Quanta Qualia 3
Your opportunity to be part of Choir of the Earth’s chart-topping anthem
Choir of the Earth just can't get enough of Quanta Qualia by Patrick Hawes… and this is your chance to be part of our back-to-back Hall of Fame winner.
We first learned and recorded Quanta Qualia during Summer School 2020, when pandemic lockdowns worldwide made its text, written by Patrick's brother Andrew Hawes, all the more poignant:
“O anima mea, mane! O quanta qualia conventus gaudia erunt.”
(O my soul, wait! O how great and how wonderful the joys of meeting will be)
Our first recording featured voices from around the world alongside a fantastic saxophone solo by Sophie Burrows. It touched hearts far beyond the Choir.
When Dame Louise Casey appeared on BBC Radio 4's famous Desert Island Discs programme, she selected The Self-Isolation Choir's rendition of Quanta Qualia as one of her tracks - hear her touching explanation here.
Quanta Qualia - Patrick Hawes | performed by Choir of the Earth & Sophie Burrows
The piece soon became the Choir's anthem and, as our choral family grew, we were asked to reopen recordings.
Quanta Qualia 2 premiered at the final concert of our Festival of Choral Music in November 2021, with original voices, new voices and a new cello solo from renowned cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Webber.
Quanta Qualia - Patrick Hawes | performed by Choir of the Earth & Jiaxin Lloyd-Webber
When we held our first Hall of Fame vote in 2023, Quanta Qualia topped the chart. It retained the Number 1 spot in 2024 and, due to popular demand, we have reopened submissions for a third time!
Hear more about Quanta Qualia 3 from Choir of the Earth’s Musical Director, Ben England BEM:
Quanta Qualia 3 - Introduction from Ben England BEM
Sign up for Quanta Qualia 3
Quanta Qualia 3 will be open to everyone for a small sign-up cost of £5, which will cover the mixing expenses. If you haven't sung Quanta Qualia before and need the score, there is a second option to pay £8.50 for sign-up plus a digital score.
When we receive your payment, we will send you a pdf containing the links to all the resources you need to learn, record and submit your recordings for the piece. If you order the 'plus score' option, we will also send you the link to the digital score. We will send your links as soon as possible when we receive your payment but please allow up to 48 hours to receive these, as we have to send them manually.
The deadline for submissions will be Saturday 31 August 2024 at 22:00 UK time and we will premiere the new recording later in the year.
We would love to invite you - whether or not your voice is already in the mix - to join in and submit a new recording… or as many as you like! Why not learn and record a different part?
For this course only, we are using PayPal to manage the sign-up and payment process, rather than our usual Squarespace method. Simply click one of the buttons below and follow the instructions on screen. You do not need a PayPal account to pay this way. Please double check your email address before submitting your payment, as this is where we will send your links.
A new solo?
We would love to commission a new cello solo for this third rendition of our anthem, played by the wonderful Laura Peribañez Artero, who has played for a number of our performances in recent years.
We will only be able to do this if we raise enough to fully fund it. At the request of our generous choristers, a donation link is available for contributions towards the solo, separate from the sign-up cost. If you would like to contribute, please do so here:
If we do not raise enough to fund the new cello solo, the proceeds raised will help with the overall costs of Quanta Qualia 3 first and foremost, with any surplus going to help meet general costs of the Choir.
