LICCC | The choirs - London International Choral Conducting Competition

The Choirs

Our Resident Choirs

Chantage

Chantage was formed in 1999 by Musical Director James Davey, and has a national reputation as an outstanding amateur choir, winning the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition in 2006 and the Malta International Choral Festival Grand Prix in 2015. In 2009 Chantage recorded with Elbow and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in a special live performance of the band’s album The Seldom Seen Kid. Chantage’s second album, Hark! Chantage at Christmas, was released on EMI’s Gold label in 2008 and in Norman Lebrecht’s review of the CD he called the choir “a class act”.

Chantage regularly performs across the UK and collaborates with other choirs and musicians of all types. In 2011 Chantage performed with the Swingle Singers in the première of a new setting of Michael Tippett’s Five Negro Spirituals from the oratorio, A Child of Our Time, premiering featured interludes written by Ken Burton. Chantage also collaborated with famous composer and guitarist Paco Peña in a sell-out performance of his Misa Flamenca at the Royal Festival Hall in 2012. Chantage made its debut at the BBC Proms in 2014 with the première of Meld, by Benedict Mason, rated in the top 10 classical concerts of 2014 by The Guardian. In 2015 Chantage released My Promise, an album of unaccompanied choral music for any wedding and, in 2017, the first recording of works by Mårten Jansson, an emerging Swedish composer.

Coro

Coro was formed in September 2000 as a London-based chamber choir for experienced singers dedicated to performing a broad range of choral music to the highest standard. Since its inception Coro has undertaken a number of UK and international tours and has successfully participated in many European choral competitions.

The choir’s successes include becoming the first Western European group to win the Grand Prix at the Tallinn International Choral Competition and winning the Renaissance Music and the Twentieth Century Music prizes at the International Polyphonic Competition ‘Guido d’Arezzo’ in Italy. The choir has also reached the Grand Final of the Florilège Vocal de Tours in France and was awarded the competition’s special Renaissance prize. Coro was also selected by the BBC to compete in the international Let The Peoples Sing competition - Coro’s recording was featured on Radio 3’s The Choir programme.

In addition to its regular performing schedule which ranges from the highly popular Coro Christmas Concert to extended works, both accompanied and a capella (recent projects include Handel’s Israel In Egypt and Rachmaninov’s Vespers), the choir has recorded on the Dal Segno label, featured on many successful Classical Crossover albums and, recently, hosted an annual Choral Conducting Masterclass given by the well-known US Conducting tutor Dr. John Dickson.

Our 2024 Guest Choirs

Tenebrae

Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, renowned for its passion and precision.

Under the direction of Nigel Short, Tenebrae performs at major festivals and venues across the globe, including the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Rheingau Musik Festival and Sydney Festival. The choir has earned international acclaim for its interpretations of choral works from the Renaissance through to contemporary masterpieces, and it regularly commissions new music. It has enjoyed collaborations with some of the UK’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia.

Tenebrae has won two BBC Music Magazine Awards and an Edison Classical Music Award, and earned a Grammy nomination for its album ‘Music of the Spheres’. The ensemble also undertakes regular session work, most recently contributing the vocals for the soundtrack to blockbuster sci-fi movie Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

Alongside its performance and recording schedule, Tenebrae runs a thriving Learning & Connection programme, through which it works with hundreds of children, young people and amateur singers each year.

The Epiphoni Consort

The Epiphoni Consort was founded in 2014 by Tim Reader to fill a gap between the amateur and professional tiers of London’s choral circuit. Its flexible membership comprises singers trained to a professional level but pursuing other full-time careers. The group has rapidly developed a reputation for creative programming and accomplished, nuanced performances.

Epiphoni has won awards in three competitions: Tenebrae’s 2015 Locus Iste competition (winners), the London International A Cappella Choir Competition (runners up, 2015) and most recently at the Derry International Choir Festival where the choir came second overall, and won an award for “Outstanding Performance of a Piece written before 1750” (William Byrd’s Haec dies).

The choir has released 3 CDs on Delphian Records receiving critical acclaim from Gramophone, Choir and Organ, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Music Magazine, and in 2018 received a 5-star Arts Desk review for a live performance described as “up there with the best professional choirs”.

Epiphoni has appeared on television twice: in the BBC4 documentary The Joy of Rachmaninov and the BBC2 documentary Terry Pratchett: Back in Black, singing Tallis’s 40-part motet Spem in alium.

The choir offers a uniquely adventurous and chameleonic ensemble – by turns a chamber choir, symphonic chorus, solo voice ensemble – performing 12-15 concerts and other engagements a year in London and beyond. Larger-scale performances have included Bach’s Mass in B minor at Southwark Cathedral, and regular collaborations with Kensington Symphony Orchestra, including Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé, and Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and at Fairfield Halls, Walton’s Belshazzar's Feast and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius.

Commotio

Oxford-based choir Commotio was founded by Matthew Berry ARAM to celebrate contemporary choral repertoire, working with emerging composers, and rediscovering neglected and rarely-performed works. Now in its 25th year, Commotio is recognised as one of the UK's foremost proponents of contemporary choral music, performing in Oxford, London and Douai Abbey.

The choir have garnered critical acclaim for their recordings reaching Number 1 in the Specialist Classical Charts, and a top 10 entry in the UK Jazz charts! Commotio's most recent recording, in association with the Martin Read Foundation, will be released in 2025.