Choirs
“unmissable… with supreme, almost chilling, discipline and acute musical awareness”
Reg Burnard, Wiltshire News, July 2012
Bath Bach Choir is an auditioned choir of about 90 people which performs music of all styles – from the great choral classics to contemporary songs and jazz – to a very high standard, with passion and precision. The choir gives at least six concert performances a year: typically two in Bath Abbey; one in a more informal venue in or near Bath; and three popular Carols by Candlelight concerts in the Pump Room in Bath, in the week before Christmas. In addition, the choir tours abroad every couple of years, and makes special guest appearances when invited to do so by churches, charities and the organisers of Bath-based sporting events. The choir recently made a short autobiographical film, which you can see here. And here is another clip of the choir performing Eric Whitacre's Lux Aurumque at the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, in Rome.
Bath Bach Choir meets on Monday evenings from 7.15-9.30pm in Bath. For further information on the choir and how to become a member, friend or patron, visit www.bathbachchoir.org.uk. For forthcoming concert, workshop and open rehearsal dates, go to Nigel’s diary; or click on 'concerts' or 'workshops' for more detail.
"Exeter Festival Chorus has a life, vitality and freshness that continue to delight ... A simply beautiful rendition of beautiful music."
David Marston, Express and Echo, November 2012
EFC is an auditioned choir of about 75 people which has the distinction of having premiered several new works in the west country, including Adam Gorb’s stunning Eternal Voices, commissioned by EFC and the Band of the Royal Marines which has accompanied the choir in two electrifying concert performances of the piece. EFC is the choir of choice for Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in its annual rendering of Messiah in Exeter Cathedral. The choir also gives concerts in Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Buckfast Abbey and abroad, demonstrating its versatility across a wide spectrum of music. Its Christmas gala concert, featuring guest artists such as Jacqui Dankworth, Lesley Garrett and Claire Martin, has become an exciting feature of Exeter's winter holiday landscape.
EFC meets on Wednesday evenings from 7.15-9.30pm in Exeter. For further information on the choir and how to become a member or patron, visit EFC's website. For upcoming concert and workshop dates, go to Nigel’s diary; or click on 'concerts' or 'workshops' for more detail.
"Five choirs of eight parts each – I Fagiolini joined by Bath Camerata and supported by organ, viols, sackbuts, cornets and dulcians – were disposed around the nave, creating a captivating atmosphere where individual voices emerged with clarity as well as making concerted harmonies swell and fade, separating and fanning out in a kaleidoscope of sound. The second Agnus Dei, with 20 more individual lines added for dazzling effect, was unlike anything of its time"
Diamond Jubilee concert, reviewed by Rian Evans in The Guardian, June 6, 2012
Nigel founded this chamber choir of 24 singers in 1986, and handed over the baton of leadership in 2015 to Benjamin Goodison. As renowned for its engaging performance style as its musical virtuosity, Bath Camerata has performed at Bath International Music Festival every year since 1992, including several live broadcasts for Radio 3. The choir has commissioned and premiered numerous original works, including Kit ‘and the Widow’ Hesketh Harvey’s fiendish Choir Straits at the Wigmore Hall in London and pieces by James MacMillan and Ed Hughes. Well-known for its entertaining mixed programmes of sacred and secular music performed all over the south-west, Bath Camerata also occupies Wells Cathedral every Good Friday to perform a major sacred work in its entirety. It has won several awards since Nigel founded it, including (Sainsbury's) Choir of the Year.
For more information visit www.bathcamerata.org.uk.
WELLS CATHEDRAL SCHOOL CHAMBER CHOIR
“I have never heard a choir of young people tackle a programme of technically challenging music with such expertise, accuracy and feeling. Individual singers pitched their notes with unerring confidence and the ensemble singing was remarkably effective at all volumes, from ppp to fff! Nigel Perrin is obviously an inspirational conductor and it’s amazing to learn that this excellence is achieved in only one hour’s practice a week.”
Andrew Hutchison, chairman, Bedwyn Music Society
Each year, Nigel auditions the best singers at Wells Cathedral School for a place in its 18-strong chamber choir. There is much competition for places in this elite group and only those possessing true musicianship, as well as vocal and sightreading skills, are selected. The choir is trained by Nigel for just one hour a week, yet gives scintillating performances at venues around the country. The choir toured Namibia (with the British Council) in 1999, and in 2007 performed in front of an audience of 2,000 in Beijing. In 2011 it sang alongside Joanna McGregor at the Bath International Music Festival in a concert that was broadcast live on Radio 3. In 2012 it appeared in London as part of the National Gallery concert series. The challenge for Nigel, each year, is to replicate the excellence of the previous year, given that he may lose three-quarters of the choir as the students reach the end of their school career.
WELLENSIAN CONSORT
This exceptional choir was formed in 2009 by Christopher Finch, a close colleague of Nigel’s from Wells Cathedral School. It grew out of the chamber choir (above), whose members wanted to continue making music together. It is so good that it won the 2010 BBC Choir of the Year competition within a year of starting. In fond recognition of his earlier work with these students, Nigel was made the first honorary patron of the Wellensian Consort in 2011. Visit www.wellensian-consort.co.uk.
