- Adding to your social life
- Feeling happy
- Gaining personal confidence
With so many benefits of joining a choir, we wanted to take a look at some of the amazing choirs here in the UK. In particular, choir groups have the unique sound that they are bringing to the London scene.
1. London City Voices
From a small beginning one evening a week, London City Voices has now expanded to four rehearsal venues on Mondays to Thursdays, attracting up to 500 singers a week.
London City Voices offer members workshops where they can learn to read music or improve their singing technique, open-mic nights, networking events, and even singing holidays.
The choir welcomes new members at every rehearsal. The non-judgemental, no-audition, highly inclusive approach is a point of pride. The opportunities London City Voices offers to take part in amazing events, from singing with Damien Rice at the London Palladium to entertaining the crowd and runners at the London Marathon to performing at Wembley, are a delight to all members.
2. East Riding County Choir
East Riding County Choir is a fantastic group that has had the pleasure of working with to provide our Q-Plus tiered staging.
The East Riding County Choir was formed in 1957 under the East Riding Education Committee but has been an independent self-funding body since 1978. They recently celebrated our 60th birthday with a performance of Verdi’s ‘Requiem’, assisted by the Beverley Chamber Choir.
Over the years they have sung most of the major choral works and biennially they put on Handel’s ‘Messiah’. East Riding Country Choir members meet during the Spring and Winter terms to rehearse for our two main concerts which they are privileged to sing in the glorious Beverley Minster.
3. London Oriana
The London Oriana Choir champions exceptional choral music, performing in concert halls, cathedrals and churches in London, around the UK and abroad. Always seeking new challenges, the choir’s repertoire spans the centuries from the Renaissance to the present day, covering the great choral works of Bach, Mozart and Handel to contemporary commissions and, in particular, exploring the often-overlooked music of female composers.
Away from its traditional classical roots, the choir has recently performed with stars such as Barbra Streisand, Robert Plant and Pete Townshend and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Classic FM.
4. St Albans Bach Choir
St Albans Bach Choir gave its first concert, a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, in 1924. The choir presents a wide variety of music, staging three major concerts a year and two charity carol concerts in St Albans Cathedral. Andrew Lucas, the Cathedral’s Master of the Music, has been the choir’s Music Director since 1998.
As part of the St Albans International Organ Festival’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations in 2013, the choir performed Britten’s War Requiem with the Britten Sinfonia, under the baton of Sir Richard Armstrong. The choir has also given concerts in Lille Cathedral (Rachmaninoff’s Vespers) and the Rudolfinum in Prague (Mozart’s Requiem) and has been recorded on several occasions by BBC Radio.
In December 2013, and again in 2015, the choir joined John Rutter and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for their popular carol concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. The choir was also represented onstage at the Albert Hall in both 2016 and 2017 for the Christmas and New Year BBC1 Big Sing broadcasts.
5. Trinity Boys Choir
The members of Trinity Boys Choir are pupils at Trinity School in Croydon, an independent day school for boys aged 10 to 18 and sixth form girls. Fine choral singing has for many years been a distinctive feature of the school’s life and the choir has recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. The choir is especially well known for its role in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, having appeared in over 150 professional performances of the opera, on the Warner DVD, on the Virgin Classics CD and Glyndebourne’s label CD. Recent operatic engagements include The Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, English National Opera, the Aix-en-Provence Festival and theatres in the USA, Belgium, China, Israel and Italy.
The choir’s many recordings include John Rutter’s Bang, an opera written for the boys; Benjamin Britten’s A Boy Was Born with the BBC Symphony Chorus; William Walton’s Henry V with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers; and Carmina Burana with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
TV appearances have included The Royal Variety Performance, The Pride of Britain Awards, Strictly Come Dancing and Children in Need. The boys can also be heard on the soundtracks of numerous films, including Disney’s Maleficent, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1 and Mockingjay 2 and in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
6. West End Musical Choir
West End Musical Choir is London’s adult non-audition musical theatre Choir. They host weekly rehearsals learning the classic and new hits from the West End & Broadway, led by a range of professional Musical Directors from the West End.
