The Choir of Royal Holloway is considered to be one of the finest university choirs in Britain. The choir was created at the time of the foundation of Royal Holloway College in 1886, and was originally only for women’s voices. The group, comprised of 24 choral scholars and 2 organ scholars, is directed by Rupert Gough and undertakes a busy schedule of weekly services and concerts, international tours, recordings and live broadcasts. Royal Holloway is the only university that maintains a tradition of singing daily morning services, and is home to the only choir in the country performing weekly live streamed concerts.
As part of the choir’s 50+ concerts a year, they regularly collaborate with and perform alongside many famous ensembles. These have included the King’s Singers, the BBC Singers, Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Onyx Brass, Fretwork and the jazz-trio Acoustic Triangle, with whom they broadcast live on BBC radio. The group also celebrates the work of living composers, and have commissioned works from Sir James MacMillan, Gabriel Jackson, Richard Rodney Bennett, Cecilia McDowall and Paul Mealor. The choir’s diverse repertoire also includes larger-scale works including Vespers by Monteverdi, Rachmaninov and Rautavaara, Requiems by Mozart and Howells, and Gabriel Jackson’s Ave regina coelorum for choir and electric guitar which they also broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
International performances are also an integral part of the choir’s work. They have toured most European countries, visited Beijing, and have had a number of successful tours to North America, as well as having been broadcast on national television and radio all over the world. The choir regularly sing at high-profile events which have included the Annual Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall (live on BBC television), and for an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
The choir has an extensive and highly acclaimed discography with Hyperion, Decca, Signum and Naxos amongst others. Many of these feature works by northern European composers, Vytautas Miškinis, Rihards Dubra, Bo Hansson, Tõnu Kõrvits (with the Britten Sinfonia) and Ola Gjeilo (which was No. 1 in the UK and US classical charts). Upcoming releases feature the music of Ben Parry and Joanna Marsh, a live-concert recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Thomas Adès and the Britten Sinfonia, and a recently rediscovered work by Pierre Villette with alumna Sarah Fox. Future projects include works by George Arthur, and Dan Locklair.
How to get involved
How? |
Auditions for choral and organ scholarships take place every March for the following academic year. |
Who? |
choraladmin@rhul.ac.uk |
Daily Download |
Coming soon |