2021: A Year to Remember

We wish you a very Happy New Year! As we look forward to getting our new term underway very soon, we thought we’d take a moment to look back at 2021, especially our autumn term which marked our return to singing together in person.

We had quite a few highlights in 2021, and we hope you’ll indulge us as we take a look back at this unusual year.

We celebrated our 75th Anniversary this year

The choir was originally founded as the Chaucer Singers in 1946. After a few years helmed by founder Fred Mercer, Natalie Seymour took over the choir in 1962 and led the choir for an impressive 40 years until her retirement in 2002. Keen to revisit our roots, we recently took a deep dive into the archive to revisit past performances of the Fauré Requiem.

We launched our new website in May

It was time for a change, and we’re pleased with the end result – including launching this blog!

We had a picnic in July

We hadn’t seen each other in person since our previous picnic in September 2020. It was so great to see everyone – you can read more about the picnic in our recent blog post.

We reconvened in-person rehearsals in September

After 18 months of rehearsals on Zoom, we were thrilled to finally be able to sing together in person. And in many ways it felt like we’d never been apart. We also got settled into our new home, St Olave’s Hart Street – we talked about the incredible history of this City church in another recent post.

We welcomed our new accompanist, Charlie Penn-Jones, in November

We’re thrilled to be in Charlie’s very capable hands, and he’s already accompanied us at a couple of big events in addition to being our rock during weekly rehearsals.

We hosted a Come and Sing of Fauré’s Requiem in November

We took this opportunity to ask our members what they love about the Requiem. We are so grateful to everyone who attended this event, and to all who contributed to organizing this successful day. It was such a fun afternoon, and a really good representation of who we are as a choir. We are friendly, welcoming, committed to the music but also to having a good time. Watch this space for more about this first event since the pandemic, but for now you can take a look at us rehearsing our special bonus piece, The Heavens are Telling from Haydn’s Creation.

We gave our first public performance in 2 years, and our first ever performance under the direction of our Musical Director Adam Hope

It was impossible to know when Adam started his tenure as our Musical Director in January 2020 that it would be almost 2 years before we’d be able to give another public performance. He has led us valiantly throughout such a long period of Zoom rehearsals, and it was wonderful to finally give a concert with him at the helm.

We were joined by soloists Cormac Thompson and Olivia Bell, and by the male voices of the Abbeydale Singers, conducted by Lucy Joy Morris. It was a wonderful evening of Christmas music, and the perfect thing to get us all in the spirit after a difficult couple of years.

We closed out the year with a fun evening of Christmas carols in the City

A merry band of choir members brought some Christmas tunes to City stations, including Tower Hill, Aldgate, and Fenchurch Street. We closed out the evening, the term, and the year with a performance at our favourite local pub, The Ship, and the punters joined in with the chorus of O Come All Ye Faithful over their pints.

We are grateful for all we achieved in 2021, and we look forward to making new musical memories in 2022. Our new term starts on Thursday 13 January, and we’re welcoming new singers so get involved!