Festival of Choral Music

Choir of the Earth presents an online FESTIVAL OF CHORAL MUSIC, featuring LIVE teaching/concerts of many of the pieces we have performed and recorded from home during the past 18 months.

With a twist!

Regular COTE members will see that we have combined the music with a different Course Director. Mozart Requiem with Ellie Slorach, St. John Passion with Nigel Short and Beethoven 9th with Ben England BEM and many more!

We are also offering the opportunity to join each day separately if you so wish:

Please click here to purchase scores

Festival Dates

The FESTIVAL OF CHORAL MUSIC 2021 runs from Monday 1st November to Sunday 7th November inclusive and is all online so that everyone can attend without having to travel anywhere. Please note that all sessions will be available later for those who cannot make a particular session as usual.

One entire day will be given over to each of our 7 wonderful Course Directors. Each day will run from 10:00 to 22:00 UK Time approximately with generous breaks for refreshments. Live Teaching will be in the morning and afternoon with the Concert Performance in the evening. Exact times for each day will be published shortly.

Monday 1st November - John Warner

Vivaldi - Gloria

Allegri - Miserere

Faure - Requiem

Tuesday 2nd November - Ralph Allwood MBE

Messiaen - O Sacrum Convivium

Mahler - Symphony No. 2 (final movement)

Mendelssohn - Elijah with Ashley Riches

Wednesday 3rd November - Harry Bradford

Thomas Tallis - Spem in Alium

Grieg - Ave Maris Stella

Rossini - Petite Messe Solonnelle

Thursday 4th November - Ellie Slorach

Opera Choruses (Brindisi, Anvil Chorus, Humming Chorus, Va Pensiero and Habanera)

Lotti - Crucifixus

Mozart - Requiem

Friday 5th November - Nigel Short

Legrand/L’Estrange - How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

Durante - Magnificat

J.S Bach - St. John Passion

Saturday 6th November - Joanna Forbes L’Estrange

ABBA - 5 songs (Mamma Mia, Thank You For The Music, Dancing Queen, Super Trouper and S.O.S)

The Beatles - 5 songs (Yesterday, When I’m 64, Hey Jude, Honey Pie and Here There and Everywhere)

Russian Wonders - 5 pieces (“Come, Let us Worship” by Rachmaninoff, “Rejoice O Virgin” by Rachmaninoff, “Glory to The Father” by Golovanov, “We hymn Thee” by Chesnokov and “Let My Prayer Arise” by Chesnokov, arr. Richard Gowers)

Sunday 7th November - Ben England BEM

Beethoven - 9th Symphony “Ode to Joy”

Verdi - Requiem

Hawes - Quanta Qualia (new version)

Please note - all these details are subject to change at anytime.

Young SIC

For the younger people, we shall bring back YSIC on Saturday 6th November when Ben England BEM will entertain the children for a full hour from the Weird Farm. We shall be checking out the glacier, the volcano and the igloo over the coming weeks to make sure everything is ready. This is open to everybody.

Breakout Sessions

In addition to the live sessions, we shall arrange for a pre-recorded session to be released for each day of the Festival. Whilst subject to change, these are likely to be:

Monday 1st November
Nigel Press of Thomas Tallis Society in discussion with Mark Strachan, Founder of Choir of the Earth

Tuesday 2nd November
Ashley Riches in conversation with Mark Strachan

Wednesday 3rd November
Nigel Short of Tenebrae in conversation with Mark Strachan

Thursday 4th November
Philip Blake Jones of the London Festival Opera in conversation with Ben England BEM

Friday 5th November
Helen Charlston in conversation with Mark Strachan

Saturday 6th November
Joanna Forbes L’Estrange and Alexander L’Estrange in conversation with Mark Strachan.

Sunday 7th November
Patrick Hawes, composer of Quanta Qualia, in conversion with Mark Strachan and Ben England BEM.

— AND —

Mark Strachan in conversation with Choir of the Earth President, Marina Mahler

Course Materials

All the teaching materials for the Festival of Choral Music 2021 will be made available online. In addition to the LIVE sessions with each Course Director, we shall enjoy the original teaching sessions for each piece and these will be released in due course.

Scores

All the music for the Festival is out of copyright and provided in the Festival cost other than How Do You Keep The Music Playing (£3.00), ABBA (£11.45), The Beatles (£11.45) and Quanta Qualia (£3.50). If you have these scores already, that’s fine - if you need them you can purchase these below:

Please click here to purchase the scores.

Environment

As we are not travelling or flying across the world, we aim to hold a zero-emission Festival and we shall be planting a tree for every member who joins the course.

All scores will be sent by email and all backing tracks and teaching materials will be available online.

Cost to join the Festival

We have worked hard to keep the cost of the Festival as low as possible.

The price to join the Festival is £35 a day or £221 for the full Festival.

STUDENTS in full time education can join everything at a 50% discount by using the Discount Code: STUDENTFEST

The Running Order

We reserve the right to change the running order at short notice if necessary

Join us today!