It provides the ultimate feel-good experience, where you can learn how to sing the songs from the beloved musicals within a fun and social environment. You’ll have the freedom to explore your voice and build your musical repertoire whilst joining a diverse Choir community. No audition, no need to read sheet music and no pressure to perform.
Bring a bit of West End sparkle into your week by singing with this choir at weekly rehearsals, social events, regular theatre trips and special performance opportunities – such as at Hampton Court Palace, the V&A Museum, the London Marathon, ‘This Morning’ ITV, ‘Good Morning Britain’ ITV, ‘The One Show’ BBC, Abbey Road Studios, West End LIVE at Trafalgar Square, Disneyland Paris, Notre Dame Paris and many more…
7. Brighton Festival Chorus
The Brighton Festival Chorus is one of the country’s leading symphony choruses. Join over 150 amateur singers and get the chance to perform in major concert halls throughout Britain and Europe. The BFC has made 10 appearances at the BBC Proms and been nominated for two Grammy awards, as well as performed with all the major British orchestras.
With the goal of reimagining the symphony chorus of tomorrow, this UK choir has the freedom of being independent and develops its own creative programme which includes off-book, semi-staged, and dawn chorus events alongside live film performances & TV commercials.
8. Aeolian Singers
Also using the stage Systems performance staging solutions is the wonderful Aeolian Singers choir. This is a choral society based in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
The Aeolian Singers generally put on three or four concerts each year and/or a ‘come & sing’ workshop event – mainly to attract new members. They perform mostly sacred music typically with organ or piano accompaniment. The local council (Dacorum Borough) awarded them a grant to help purchase staging equipment in 2005. They use the equipment for all our concerts at St John’s and elsewhere – unless the venue has its own. Also, a number of other choirs in our area hire the equipment from us for a modest fee. The great value of the tiered staging is enabling all singers to see the conductor and therefore keep in time!
Whenever possible they combine forces with other local choirs so that they can perform larger works with an orchestra for example at St Alban’s Abbey. In 2016 they performed Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with orchestra and managed to squeeze all into St John’s. They did receive grant money to enable this to happen.
9. Highgate Choral Society
The Highgate Choral Society is a choir that has been bringing music to the people of north London for more than 130 years. It has grown into an organisation with more than 200 members of all ages, drawn from all walks of life, with a common interest in singing and performing music in our own community.
HCS regularly works with professional musicians, including the New London Orchestra, and performs at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican. The choir is also proud to work alongside a variety of established and up and coming young soloists: Rupert Charlesworth, Anna Devin, Rebecca Evans, Sam Evans, Magid el-Bushra, Grace Davidson, Catherine Hopper and Andrew Staples are just a few of the talented performers who have shared a stage with HCS.
Overseas tours are a regular feature and the choir has been privileged to sing in some of the great cathedrals of Europe including Nôtre Dame, Brussels, St Mark’s, St Vitus, Salzburg, Lisbon, Santarém and Naples. HCS remains true to its founding principles, giving local people the opportunity to take part in first-rate, high-quality performances in a sociable context where they are able to learn and enjoy choral music for its artistic quality and splendour. As London’s Evening Standard wrote, ‘HCS is a standard-bearer of London’s great amateur choral tradition’.
10. Rutland Choral Society
https://www.rutlandchoralsociety.org.uk/
Rutland Choral Society is a registered charity based in Oakham. They give their members opportunities to sing a wide variety of choral music, both sacred and secular, in a friendly and welcoming environment. No auditions are required for new members: they are all-inclusive and attract members from within the county and beyond!
One of the best UK choirs, the Rutland Choral Society rehearses for 3 concerts a year: Spring, Summer and Christmas. Their repertoire is wide and includes whole works, light classical and popular numbers.
11. Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir
https://soulsanctuarygospel.com/
Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir is a London-based gospel choir committed to spreading a message of faith, hope, and love through performances which are both excellent and full of life-affirming joy and soulful celebration, collaborating with other artists and art forms, especially in the places where gospel’s power to raise the human spirit is most needed. That means church ministry, in particular the “flagship” monthly outdoor event at St James’s Piccadilly (Soul at Saint James); broadcasts and recordings which lift the soul; performances for causes which are dear to us, like Grenfell, BBC Children In Need, Jesuit Refugee Service and the Chaplaincy at HMP Wandsworth; and events of great personal meaning, like weddings and memorials.
In addition to their regular performances at St James’s Piccadilly, they are proud of their ministry at St Martin-in-the-Fields and other churches, and their work with the UK’s big broadcasters BBC TV, Radio 2 and Radio 4 and Sky Arts. In November of 2021, they were incredibly honoured to perform at the Royal Albert Hall for the Festival of Remembrance, where they received this glowing review in the Daily Telegraph: “Much the best of these guest performances came from the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, which gave us a rapt rendition of the Lord’s Prayer.”
12. Gloucester Cathedral Choir
https://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/music/
Music has been at the heart of Gloucester Cathedral’s worship for almost a thousand years, as such Evensong is sung by either the Cathedral Choir or the Youth Choir every day during term time. For many decades, the Cathedral Choir has been known as one of the UK’s best choirs.
The Gloucester Cathedral Choir is one of the three choirs that contribute to the world’s oldest choral music festival, the Three Choirs Festival. Most notably, the choir has toured around the U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, Sweden, and Norway; and in 2019, the Choristers were invited to sing with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, in the orchestra’s famous hall, the Philharmonie. The choir has made many commercial recordings and, at least once a year, the Cathedral Choir sings Evensong live on BBC Radio 3.
13. St Paul’s Cathedral Choir
https://www.stpauls.co.uk/worship-music/music/cathedral-choirs
The Cathedral Choir consists of 30 boy treble Choristers, eight probationers and 12 Vicars Choral – all professional adult singers who sing alto, tenor and bass. St Paul’s Choristers sing in one of the most iconic buildings in the world, perform in concerts around the globe and receive a first-class academic education at the Cathedral School. Being a Chorister is fun, inspiring and gives a unique start to life.
Choristers performed at Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding, accompanied by an array of former choristers, including actor Simon Russell Beale and cricketer Alastair Cook.
14. Rock Choir
Rock Choir is the UK’s largest contemporary choir that anyone can join. It focuses on the fun and community experience of singing along whilst offering life-changing experiences, and no audition is necessary.
One of the best UK choirs, the Rock Choir has physical and online choir rehearsals available to all members so you can develop your understanding of music, form new friendships and engage with your community, whilst simultaneously supporting local and national charities.
15. The Bach Choir
In recent years The Bach Choir has featured on some of the biggest film releases, such as Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, The Chronicles of Narnia, Shrek the Third, and Jack the Giant Slayer. The Bach Choir, one of the world’s leading choruses, has also sung in prestigious venues around the UK, collaborated with the Rolling Stones, and worked on blockbuster films including Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.
Now the choir can also add the title of the brainiest cultural institution in Britain to its honours board. The 140-year-old institution was crowned the inaugural winner of Sky Arts’ show The Great Culture Quiz, which pitted some of the UK’s biggest cultural bodies against each other.
These are just a few of the superbly talented best UK choirs that we are lucky to have here in the UK. Why not take a leap and join a choir near you today? Whether that’s in and around London or elsewhere.
You can even get involved in a choir with your school. If you’re a teacher, why not ask your pupils if they would like to be part of a choir? Not only does this provide many benefits for teenagers to adults but for even younger children too.
Already part of a choir group? Contact us today to see how we can help you stage the perfect performance with our Q-Plus tiered staging.
