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We put this listing of the world’s biggest choirs collectively after which instantly questioned whether or not we might been too Britain-centric, due to the sheer variety of UK choirs we might picked out.
Having checked out a couple of extra of those sorts of lists from across the web, it does certainly appears to be a working theme – British vocal ensembles dominate.
What’s it that makes them stand out from the bunch? Our historic choral traditions and Oxbridge school choirs positively play their half.
Regardless of our shortcomings in different areas of musical training, clearly we’re doing one thing proper with choral music.
There are a wealth of vastly completely different choirs included in our line-up, from the extra conventional cathedral choirs to historic Jap European choirs. Admittedly, a few of these included would describe themselves as vocal ensembles reasonably than choirs – for the sake of simplicity, we hope you’ll forgive the blurred distinction…
One of the best choirs on the earth
Escolania de Montserrat
Primarily based up within the Catalonian hills above Barcelona, this boys-only choir (trebles and altos, no decrease voices) can hint its roots again to the 1300s, making it one of many oldest choirs in Europe.
Round 50 in quantity, the choir’s each day routine includes singing companies on the Abbey of Montserrat, a well-liked vacation spot for pilgrims, but it surely additionally excursions extensively and has recorded many discs.
Beneficial recording:
Missa Salisburgensis
Tölzer Knabenchor, Escolania de Montserrat, Collegium Aureum & Ireneu Segarra
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Little shock {that a} nation well-known for track – its independence from the USSR was preceded by a ‘Singing Revolution’ of massed voices in Tallinn in 1988 – ought to boast one of many world’s most interesting choirs. Based in 1981 by Tonu Kaljuste, who performed it for 20 years earlier than handing over the baton to Paul Hillier, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is wide-ranging in its repertoire, however is particularly well-known for its performances and recordings of Estonian composers reminiscent of Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis.
Beneficial recording:
Arvo Pärt: Adam’s Lament
Latvian Radio Choir; Sinfonietta Riga; Vox Clamantis; Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; Tallinn Chamber Orchestra/Tonu Kalijuste
Learn our evaluate right here.
Choir of King’s School, Cambridge
Acquainted to tens of millions of listeners due to the BBC Radio broadcast of its Competition of 9 Classes and Carols each Christmas Eve, a convention courting again to 1928. Although the choir itself has been in existence because the school’s basis in 1441, it’s because the Nineteen Sixties – below choirmasters David Willcocks, Philip Ledger and Stephen Cleobury – that its repute, identical to its distinctive treble sound, has actually soared.
Beneficial recording:
Bruckner
Mass No. 2 in E minor; Motets
Henry Websdale, Donal McCann (organ); Academy of St Martin within the Fields; Choir of King’s School, Cambridge/Stephen Cleobury
King’s School KGS0035
Learn our evaluate right here.
London Adventist Chorale
Based in 1981, the London Adventist Chorale has been led for greater than 20 years by the inspirational conductor and communicator Ken Burton. Winners of main competitions, the choir has carried out for main worldwide figures together with Queen Elizabeth II and former US president Invoice Clinton and with among the best-known names in classical music and jazz at occasions together with the BBC Proms. It’s best recognized for its brilliance in African-American Spirituals, however performs a lot else apart from.
Beneficial recording:
Steal Away
Ruby Philogene, Julius Drake; London Adventist Chorale/Ken Burton
Warner Classics 569 7072
Mississippi Mass Choir
One hopes that Jerry Mannery, director of the Mississippi Mass Choir, has a big mantelpiece, as his pre-eminent gospel ensemble has received numerous awards because it was arrange by Frank Williams within the late-Nineteen Eighties. When not singing or recording at its dwelling patch in Jackson, Mississippi, the choir frequently showcases its skills overseas, together with singing for Pope John Paul II when on tour in Italy.
St Paul’s Cathedral Choir
St Paul’s Choir loved arguably its highest profile second when the Cathedral hosted the marriage of Prince Charles and Woman Diana Spencer in 1981. It was within the 1870s that, as choirmaster, composer John Stainer turned a reasonably ramshackle outfit right into a extremely polished ensemble. Cricketer Alastair Prepare dinner and actor Simon Russell Beale are among the many former trebles to have plied their commerce beneath the constructing’s well-known dome.
Beneficial recording:
Howells: Requiem
Simon Bland, Jeremy Cole (organ); The Choir of Trinity School Cambridge/Stephen Layton
Hyperion CDA67914
Learn our evaluate right here.
