Please join us for a choral workshop on Bach’s St John Passion on Saturday, 21 January at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Narbonne Avenue, SW4 9JU. We will be led by our conductor, Joanna Tomlinson, a leading choral director and voice coach.
More information and tickets on Eventbrite. Or tickets will be available on the day.
Following the sad news of the death of Her late Majesty, and looking at the emerging plans in London for the coming fortnight, and the protocol around national mourning, we have been considering whether to go ahead with our rehearsals on the next two Tuesdays (13th and 20th).
Our conclusion is that it would be both appropriate and possible to hold our rehearsal on the 13th so we will do so. As the State Funeral will be held on 19th September, we will be rehearsing on the 20th.
We will hold a one minute silence at the rehearsal on Tuesday.
On Thursday, 18 November, we gave our first concert with a live audience since before the first Covid lockdown. We sang Fauré’s Requiem and two modern pieces by American composers.
Some audience reactions:
Really wonderful concert – thank you. Feet haven’t touched the ground today. – Louise
Enjoyed every minute of this concert.
It was the first time I’d heard the choir and I was impressed with the ensemble singing, diction (which was excellent), warmth of the sound, dynamic range and intonation.
Also that the choir could meet so many of the challenges of pitch and rhythm presented within the first two pieces and were able to sing the movement about the sparrows with such wit. – Sue
…nice to see the Whitehall Choir back and performing. .. it was a beautiful concert, and I loved the Runestad – Anon
What a wonderful concert! I loved the two new pieces and think your conductor is fantastic, so full of energy and enthusiasm, and I simply adore the Requiem. It is so beautiful and just seems to get
better every time I hear it. Hope you enjoyed singing it all as much as I enjoyed listening! – Anon
Next year we will be singing both Rachmaninov’s and Monteverdi’s Vespers. Our first concert is the Rachmaninov Vespers on 26 March at St Alban’s Church, Holborn. Later in the year, on 26 November, we will be singing Monteverdi’s Vespers at Holy Trinity, Sloane Square. Our summer concert is Ice and Fire, a programme of music from Scandinavia and the Baltic region, on 25 June at St Peter’s Eaton Square.
The Choir invites you to join us for a choral workshop on Handel’s Messiah on Saturday, 7 September at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Narbonne Avenue, SW4 9JU.
Tickets cost £20 and are available on the day or through Eventbrite.
Next term we will begin working on our summer concert (Songs and Sonnets: Shakespeare by Shearing, Mathias, Rutter and Diemer), which we will be performing on 27 June at St Peter’s Eaton Square. After the Easter break, on 23 April there will be an open rehearsal to which all singers are invited, whether or not you are planning to join the choir. It begins at 6:30pm at St Peter’s Eaton Square and there will be a drinks reception afterwards to give you the opportunity to talk to members of the choir.
We will be performing Haydn’s Creation on 28 March at St John’s Smith Square.
Balanced sound standing behind the men – sound bite from our #mozart #requiem come & sing from Saturday.
Posted by Whitehall Choir on Monday, 10 September 2018
The choir hit the ground running in September with an extremely well-attended Come & Sing workshop on the Mozart Requiem at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Clapham followed by a concert of the work with orchestra and soloists at St Martin-in-the-Fields on the 13th, as part of the Brandenburg Festival. There was pretty near standing room only at St Martin’s and the performers, conducted by Joanna Tomlinson, received a standing ovation!
Jo, a leading vocal coach, will be leading another Come & Sing, not for Whitehall this time but for the Brandenburg Festival, on Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man (Mass for Peace). On 10 November at Holy Trinity Church Prince Consort Road, it’s open to all choral singers and she hopes to see lots of you there.
The main Whitehall Choir event in November is our concert on the 24th, when we will be joining forces with Austrian choir Cantus Novus Wien for our 900 Years of Women Composers concert (see above). We are also sneaking in a few pieces by Bruckner, Brahms, Balfour Gardiner and our former conductor Paul Spicer to ensure a fairer representation of the sexes! Christmas music follows, also at St Peter’s Eaton Square, on 18 December.
On 28 March 2019 we will sing Haydn’s Creation at St John’s Smith Square. And on 27 June we will sing a selection of secular music by British composers including George Shearing and Cecilia McDowall at St Peter’s Eaton Square.
Our Music Director, Jo Tomlinson, has chosen the programmes for the season that begins in September 2018 with the Mozart Requiem on 13 September at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
In November, we will be joining forces with Austrian choir, Cantus Novus Wien for our 900 Years of Women Composers concert (see above).
In March 2019 we will sing Haydn’s Creation at St John’s Smith Square. And then in June we will sing a selection of secular music by British composers including George Shearing and Cecilia McDowall at St Peter’s Eaton Square.
For more details see the concerts page.
After 17 years with the Whitehall Choir, Paul Spicer left in July 2017. We are delighted to welcome Joanna Tomlinson, who joined as our new Music Director in September.
