High Flying Birds, Noel Gallagher has been nominated for best British male solo artist at the 2012 Brit awards. The album features singers from Crouch End Festival Chorus on several of the tracks, and some of the rehearsals even took place in conductor David Temple’s kitchen – as witnessed in this official ‘making-of’ video. We’ll all be waiting with bated breath to see if Noel can scoop the top prize at the 21 February ceremony at the O2 Arena.

And whether or not he wins the Brit award, he’ll definitely be getting another accolade: it’s been announced that the former Oasis songsmith is to be crowned ‘Godlike Genius’ at the NME Awards on 29 February.

Most exciting from the Crouch End Festival Chorus perspective is that our singers will be accompanying Noel Gallagher on his February and March 2012 tour of the UK and Ireland.  Venues include Birmingham NIA, Manchester MEN and the gigantic O2 arena in London.
Read the official Crouch End Festival Chorus media release
Find out more and get tickets from the Noel Gallagher website.

FESTIVE SPIRIT: Following a second year of triumphant Christmas music-making, former  Scrooge  David Temple pronounced himself ‘elated’ with the 2011  Sing Christmas concerts. The Crouch End Festival Chorus musical director said proudly that the singing had given him goosebumps – and he praised CEFC accompanist Peter Jaekel for his ‘brilliant job’ on the organ, and guest musician Sally Pryce for her ‘mesmeric’ harp solo.

The two Sing Christmas concerts took place in St Michael’s church in Highgate on 10 December. A warm welcome was extended to the many families with young children attending the afternoon performance, and there was a very high standard of singing in the audience participation carols at both concerts. Many audience members said that the highlight of the programme was Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, which featured soloists taken from the ranks of the choir.

Crouch End Festival Chorus was very pleased to give local charity Ambitious About Autism the opportunity to raise money at the concerts, and thanks to the generosity of the audience, an impressive £1,370 was collected in donations and Christmas card sales.

ABBEY BIRTHDAY: The anthems are out! Abbey Road Studios recently ran a composition competition for songwriters to come up with anthems to celebrate the studios’ 80th birthday. And now they’re ready to listen to online – featuring Crouch End Festival Chorus of course. Enjoy the songs right here in the CEFC releases section below.

Led by Eric Whitacre (pictured with CEFC musical director David Temple), the Abbey Road anthem sessions earlier this year included contributions from the London Symphony Orchestra and the Eric Whitacre Singers. The large-choir sound of Crouch End Festival Chorus has been combined with the other musicians to great effect on three tracks: Thank You Eternally, Made of Ghosts and A Million Stars – scroll down this page to listen to them now.

Photos: Patrick Haddon (Sing Christmas) | John Mindlin (David Temple and Eric Whitacre)

CEFC releases

ABBEY ROAD ANTHEMS: Here are the three competition-winning anthems which feature the voices of CEFC singers. There were eight winners in total, and the others can be heard on the Abbey Road Studios website.

Cyrus Almonde - Thank You Eternally by Abbey Road Studios

Made of Ghosts – Oliver Chapman & Will Clapson (Jack in Water) by Abbey Road Studios

Stephen Lindsay - A Million Stars by Abbey Road Studios

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