] [2]
The 2019/20 season opened at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Berkshire, on 30 November, with a concert of Advent music, entitled 'A Spotless Rose'. It was to have been followed by a programme including music by Rheinberger and the two-piano version of the Brahms Requiem at Leighton Park School in March 2021 and a programme of Shakespeare Songs and Sonnets in the summer term, but these concerts were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chorus began its 2021/22 season on 27 November 2021 with a performance in St Laurence's Church, Reading including Haydn's 'Little Organ Mass' and Vivaldi's 'Gloria' RV 589. [3]
Former Musical Directors include Edward-Rhys Harry, Janet Lincé and Jacques Cohen.
The Harvard–Radcliffe Collegium Musicum is a mixed chorus at Harvard University, composed of roughly 50 voices from undergraduate and graduate student populations. Founded in 1971 to coincide with the coeducational merger of Harvard and Radcliffe College, Collegium drew from members of the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society to form a smaller mixed group that could represent Harvard on tours. Although Collegium used to perform primarily early Renaissance music, its repertoire now draws from centuries of a cappella and orchestral selections. Together with the (tenor-bass) Harvard Glee Club and the (soprano-alto) Radcliffe Choral Society, it is a member of the Harvard Choruses.
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The Musique Cordiale International Festival & Academy is an annual festival of classical music, song, oratorio and opera, founded in 2005. It usually* takes place in hill towns of the Pays de Fayence between Nice and Aix-en-Provence in the South of France in late July and during the first two weeks of August. The festival features up to 18 concerts including major choral and orchestral works, chamber ensembles, free lunchtime concerts and late night recitals in churches, chapels and in the open air.. This pattern of concerts only in Britain is being repeated in 2022 with an additional concert on 4 June 2022 in Doddington Place Gardens to commemorate the Queen's 70th Jubilee. It is envisaged that future festivals will take place in both Britain and France from 2023).
The Singapore Symphony Chorus (SSC) is the performing choir of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). The SSC performs solely with the SSO, presenting an average of three programmes a year. The SSC was initiated in 1980 under the direction of Choo Hoey, then Music Director of the SSO. The SSC gave its first performances in June 1980.
Melinda O'Neal is a conductor of choral and choral-orchestral music, professor emerita of music, and author.
Eugene Concert Choir is a choral masterworks organization in Eugene, Oregon, that consists of three performing ensembles: the 100-voice Eugene Concert Choir (ECC), the 36-voice chamber choir Eugene Vocal Arts (EVA), and the associated professional chamber orchestra Eugene Concert Orchestra.
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Saint Peter's Singers (SPS) is a chamber choir associated with Leeds Minster, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that celebrated during the Season 2017/2018 the fortieth anniversary of the choir's formation by Harry Fearnley in 1977. An anniversary concert took place at Leeds Minster on Sunday 25 June 2017 with the National Festival Orchestra and soloists Kristina James, Joanna Gamble, Paul Dutton and Quentin Brown. Further anniversary year events included Bach Cantatas and Music for Christmas at Fulneck Church in August and December respectively, Handel Coronation Anthems at Holy Trinity, Boar Lane as part of the Leeds Handel Festival in September and a tour of East Anglia in October. In November at Leeds Town Hall, the Singers participated in Herbert Howells's masterpiece Hymnus Paradisi with Leeds Philharmonic Chorus and Leeds College of Music Chorale under the direction of Dr David Hill with the Orchestra of Opera North. 2018 began with a concert of Sacred Choral Masterworks at Leeds Town Hall in February and Bach's Mass in B minor at Leeds Minster on Good Friday 2018 in memory of long-serving member Jan Holdstock. The final concert of the current season takes place at Leeds Minster on Sunday 24 June at Leeds Minster at 5.30. At this event will be presented the first performance of a new work from composer Philip Moore commissioned for the Singers' 40th anniversary – the motet Tu es Petrus – along with music by E W Naylor, Arvo Part, Sir Hubert Parry, Judith Bingham and Maurice Durufle.
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