News

The London Symphony Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra have announced the appointment of Simon Halsey as Chorus Director from August 2012.

Simon Halsey is one of the world’s leading conductors of choral repertoire. He holds the position of Chief Conductor of the Berlin Radio Choir and was recently announced as Artistic Director of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Youth Choral Programme as well as Director of the BBC Proms Youth Choir. In addition to this he continues in his long-standing position as Chorus Director of the CBSO Chorus, and will soon take up a part-time professorship at the University of Birmingham.

Chairman of the London Symphony Chorus, James Warbis, looked forward, with such a champion of choral music at the helm, to the LSC building on its previous successes and delivering the very best music-making in partnership with the LSO.

Additional information on the appointment is available on the LSO’s website.

On Saturday, 17th March, the London Symphony Chorus enjoyed another Singing Day led by Deborah Miles-Johnson (with LSC accompanist Roger Sayer) and invited others to join them for a day of choral training and singing.

The focus of the day was a choral workshop concentrating on the technique of singing and specifically singing in a symphony chorus. There was training in breathing, tone and voice projection, the sustaining of pitch and how to achieve a blend of sound so as to produce a better ensemble.

The day was intended for those who may already sing in a choir or belong to a choral society.  It was aimed at helping the use of the voice to better advantage, so that singers feel more confident in their capabilities.

The sessions began with a good warm-up routine as well as advice on how to sing correctly.  Work included a wide range of well-known choral music giving participants the opportunity to practise different aspects of singing.  

As well as being a leading mezzo-soprano in the UK, Deborah Miles-Johnson is also Associate Chorus Master of the Philharmonia Chorus, vocal coach for the BBC Symphony Chorus and Chorus Master for Chelsea Group.  As a result of her experience both as a singer and teacher, her workshops are much in demand.  She has achieved considerable success in improving technique and choral sound.  She also makes the day a great deal of fun.

If you are interested in finding out more, watch out for future workshops.

In her review of the best classical music of 2011, The Observer's Fiona Maddocks lists two concerts in which the London Symphony Chorus took part. 

She notes that the BBC Scottish were on top form in James MacMillan's "St John Passion", which work, of course, the LSC premiered and recorded under Sir Colin Davis.  On this occasion the Chorus travelled to Glasgow to sing with the BBC Scottish under Donald Runnicles.

In the final list of the Top 10 of the year, at No. 3 is the performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis at the Royal Albert Hall as part of this season's PROM concerts.  The LSC actually gave 7 performances of this piece in 2011 and this was certainly one that they will remember with great affection.

Meanwhile at the Arts Desk, in her review of the classical music triumphs of 2011, Alexandra Coghlan lists the performance of Britten's War Requiem with the LSO and Gianandrea Noseda, which "smote deep and hard."

The London Symphony Chorus is delighted to announce the formation of "Friends of the LSC", a group of like-minded music lovers who help support the Chorus. 

For a small annual donation, Friends are able to enjoy:

- pre-concert talks and post-concert events

- invitations to social events and singing days

- access to rehearsals

Friends are asked to give £50 each year, but smaller and larger donations are also very welcome.

We have many supporters who regularly come to our concerts, particularly at the Barbican, the home of the LSO itself, and we hope that the formation of this special group will encourage our fans to feel as if they are part of the LSC family.

For more information please visit: http://tinyurl.com/c84t65w 

or email: friends@lsc.org.uk

2011 is the year of the Missa Solemnis for the London Symphony Chorus.  The first performance of the piece was with the Oxford Philomusica under Marios Papadopoulos in Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre on 11th June. 

This was followed by four performance with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra.  The first was at the PROMS 2011 on Sunday, 4th September, which concert sold out immediately tickets were put on sale. 

We then travelled overseas with the same work and the same creative artists to give a performance on 16th September in Beethoven's home town, Bonn at the Beethovenhalle.  This was followed by a performance at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on 17th September. These performances have been met by great critical acclaim for the Chorus.

The final leg of this particular journey is to New York where the Missa Solemnis will be performed on 21st October at the Avery Fisher Hall. 

