Queen's Park Singers

Past concerts

2022

Sunday 24th April: Handel's Dixit Dominus and madrigals by Monteverdi, from his Eighth Book. With members of the Asyla Ensemble In St Matthew's Church, Kensal Green.

Sunday 24th April: Spring. Scheduled for 27th March, this concert was postponed after 15 choir members contracted Covid. On the programme were the cantata Spring by Rachmaninoff, featuring teh Ukrainian baritone Oleksandr Ilvakhin, and Stravinsky's Synphony of Psalms in Stravinsky's own arrangement for choir with piano four hands. In St Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace.

2021

Sunday 28th November: An die Musik: German and Austrian choral works, including:

Clara Schumann Ich stand in dunklen Träumen (arr. Hamish Brown)
Schoenberg Natur (arr. Olliver Till)
Bruckner Locus iste
J.S. Bach Agnus Dei from Mass in B minor
Rheinberger Abendlied
Clara Schumann Der Mond kommt still gegangen (arr. Hamish Brown)
Mendelssohn Lift thine eyes; I waited for the Lord; Ave Maria

Sunday 21st July: Our first live event after lock-down was a joint promotion with the London Medical Orchestra, featuring Fauré's Requiem and the rarely performed Říkadla (Nursery Rhymes) by Janáček, arranged for choir and orchestra by our conductor, Oliver Till, with English words by Benedict Pope. At St Mellitus Church near Finsbury Park.

2020

Saturday 24th January as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival: a repeat of our November concert excluding the movements from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater: J.S. Bach Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229; Fauré Two motets Op. 65, Ave verum &Tantum ergo;
J.S. Bach Fantasia & Fugue in G Minor BWV 542 (Hamish Brown, organ); Duruflé Requiem Op. 9. at St Stephen Walbrook, City of London

2019

Sunday 24th November
J.S. Bach Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229; Fauré Two motets Op. 65, Ave verum &Tantum ergo; three movements from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater (Queen’s Park Junior Singers); J.S. Bach Fantasia & Fugue in G Minor BWV 542 (Hamish Brown, organ); Duruflé Requiem Op. 9. at St Mark's, Hamilton Terrace
Sunday 23rd June Dashing away: music from many lands

Traditional spiritual, arr. Roy Ringwald Deep River; Michael Flanders & Donald Swan An Ill Wind (with apologies to Mozart); Roger Bloomfield, Peter Weigall, bass; Hamish Brown, piano; Clara Schumann arr. Hamish Brown Ich stand in dunklen Träumen; Traditional Bulgarian Ergen Deda; Zoltán Kodály Esti Dal; Frédéric Chopin Barcarole in F# major Op. 48; Reiko Kimura, piano; Edvard Grieg arr. Oliver Till Ein Traum; Hector Berlioz Villanelle from Les nuits d’été; Monica Healy, alto; Hamish Brown, piano; Traditional Scottish arr. Michael McGlynn Fionghuala; Jacques Arcadelt Il bianco e dolce cigno; Pierre Certon La la la; QPS Madrigal Group; Xixian Qu Mu Ge (Pastoral Song); Anon. Arr. Percy Grainger Dafydd y Garreg Wen; Glyn Jones, tenor; Hamish Brown, piano; Alexander Scriabin arr. Oliver Till Romance; Robert Schumann Fantasiestück no. 3 in A major “Rasch und; mit Feuer”; Tabea Grimm, clarinet; Hamish Brown, piano; John Rutter (arr.) Dashing Away With The Smoothing Iron
Saturday 19th April as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival: a repeat of our Solace and Celebration concert
Sunday 24th March Solace and Celebration
Biber Requiem in F minor
Holst Ode to Death
Elgar Great is the Lord
Britten Jubilate Deo in E flat

2018

Sunday 18th November Mozart Requiem and Horn Concerto no. 3 in E flat, played on natural horn by Danial de Souza. Also, two scenes from Malcolm Williamson's children's Opera The Valley and the Hill, with Queen' s Park Junior Singers.
See poster and programme.
Sunday 24th June A Worldwide Choral Celebration - music by Monteverdi, Rachmaninoff, Fauré,
Janáček and Billy Joel, as well as Zulu wedding song, a piece based on an Indian raga, and the Geographical Fugue by Toch, also an international medley by Queen's Park Junior Singers and virtuoso solo brass pieces performed by visiting choir members Fernando and Lucía Moya (euphonium and horn, respectively). See poster and programme.
Sunday 13th March C.P.E Bach St John Passion, J.S Bach Ich lasse Dich nicht, Arvo Pärt Da pacem, Domine, Duruflé Tota pulchra es (sung by QP Junior Singers), in St Martin's, Kensal Green. See poster and programme.

