About Whitehall Choir
The Whitehall Choir is one of London’s leading amateur choirs. It has a varied repertoire including challenging unaccompanied pieces as well as larger choral works, and looks to present a selection of more rarely performed pieces alongside favourite classics. The Choir performs regularly at major central London concert venues, alongside professional orchestras and soloists, and has an extensive repertoire from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century. There is a list of our recent concerts here.
Joanna Tomlinson – Musical Director
Joanna Tomlinson has established an outstanding reputation for her work as conductor, singer and vocal coach with choirs of all ages and sizes.
In addition to her role as conductor of the Whitehall Choir, Joanna conducts Constanza Chorus in London, with whom she has conducted the London Mozart Players and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is Artistic Director of the Military Wives Choirs – a network of over 70 choirs, bringing together women who have connections to the military.
Joanna often features as guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Chorus, Epiphoni and at the Royal Opera House on their Sing at the ROH programme. She has also delivered workshops and community singing programmes for Glyndebourne Opera, the Association of British Choral Directors and Association of Teachers of Singing.
As Principal Conductor of National Youth Choir’s Female/Non-Binary choir for five years, she made numerous recordings and conducted at venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London. In her time as Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Farnham Youth Choir they were winners of two gold medals in the 2019 European Choir Games and featured in the live final of ITV’s X-Factor in 2018.
Having gained a Distinction in Singing from the Royal College of Music, Joanna brings to her work the knowledge and experience of singing with world class professional choral groups such as the BBC Singers, London Voices, Gabrieli Consort, Philharmonia Voices and Sonoro.
Visit Joanna Tomlinson’s website
Ian Tindale – Accompanist
‘A wonderfully responsive and assured pianist’ (The Telegraph), Ian Tindale is increasingly in demand as a specialist in song repertoire and chamber music. On the song platform he has partnered Ailish Tynan, James Gilchrist and Robin Tritschler, and his performances have taken him to Europe, North America and across the UK. Highlights in the 2023-4 season include recitals for BBC Radio 3 in the Hay Festival with Soraya Mafi and with Nick Pritchard at the Edinburgh International Festival. Ian has formed several fruitful collaborative partnerships in the last decade, most significantly with soprano Harriet Burns, with whom he has given acclaimed performances at the International Lied Festival Zeist, Oxford Lieder Festival, and at the Ryedale Festival. Ian is Artistic Director of Shipston Song, an annual song festival on the edge of the Cotswolds which he founded in 2022, and performers have included Roderick Williams, Helen Charlston, Jess Dandy, Julien van Mellaerts and Laurence Kilsby.
Ian is a graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and the Royal College of Music in London. In 2017 Ian was awarded the Pianist’s Prize in the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition. He is a Britten Pears Young Artist and a Samling Artist.
Tours
In May 2024, the Choir went on tour to Utrecht in the Netherlands, performing in the Pieterskerk and in the Marnixzaal of the Utrecht music school.
Over the years, the Choir has made a number of other visits both abroad and in the UK including to Vienna, Austria and to Toulouse, France.
Other Musical Activities
Special events
Over the past few years, the Choir has recorded three CDs, one of rarely heard Christmas music, one of Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor and Paul Spicer’s The Deciduous Cross, and a third in 2014 of music suitable for passiontide to Ascension. Read more
Other performances and workshops
Since November 2006, the Choir has hosted Come & Sing events, originally and most latterly at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Narbonne Ave, Clapham, SW4. Recent works have included Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah.
In addition to these informal events, the Choir organises day-long workshops, which provide an opportunity both to work on vocal technique and to enjoy some time together over lunch.
Choir Archive
Anyone interested in the history of the Choir can read more about it in the archive.