The Sixteen
Pedants beware – The Sixteen don’t at all times carry out with 16 singers. Nevertheless, this was the variety of associates who first obtained collectively when the group was assembled by conductor Harry Christophers in 1977.
At present, The Sixteen has almost 100 discs below its belt, and its common ‘Choral Pilgrimage’ live performance excursions across the UK and past are sell-out affairs. Although famend for his or her mastery of Renaissance repertoire, their attain stretches effectively past that.
Extra like this
Beneficial recording:
MacMillan: Stabat Mater
The Sixteen; Britten Sinfonia/Harry Christophers
Coro COR 16150
Learn our evaluate right here.
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Sq.
Choirs are available all sizes and styles, and at round 360-strong The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Sq. is among the largest. Additionally it is some of the well-known. Previously often called the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, it was based in Salt Lake Metropolis in 1847 and has develop into a cornerstone of US choral custom, acting at a number of US presidential inaugurations together with these of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the current incumbent.
Beneficial recording:
Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone), The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
DG 4791073
The Tallis Students
Whereas future prime minister Tony Blair was honing his skills in a rock band known as the Ugly Rumours within the early Seventies, Peter Phillips, his fellow undergraduate at St John’s School, Oxford, had his sights set on music of a a lot earlier period. In 1973, Phillips based The Tallis Students which, because the title suggests, centered on learning and performing Renaissance repertoire. Fifty years and numerous best-selling discs later, Phillips and his singers are nonetheless setting the benchmark.
Beneficial recording:
Josquin: Lots
The Tallis Students/Peter Phillips
Gimell CDGIM051
Learn our evaluate right here.
Learn our critiques of the most recent Tallis Students recordings
Treorchy Male Choir
Little can stir the soul greater than the large sound of one among Wales’s distinctive male voice choirs. Primarily based within the Rhondda Valley, Treorchy Male Choir was based within the late-Nineteenth century, briefly disbanded within the Nineteen Forties after which reformed quickly after World Conflict II. Common winners of nationwide and worldwide Eisteddfods, the choir excursions globally and has made a number of recordings. It’s notable for each its polish and flexibility, with repertoire starting from Sibelius to Queen.
Beneficial recording:
The Treorchy Male Choir – Reside in Australia
The Treorchy Male Choir/Janice Ball
ABC Classics ABC4763557
Choir of Trinity School, Cambridge
Oxbridge school choirs that includes boy trebles on the highest line – notably King’s and St John’s in Cambridge and New School, Magdalen and Christ Church in Oxford – have lengthy loved a lofty repute. Lately, nonetheless, these comprised totally of scholars, with feminine sopranos (and altos), have began to share the limelight. Arguably the choose of those is Trinity, Cambridge, not least since Stephen Layton took the reins as director of music in 2006, bringing an immaculate choral mix to repertoire starting from Handel to Howells.
Beneficial recording:
David Briggs: Mass for Notre Dame
Choir of Trinity School, Cambridge/Stephen Layton; David Briggs (organ)
Hyperion CDA 67808
Learn our evaluate right here.
Vox Luminis
Comparative newcomers in comparison with the Tallis Students and The Sixteen within the early music scene, Vox Luminis was based by Lionel Meunier within the Belgian city of Namur in 2004.
Their immaculately noticed performances of Sixteenth-, Seventeenth- and early-18th-century quickly obtained them seen, nonetheless, and plaudits aplenty, worldwide engagements and main awards have since adopted.
Beneficial recording:
Buxtehude: Abendmusiken
Cantatas BuxWV 10, 34, 41, 60 & 62; Sonatas BuxWV 255 & 261
Vox Luminis; Ensemble Masques/Lionel Meunier
AlphaClassics ALPHA287 85:17 minutes
Learn our evaluate right here.
The Choir of Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey Choir loved two large moments within the worldwide highlight in 2022 and ’23, firstly on the funeral of Elizabeth II and then on the coronation of Charles III. In between, the world-famous choir had a change of conductor, with James O’Donnell transferring to a brand new job within the US and being changed by Andrew Nethsingha, recruited from St John’s School, Cambridge.
One can presume that Nethsingha will proceed the proud custom of an ensemble that dates again to the 14th century and has been among the many most interesting examples of its kind because the early twentieth century.
Beneficial recording:
Vaughan Williams, MacMillan and Tavener – Choral Works
Choir of Westminster Abbey/James O’Donnell
Hyperion CDA68420
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