2017

Sunday 10th December Brahms A German Requiem in English, with piano four hands, in Sty Mark's, Hamilton Terrace. See poster and programme.
Sunday 12th June a programme of a cappella pieces by Flecha, Byrd, Monteverdi, Gibbons, Schreker, Scriabin, Ravel and Whitacre. See poster and programme.
Sunday 13th March Mozart Coronation Mass and part songs by Sibelius. See poster and programme.

2016

Sunday 11th December. Messiah in St Martin's, Kensal Green, with period band Asyla Ensemble. See poster and programme
Sunday 12th June. Summer concert with guest conductor Oliver Till, with Queen's Park Junior Singers. See poster and programme.
Sunday 13th March. This Scepter'd Isle. A concert to celebrate William Shakespeare and the English landscape, including premier performances of two Shakespeare settings by David Podd and Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music. See poster and programme.
Sunday 17^th January. A concert as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival in St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, featuring music from our December concert,including Bach cantatas and motets by Byrd and Palestrina. We shared the bill with Capital Connection, an all-female barbershop choir.

2015

Sunday 6th December. Sing my Soul! a concert of Christmas music, featuring Queen's Park Junior Singers. See poster and programme.
Sunday 21^st June. A concert of Midsummer music, by a variety of composers. Featuring the Juniors, A Guitar Duo, and a smaller vocal ensemble. See poster and programme.
Sunday 22^nd March. Back to St Anne’s and St Andrew’s, for two fabulous Bach Cantatas, and a reprise of an anthem written by Mary Phillips for the Juniors back in 2012. See poster and programme.
Sunday 25^th January. A concert as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival in St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden – we split the bill with Chorate. We sang pieces from our December concert: Haydn, Pergolesi, Frunza and a movement from the Brahms requiem (in memoriam for Siobhan O’Connor, a member of the choir who had died a few days before in a skiing accident).

2014

Sunday 7^th December. A concert built around the Little Organ Mass by Haydn, and the Magnificat by Pergolesi. See poster & programme.
Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd November. Four well-attended performances by the Junior Choir, plus many others, of the Happy Prince by Malcolm Williamson. See separate website.
Sunday 8th June. A concert of Spanish music. The choir sang music from the Cancioneros that were compiled in the 16th and 17th centuries and a piece by a more recent Catalan composer, who died in 1987. There were also songs by Manuel de Falla, sung by Mary, and guitar music. The Juniors also took part. See poster and programme.
Sunday 16th March. The adult choir visit St Mark’s Hamilton Terrace for the first time, in a programme of music specially chosen to suit the spacious acoustics of St Mark’s. See poster and programme.

2013

Sunday 8^th December 2013. Christmas concert featuring the fifth part of the Christmas Oratorio by J S Bach, with a range of other pieces of Christmas music. Our first joint concert with the Nonesuch Orchestra, who performed a Concerto Grosso by Corelli (“composed for Christmas night”). See poster, and the programme.
Saturday 16^th November 2013. Two sell-out and highly successful performances, at St Mark’s Church Hamilton Terrace, of Noye’s Fludde by Benjamin Britten. The Juniors and the DaCapo Music Foundation were directed by Mary Phillips. Featured Roger Bloomfield as Noah! See the Queen's Park Junior Singers website.
Sunday 9^th June 2013. A concert of some of the most beautiful and thrilling choral music ever written, taken from Operas composed by major figures of the past 400 years. See poster and programme.
Sunday 10^th March 2013. A concert to mark Mothers’s day, with a wide range of music (Parsons, Brahms, Tippett, Grieg, Rachmaninov etc), and also readings of poems and a contribution from the Juniors. See poster and programme.

