Past events

Highlights of the last few years include:

Pre-summer tour concert: Saturday 27 June 2009

St Mary's Church, Rickmansworth
Pergolesi Stabat Mater and other choral pieces including Stanford Beati Quorum Via and Coelos Ascendit Hodie (with Berkhamsted Choral Society)

Summer tour: 26-30 August, 2009

We visited several venues in Belgium with a varied programme, including Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.

May 2008 Tsunami
Royal Festival Hall, London

We performed this very special concert, by invitation, as part of the week-long Chorus festival, organized by the Southbank Centre. It featured the world premiere of a newly-commissioned work called Songs of the Coromandel Coast, by British composer Chris Williams, which received a standing ovation from the 1,000-strong audience. Also featured in the programme were Williams’ earlier Tsunami Requiem, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and Mozart’s Horn Concerto no 3. We performed, jointly with Berkhamsted Choral Society and other invited singers, as The English Philharmonia Chorus. Appearing with us were top soloists James Gilchrist, tenor, Richard Watkins, horn, The English Philharmonia, English Brass and the Choir of Eltham College, London. The concert, performed in aid of the international children’s charity Plan UK, raised more than £15,000 for educational support for Sri Lankan children whose schools were destroyed by the Asian tsunami of 2004.

May 2007 Elijah, Felix Mendelssohn
Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth

Concert accompanied by the Gaudeamus Orchestra, leader Matthew Scrivener, featuring soloists Donna Bateman (soprano), Emma Selway (mezzo-soprano), Ronald Samm (tenor), Owen Gilhooly (baritone)

June 2006 Porgy and Bess (concert version)
Swan Theatre, High Wycombe

This was a special joint concert in a high-profile venue to celebrate our 65th birthday and Berkhamsted Choral Society's 75th. The first half featured Vaughan Williams' Toward the Unknown Region, Mozart, Laudate Dominum and Ave Verum and Jubilate, a new piece by Jacques Cohen, while the second was a concert version of Gershwin's much-loved opera Porgy and Bess. An impressive line-up of international soloists included Linda Richardson, Sara Fulgoni, Ronald Samm and Keel Watson, accompanied by the Gaudeamus Orchestra.

May 2005 Truly, Madly Mozart
Royal Festival Hall, London

Another joint outing with Berkhamsted, with an innovative programme featuring semi-staged excerpts from four Mozart operas in the first half and the glorious Mass in C Minor in the second. Leading soloists Linda Richardson, Elena Ferrari, Ashley Catling and Wyn Pencarreg were accompanied by the Canzona orchestra. The concert, sponsored by Hillier Hopkins LLP, raised £27,000 for the Peace Hospice, Watford, and the Hospice of St Francis, Berkhamsted.

April 2004 Messiah
Royal Masonic School, Rickmansworth

This concert, accompanied by the Gaudeamus Orchestra, was performed in memory of the late Eric Gain, a former member of our choir, who left us a handsome bequest in his will.

May 2003 Verdi's Requiem
Royal Festival Hall, London

Our first major joint concert with Berkhamsted Choral Society, which raised a magnificent £38,000 for Cancer Research UK. An outstanding line-up of soloists included Amanda Roocroft, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Edgaras Montvidas and Alastair Miles.