Classical and Jazz: Community choirs - Fancy joining one? Here's how
Published: 09 September 2010
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
EVER fancied singing Verdi’s Requiem in the Royal Albert Hall?
Well, even if you can’t sing for toffee, now’s your chance because the St Bartholomew’s Hospital Choral Society is presenting Verdi’s majestic piece in the Albert Hall on Monday November 1.
Boasting more than 300 members, Barts Choir is the biggest of the London choirs that extend warm welcomes to new recruits without an audition, particularly tenors and basses. Its musical director is effervescent conductor Ivor Setterfield, the Queen’s Crescent resident well known for his TV programme The Estate where he turned novice singers into a quite accomplished choral group.
The choir rehearses at the City Temple, Holborn Viaduct, starting on Monday at 6.45pm (www.bartschoir.com). So if you fancy joining them at the Albert Hall, get along to any rehearsal over the next three weeks, preferably a bit earlier to sign up.
Other “non-audition” choirs are busy recruiting as well.
The North Camden Chorus, arguably the best large choir in Camden, rehearses at William Ellis School, Highgate Road. Music by Bob Chilcott, John Rutter, Gabrielli and Bruckner will be sung at its concert on Saturday December 4, at All Hallows, Gospel Oak. The first rehearsal is on Tuesday, registration starting at 7pm.
Islington Choral Society rehearses at the Baptist Church, 41a Highbury Place, N5, on the east side of Highbury Fields. The first rehearsal is on Tuesday, starting at 7.30pm. The choir will sing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on Saturday December 11.
If you work in the City or central London, it’s also worth considering the City Chorus, now celebrating its 90th birthday. They rehearse on Tuesday evenings at the NatWest building, 1 Princess Street, EC2, starting at 6.15pm. There’s a special recruitment session on Tuesday September 21, start-time 6pm.
Lastly, the Foundling Community Choir, formed earlier this year by musical director Rachel Staunton, rehearses in the Foundling Hospital, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1, once Handel’s home. New recruits should turn up on Monday at 6pm.