2006-2012

Sunday 2^nd December 2012. A concert based on Christmas in Venice 400 years ago, featuring extracts from Montiverdi Vespers, and pieces by Lassus and Gabrieli. See poster and programme. We repeated the concert again onSunday 9^th December at St Augustine’s Church, with genuine cornets and sackbuts. See programme.
Sunday 24^th June 2012. A repeat of our April concert, this time in the wonderful St Augustine’s Church Kilburn - with the Junior singers also taking part, and an additional item composed for the occasion by Mary Phillips. See poster and programme.
Sunday 29^th April 2012. A 70^th birthday concert, for and conducted by David Till. Featured the All Night Vigil from Rachmaninov’s Vespers, Schubert Symphony No 5, and the Magnificat by Bach. See poster and programme.
Sunday 11^th December 2011: a celebration of Christmas and the winter solstice. Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and the frost scene from Purcell’s King Arthur. AgnieszkaTeodorowska joined us again to play a Rachmaninov cello sonata. See poster and programme.
Sunday 19th June 2011: an Elizabethan concert at the refurbished hall at Salubsury Primary School. This concert featured madrigals, dancing (led by Robert and Jane Huggett, who are members of Renaissance Footnotes), and lute & recorder music. See the poster and the programme.
Tuesday 12th April 2011: we took part in a joyful "singfest" at a packed Emmanuel Church, West Hampstead. We sang Cantique de Jean Racine by Fauré, and the other five choirs sang a wide range of pieces, including a protest song against public spending cuts. The event raised over £900 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Sunday 6th March 2011: Fauré’s Requiem, and also Cantique de Jean Racine, interleaved with various pieces for cello quartet. We enjoyed this concert so much we repeated it on Sunday 13^th March, this time with the Mozart horn quintet in E flat, at St Augustine’s Church Kilburn – our first concert not at St Anne’s. See the poster and the programmes for the first and second concerts.
Sunday 12^th December 2010: Wolcum Yole: a concert of lullabies and carols for Christmas, including (with the Juniors) A Ceremony of Carols by Britten, and Richard Pygott's Quid petis O fili. See poster and programme.
Sunday 27^th June 2010: DIDO AND AENEAS: a concert performance, including the Juniors, of scenes from Purcell's opera (1689), with dramatised readings from Vergil's account in the Aeneid. View the poster and the programme.
Sunday 25^th April 2010: Primavera including Claudio Monteverdi Beatus Vir, and Ecco mormorar l'onde and O primavera (five-part madrigals); Samuel Barber Sure on this shining night; Henry Purcell My belovedspake; and a number of poems on the theme of the concert – “Spring awakening - renewal and rebirth”. See poster and programme.
Sunday 6^th December 2009: Bach Christmas Oratorio, parts 1 and 3, sung in English. See poster and programme.
Sunday 14^th June 2009: Midsummer concert, with the QP Juniors and the QP Sinfonia, which celebrated four composers who have major anniversaries in 2009: Purcell, born 1659; Handel, died 1759; Haydn, died 1809; Mendelssohn, born 1809. See poster and programme.
Sunday 22^nd February 2009: a concert of Lenten polyphony, including the Josquin Mass Pange Lingua, and Civitas Sancti Tui by Byrd, interspersed with poems. See poster and programme.
Sunday 13^th December 2008: two performances of The Christmas Story by Heinrich Schutz, in a semi-staged production, also involving the Juniors. See the poster and the programme.
Sunday 18^th May 2008: the Spring section from The Seasons by Joseph Haydn, a wonderfully joyous work celebrating the springtime renewal of life. Settings of two e. e. cummings poems, which David Till wrote in 1980. The choral music was complemented by a Mozart Piano Concerto (K449) played by the late Geoff Dancer, who has also accompanied Mary Phillips in earlier concerts. See the poster and the programme.
Sunday 26^th November 2007: a concert of Christmas music from Handel’s Messiah, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the church of St Anne and St Andrew (see poster and programme).
20^th May 2007, with the theme of “Creatures” (poster here, and programme here): Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb, a setting of some wonderful words by Christopher Smart. Carnival! - an adaptation of Saint-Saens's Carnival of the Animals, adapted by Gwyn Arch, with words by Jeremy Browne; Taverner: The Lamb; Madrigals, part songs and some Cole Porter, sung by Quintabile – their first public appearance; and various songs sung by the children.
26^th November 2006 - details here - including sacred and secular music by Thomas Tomkins, the last of the composers of the golden age of English choral polyphony, who died 350 years ago. TT has been one of David’sfavourite composers for as long as he can remember but we had never done any of his music. We included a couple of verse anthems with viol consort accompaniment, and consort music played by the viols alone.
25^th June 2006 – a Midsummer concert – details here.
23^rd April 2006 - a series of readings and songs to mark the birthday of Shakespeare (details here and poster here).
12^th March 2006 - celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart: Ave verum corpus, Missa brevis in B flat, Symphony 29 (programme here). The Junior Singers also took part.

