The Exmoor Singers of London Chamber Choir was a choir with a strong focus on music by living composers and in particular

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. E ...

. In 2007, the choir collaborated with rock group

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

to perform at the

BBC Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate effec ...

, which was broadcast on both

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television and

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. The choir subsequently recorded tracks for Bloc Party album ''Intimacy'', released in 2008. The choir also recorded with rock group

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

and feature on the album

A Hundred Million Suns ''A Hundred Million Suns'' is the fifth album by Scottish-Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The album was written by Snow Patrol and was produced by longtime producer Jacknife Lee, who has previously produced albums for Bloc Party ...

. Members of the choir subsequently performed with the band on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

television on Later... with Jools Holland. Most recently members of the choir recorded with folk rock group

Noah and the Whale Noah and the Whale were a British indie rock and folk band from Twickenham, formed in 2006. The band's last line-up consisted of Charlie Fink (vocals, guitar), Tom Hobden (violin/keyboards), Matt "Urby Whale" Owens (bass guitar), Fred Abbott (g ...

. As hosts of the London

Tallis Festival The Tallis Festival is a music festival based on the work of the composer Thomas Tallis. It is hosted by Exmoor Singers of London, which forms the Tallis Festival Choir for one weekend every 12 to 18 months. The festival always includes Thomas T ...

, the choir was broadcast on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

on 28 October 2007. The choir also appears regularly on

television on

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...

. Exmoor Singers actively promote music by living composers, in dedicated concerts; by more generally programming new works; and specifically in commissioning new works. For the choir's first concert dedicated entirely to living composers, on 29 May 2002, the group received a four-star review from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. The choir has given a number of first performances, but more particularly aims to give second performances of works that might not otherwise be heard again.

New commissioned music

The choir has commissioned eight new choral works: *''Sounds: Three

Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

Poems'' (1999) –

David Sawer David Sawer (born 14 September 1961), is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music. Biography Sawer was born in Stockport, England. After attending Ipswich School, he studied music at the University of York where he b ...

*''This Sceptr'd Isle'' (2005) – Paul Ayres *''Dreaming England (This Sceptr'd Isle)'' (2005) –

Peter McGarr Peter McGarr (born 28 May 1953) is an English classical composer and teacher, working in the English experimental tradition and inspired by Northern English landscape and culture. Biography McGarr was born in Openshaw, Manchester, and attended ...

*''Tentatio'' (2006) –

Jaakko Mäntyjärvi Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (born 1963) is a Finnish composer of classical music, and a professional translator. Early life Mäntyjärvi was born in Turku. He studied musicology, English philology and linguistics at the University of Helsinki, graduating ...

*''Their Lonely Betters'' (based on a poem by

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

) (2007) –

James Lavino James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

*''Love You Big as the Sky'' (a

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

Love Song) (2007) –

(broadcast in full on BBC Radio 3) *''Three Auden Settings'' (based on poems by

) (2008) -

*''Visitations'' (text adapted by James Lavino from the Book of Ezekiel) (2010) -

The two works commissioned in 2005 entitled ''This Sceptr'd Isle'' may be the only settings for choir based on the speech in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...

, Act 2 scene 1. ''Tentatio'', ''Love You Big as the Sky'' and ''Visitations'' were commissioned for the

, and are 40-part unaccompanied works inspired by Thomas Tallis'

Spem in alium ''Spem in alium'' (Latin for "Hope in any other") is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. It is considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. H. B. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exmoor Singers Of London Chamber Choir London choirs