News
Latest news
CLASSIC FM: CEFC will be performing at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 March in a concert promoted and broadcast by Classic FM. Listen out for us singing Handel, Parry and Verdi on a billing which includes cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Read more about this on the Classic FM website.
NEW DOCTOR WHO: Crouch End Festival Chorus is to continue as the soundtrack choir for Doctor Who this year, following the Doctor’s dramatic regeneration on New Year’s Day. CEFC singers have already recorded some tracks for the upcoming episodes with new Doctor Matt Smith, and the choir is delighted to be working again with composer Murray Gold. Read more about this in the Muswell Hill Journal.
WEATHER-BEATING CHARITY CONCERT: A grand total of £714.94 was raised by CEFC audience members on 10 January for The Art Room, which provides art therapy to help children who have difficulties with mainstream education. Hundreds of people made their way to the Barbican across icy roads and pavements on the night for the choir’s performance of Haydn’s Die Shöpfung (The Creation).
The concert was introduced by BBC director general Mark Thompson, a patron of the charity. Illustrator Jane Ray had been working on pictures of the Creation story with children at The Art Room, and their art was displayed in the Barbican foyer and projected onto a screen during the concert, alongside Jane’s own work.
Art Room director Juli Beattie said that she and her colleagues were thrilled with the amount raised and ‘very grateful’.
View a slide show of the event - just click on each slide to move to the next one. Uses PowerPoint.
Coming soon
MORRICONE: Crouch End Festival Chorus has been invited to rejoin legendary Hollywood composer Ennio Morricone - one of our patrons - at his concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 10 April.
ELGAR: CEFC will be appearing soon in a BBC4 documentary exploring Elgar’s life. The Man Behind the Mask will attempt to show a multifaceted man, reaching beyond the popular image of the composer as ‘an Edwardian gentleman with a stiff upper lip’. For the programme, we have recorded a special performance of music from Elgar’s Apostles with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Watch a trailer for the documentary here.
Out now
SANTA BUDDIES: CEFC singers can be heard on the soundtrack to the Christmas bestseller Santa Buddies, a Disney children’s film available on DVD and Blu-ray. Listen to a selection of the music and watch a promotional video.
RAY DAVIES: Kinks Choral Collection, our 15-track album with Ray Davies, is still selling well in the UK, and is now picking up fans in the USA following Ray’s visit to the States with CEFC conductor David Temple. The album was one of the 2009 Critics’ Choices in Gramophone magazine.
Read the recommendation from Philip Clark of Gramophone (PDF)
Watch a promotional video for Kinks Choral Collection and read reviews of the album.
FARYL SMITH AND KATHERINE JENKINS: Our albums with the two popular sopranos have been in the Classic FM Top 10.
KATE ROYAL: Midsummer Night, featuring CEFC, helped to secure a Grammy nomination for the album’s producer.