2007-2008

A SEASON OF: PRESTIGIOUS APPEARANCES IN INCREDIBLE BUILDINGS;
a WORLD PREMIERE CD RECORDING
with The BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA;
& A NEW LOGO!

Season Highlights:

  • ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS -
    TALLIS magnificent 40-pt Mass SPEM IN ALIUM - with tactical restart.

  • THE WATFORD COLOSSEUM -
    WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF “ODYSSEUS”
    -     a dramatic choral symphony, with THE BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA

  • THE BARBICAN CENTRE -
    On stage with BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN

  • ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL -
    MESSIAH by Candlelight -     in wigs & 18th Century costumes!

  • ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL -
    a special invitation to sing a Sunday evensong concert

  • ST. JOHN’S, RIGA - the oldest church in Riga
    London Oriana on tour to LATVIA

  • SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL -
    ”When Night Falls” - contemporary & romantic concert.

Choir Membership 2007-2008

CONCERTS

Thursday OCTOBER 18th 2007

The Great British Choral Tradition

ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS

ODYSSEUS RECORDING

NOVEMBER Sat 24th - Sun 25th 2007

WATFORD COLOSSEUM

The following are very short tasters from the album. If you wish to hear more please purchase the CD from: https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/search.php

Saturday DECEMBER 1st 2007

BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN

BARBICAN CENTRE

Friday DECEMBER 14th 2007

RG presents
MESSIAH by Candlelight

ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Sunday MARCH 2nd 2008

Evening Service - A Mother’s Love

ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL

Saturday MAY 17th 2008

ORIANA FAVOURITES

ST. PETER’S, EATON SQUARE

Unintentional Slapstick:For this concert we quizzed the choir to discover their favourites and the top choices of the whole choir were selected. Over and above the joyful mood of this concert, there were two standout comedic moments which came in succession – numbers 18 & 20. First came the second sopranos, resolutely and inexplicably failing to pitch their opening note of the Zulu Freedom song. Then came probably “My Favourite All-time Accidental Moment!” Having just finished introducing Men in Bowler Hats with the words, “And now for some Music Hall” I promptly tripped over the piano stool and some unexpected and totally unplanned “slapstick” occurred.

Slapstick Moments!

MAY 23rd - 26th 2008

LATVIAN TOUR

RIGA

DD Note:For this tour our committee employed a Tour Company who made all the arrangements. One of our works happened to be by the famous American composer Eric Whitacre and I found myself shocked to learn that Eric was seemingly attending our concert! I had met him before in London but I was overwhelmed that he would make an effort to come all this way to our concert, although he did explain that he had a holiday house in Latvia – another surprise! When I introduced Sleep I pointedly addressed him to inform him about the other works of his we were performing in future concerts and he smiled back at me. It was only after the concert that I realized that this blond-haired man that looked exactly like the composer and answered to the name of Erik was in fact Erik Ozols, the Tour Agent, whom I had never previously met! The choir howled with laughter when I told them.

Thursday JULY 10th 2008

VESPERS - “WHEN NIGHT FALLS”

SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL

DD Note:This was an incredibly difficult programme! When David Heard is not easy and Richard Allain’s inexplicably beautiful composition for solo cello and choir is extremely complex and harmonically demanding. This left very little time to rehearse the Vespers, which is a huge symphonic undertaking for the choir. We were so concerned about it that we cut my arrangement of Gurney’s Sleep. However the lack of rehearsal proved extremely beneficial, so much so that some of the tracks deserve to be heard.

SEASON REPERTOIRE SPREAD

London Oriana Choir Archive