2000-2005

20^th December 2005 – carols around Queens Park (for the thirtieth year running).
27^th November 2005 – concert of music for Christmas and the wintry season – see poster .
17^th April 2005 - Concert to mark the 500^th Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Tallis, including music by Vaughan Williams, Byrd, Gibbons and Wilbye.
25^th July 2004 - St Anne’s Centenary Service. Anton Bruckner: Locus iste (by special request of Fr Fergus), and William Byrd: Laudibus in sanctis.
23^rd May 2004 - a programme of Czech music (flyer here) Dvorak: Moravian Folk Songs; Janacek: Otcenas (Our Father); Petr Eben: Noc (The Night); and also Janacek's Mladi for wind sextet, and Dvorak'sSerenade for Strings.
2^nd November 2003: concert for All Souls Day: the choir sang Victoria's Requiem, with consort music by William Byrd, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons and Anthony Holborne interpolated between the sections of the requiem (programme here).
18^th May 2003: `Northern Lights' Concert: including music from northern European countries.
The next concert took place on 17^th November 2002 at 6.30pm at St Anne and St Andrew, 125 Salusbury Road, NW6. This was a St Cecilia's Day concert: the programme included Britten `Hymn to St Cecilia', Purcell `Welcome to all the pleasures', and Stravinsky 'Apollon Musagete'; the Junior Singers also took part.
The Singers also made their first trip abroad, to the Abbaye de Mondaye (in Normandy) from 12^th to 18^th August 2002; the idea was to go for a few days of relaxation and gentle work on repertoire for later concerts. We gave a short concert at the end of our stay, and took part in Vespers for the feast of the Assumption (15th August) and for mass on Sunday morning (18th August). Repertoire included: Josquin - Missa sexti toni 'L'homme armé'; Britten -Hymn to St Cecilia; Debussy - Trois chansons de Charles d'Orléans; Josquin - Salve Regina; Schutz - Cantate Domino.
On 27^th April 2002 David Till celebrated his 60th birthday: we presented a concert with the theme 'Sing unto the Lord', with settings in different languages and from different times -- Bach 'Singet dem Herrn', Purcell 'O sing unto the Lord', Schutz 'Cantate Domino', and James Macmillan `A new song'. We were accompanied in the Purcell by Queens Park Strings, who also performed Elgar's `Introduction and Allegro' and Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor with Jane Afia as soloist. There were also arrangements of pieces by Bach for wind trio, beautifully played by Nicholas Murray, Judith Rhoades and Hugh Rosenbaum This concert raised about £1100 for a start-up fund for the choir in its new form as a registered charity.
On 2^nd December 2001 we presented a programme of Advent and Christmas music. This included: Britten Hymn to the Virgin, Kodaly Veni veni Emmanuel, Bruckner Virga Jesse, Peter Maxwell Davies O sacrum convivium, Gibbons This is the record of John, Palestrina Alma remptoris mater, Byrd Rorate coeli desuper. The junior choir also participated, singing O little town of Bethlehem, Gifts by Bob Chilcott, and a Merry Christmas round. There were also pieces for organ, played by Peter Walter and David Till, duets for basses, sung by Cedric Lee and David Till and Tchaikovski's December (the Seasons), played by Martin Keuneman and Sue Clark.
We presented a concert on 20^th May 2001 at the church, including Handel 'My somg shall be alway', Purcell 'Jehovah quam multi sunt hostes mei' and Schutz 'Die mit Traenen saeen'. The programme also included the concertogrosso in F, Op 6 No 2, by Handel, and Martin Keuneman played two movements from a Bach solo violin suite.
Concert with Kaleidoscope Wind Band on 12^th November 2000: this included Bach Lutheran Mass in F; also on the programme were Seascape, by Ruth Gipps, and Suite in D, by Arthur Bird, both of these for Wind Band; also -- perhaps the only known composition for double wind quintet and choir! -- Beim Abschied zu singen, by Robert Schumann. We had around 30 singers for this concert: the music of the Lutheran Mass was truly uplifting; there was wonderful concentration in the rehearsals and the performance was very satisfying as a result of much hard work on some tricky notes both during the rehearsals and at home.
We presented a Spring Concert on 21^st May 2000. This included the Magnificat by Arvo Part, two graduals by Bruckner, and Cantate Domino by Schutz; rounds by Byrd and David Till; also taking part was Martin Keuneman, who played Bach cello Suite No 3 on the viola, and a slow movement from a solo viola sonata by Hindemith. This was a most enjoyable event.

1998-1999

On 16^th May 1999, we presented a concert with strings: Purcell, Sing unto the Lord, Rejoice in the Lord alway; Elgar, Serenade for Strings Op 20; Schutz, Mein Sohn, warum hast Du uns das getan? The string band, Fiddlesticks and Friends, included local string players and friends from a little further away, led by Jane O'Connor-Afia.
Our first concert was presented in the new church at 6 pm on Sunday 8^th March 1998. The programme included Lenten music by Tallis, together with anthems by Purcell, and rounds by Byrd and Clemens. Also taking part were Nick Hartley and Dennis Cook, guitars, and Andrew Hope and Emma Johnson, baritone and baroque harp; they performed instrumental music and songs from Italy, Germany and Spain. The proceeds (around £250) went to St Luke's Hospice (more details here), as part of the Mayor of Brent's Charity Appeal, 1997/98.

Last updated: July 2018