Preview - Sopranos Rhiannon Llewellyn, Sónia Crané and Aoife Miskelly at The Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival 2012
Published: 13 January, 2012
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
It really is boom time for choral singing, not just the great classical works but jazz, barbershop, gospel and Afro-Cuban choral singing as well.
The Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival was launched in 2010 at St Martin-in-the-Fields with only seven concerts performed by the Brandenburg Baroque Soloists and the Brandenburg Sinfonia.
Now, two years later, the festival has expanded to more than 40 concerts over the next four months involving choirs with 1,600 singers and more than 50 conductors.
Although St Martin’s remains the heart of the annual celebration of vocal chords, concerts are now taking place at such other venues as the National Portrait Gallery, Lincoln’s Inn Chapel, the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy and St Clement Danes.
“We are presenting nine major concerts at St Martin’s featuring the standard masterpieces of the choral tradition,” says Bob Porter, the festival’s artistic director. “These are being supplemented by a series of late-night concerts including Thomas Tallis’s Spem in Alium sung from the gallery.
“Away from St Martin’s is an expanded series of more varied ‘satellite’ concerts in a number of varied and interesting locations. Also, there’s a strong influence this year from the jazz community – a welcome development to diversify the festival.”
Ensembles singing at the festival include the St Martin’s choir; London Welsh Chorale; Vivace Chorus; Concordia Singers, London Vocal Project; King’s College Chapel Choir; University of London Chamber Choir; Guildhall Jazz Singers; RAM Jazz Singers; Capital Chorus Barbershop; Addison Singers jazz choir; South Oxhey Choir; and new female ensemble Papagena.
Among soloists are sopranos Sónia Grané, Rhiannon Llewellyn and Aoife Miskelly, mezzo-sopranos Sarah Shorter and Katherine Walker, tenor Richard Dowling, and bass Andri Bjorn Robertsson.
• The Brandenburg Spring Choral Festival runs from January-April at various venues. www.brandenburgchoralfestival.co.uk/ All tickets available from St Martin’s box office: 020 7766 1100, www.smitf.org