Not satisfied with that, two further performances took place on 26th and 27th November in Palermo, Sicily with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana under Maestro Gelmetti. On this occasion the Guest Chorus Director was Deborah Miles Johnson. 

We are delighted to announce that Simon Russell Beale has agreed to become Patron of the London Symphony Chorus.  Simon is an actor at the top of his profession with a strong musical background and his biography follows.

Simon was born in Penang, Malalysia.  He became a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, then went to Clifton College before going to Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he received a First in English.  Simon was made a CBE in The Queen’s 2003 Birthday Honours List for his services to the arts.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Honorary Fellow of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and of the British Institute of Psychoanalysis.  He holds honorary doctorates from Warwick University and City University, London.  He is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

Theatre includes: for the RSC, Konstantin in The Seagull, Ariel in The Tempest, Edgar in King Lear, Oswald in Ghosts,  Edward II and Richard II.  NT: Iago in Othello, Mosca in Volpone, Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Alfred Evelyn in Money, Hamlet (Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards), the lead in Humble Boy (also West End), George in Jumpers (also West End and Broadway), Candide (Olivier Award), Face in The Alchemist, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Undershaft in Major Barbara, Edward in A Slight Ache, Sir Harcourt Courtly in London Assurance.  Also, Vanya in Uncle Vanya and Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Donmar Warehouse and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York – Olivier and Evening Standard Awards as well as a Village Voice Obie) and King Arthur in Spamalot  (Broadway and West End).  Simon was part of Sam Mendes’s first British/American theatre company, the Bridge Project, and appeared in A Winter’s Tale and The Cherry Orchard at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on an international tour, at the old Vic and finally at Epidaurus, throughout 2009.  Most recently Simon has been playing Sidney Bruhl in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Television includes: A Dance to the Music of Time (Royal Television Society and BAFTA Awards), Persuasion, The Young Visitors, Dunkirk and Spooks.  He has also presented two series and a Christmas Special of Sacred Music for BBC4.

Radio includes: George Smiley in The Complete Smiley (BBC Radio 4).

The LSC's Choral Conducting Scholarhips for 2010 have been awarded to Cameron Burns and Chi Hoe Mak.

Please click here for more information.

At the 2010 Grammy Awards, which took place on 31st January, the Award for Best Opera Recording went to Billy Budd.  The award is in three separate parts:

Conductor: Daniel Harding

Producer: John Fraser

Principal Soloists: Iain Bostridge, Neal Davies, Nathan, Gunn, Jonathan Lemalu, Matthew Rose and Gidon Saks.

The London Symphony Orchestra and the gentlemen of the London Symphony Chorus took part in the original performances at the Barbican and in the subsequent award-winning recording.

It has been announced that Sir Colin Davis, President of the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus has been awarded Her Majesty's Medal for Music.  This award is made annually and Sir Colin is the 5th recipient since its introduction in 2005.

Sir Colin has been quoted as saying, "I am very grateful and as I receive this Medal every musician with whom I have ever worked takes part in this Award."

The presentation of the Medal by Her Majesty the Queen on Tuesday, 8th December was preceded by a public announcement at the Barbican performance of Verdi's "Otello", in which Sir Colin conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

In his 5-star review in The Mail on Sunday, David Mellor pays tribute to Richard Hickox and writes of the concert "Music Maker: A Celebration of Richard Hickox", which took place at the Barbican in October 2009:

"Before the interval the anglophile American Andrew Litton led a passionate, urgent account of Britten's "Sea Interludes", beautifully articulated by the orchestra.  And there was a heartfelt reading, with the LSC on top form, of Elgar's much underrated "The Music Makers".  This was his "Heldenleben, in which the normally reticent Elgar reveals more of himself than anywhere else.

After the interval, Joseph Cullen, the LSC's music director, conducted dedicated performances of two worthwhile rarities much loved by Richard: Holst's "Hymn of Jesus" and Vaughan Williams's "Toward the Unknown Region".

It was an evening to treasure, celebrating a man I knew for 40 years, and whose warmth, Tigger-like enthusiasm and God-given talent I shall never forget."