VOCES8 and Paul Smith – debut Australian tour

VOCES8’s long-awaited debut tour to Australia begins this week. Their first concert is a recital at the Sydney Opera House, after which they work with conductor Benjamin Bayl and the student instrumentalists of ANAM in a performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass at the Melbourne Recital Centre. To end the trip they perform twice at Ukaria in Adelaide.

Tickets for the Melbourne performance are still available, with all other concerts sold out.

Alongside this schedule Paul Smith will be giving workshops either with VOCES8 or by himself, in a mixture of sessions based on the VOCES8 Method, of which he is the author, and also working on pieces prepared by choirs. He will be leading a workshop at Sydney Opera House before travelling to Perth to work with Voyces Incorporated. He also gives sessions hosted by Firbank Grammar School, Melbourne and Immanuel College, Adelaide.

Read one of the articles about the trip here, this one from the Sydney Morning Herald.

VOCES8’s touring schedule can be seen here.

Apollo5 March 2019 Concert Roundup

The Apollo5 concert diary this month has seen them perform in the Middle East and UK, with further concerts in Europe and the UK to come.

ChoirFest Middle East  saw members of Apollo5 work in tandem with the VCM Foundation to sing and give workshops in Abu Dhabi and Dubai

Back in the UK they performed in Kington Church to conclude a project with Hereford Cathedral School, which involved a prior visit to work with the school’s Colla Voce choir.

The next 2 festival concerts are in Europe, firstly at the Heidelberger Frühling festival where the group gives it’s own recital and takes part in a joint concert with the French Baroque Ensemble Masques and the Cairo Jazz Station.

On March 22nd the group will be in Spain at the Portico da Paradiso Festival in Ourense, before giving a recital Lyddington, UK, on 30 March.

The repertoire for these concerts is drawn from the group’s classical and lighter folk and jazz repertoire, much of it recently recorded for release on the VCM label in May on their new album entitled “O Radiant Dawn”.

Interwoven in this concert schedule is the group’s education work with schools and choirs as part of the VCM Foundation.

Apollo5 in Grenoble

Auditorium du Musée performance

Vocal ensemble Apollo5 gives another performance in France on November 8th, at the Auditorium du Musée de Grenoble, singing a programme of British music stretching from William Byrd to James MacMillan and Elton John.

The group is based at the Gresham Centre in the City of London and one of two vocal ensembles of the VCM Foundation along with VOCES8. The Foundation’s aim is to inspire people through music with an innovative education outreach programme alongside a busy schedule of concert performances around the world.

Tickets are available through the promoter website here.

See a video of Apollo5 performing live at the Festival La Clé des Portes, France, here.

Keep up with the group’s activities via Facebook. Their recordings are available on Spotify here.

VOCES8 USA tour, Fall 2018

Latest tour including delayed New York City debut

VOCES8 is in the USA for its latest tour, this time giving concerts in 16 cities and 9 states. The tour kicks off with the group’s long-awaited New York City debut at the Church of St Vincent Ferrer, a rescheduled concert following the weather affected cancelled debut last season.

Tickets for the debut are available here.

VOCES8 is part of the VCM Foundation, and is now proud to have a USA Foundation with VOCES8 USA Scholars.

Follow the group’s travels on this and every tour on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

The full tour calendar is always available at www.voces8.com/tour

A New World, by Paul Smith

5 titles newly published

Paul Smith’s ‘A New World’ has been released by Edition Peters. Available as part of the VOCES8 Singles series they join his two other publications, the VOCES8 Method and Pas de Deux.

‘A New World’ is a musical story across five movements with texts by authors from Cicero and Ovid to George William Russel; from nursery rhymes to war poets. The music and texts link to form a narrative that questions what sort of ‘New Worlds’ have come into existence, or could be created in our future, and considers how we balance human traits of fear, displacement, isolation and conflict with equally human traits of love, hope, forgiveness and unity.

‘A New World’ will be premiered in Durham Cathedral on February 7th next year as part of the Durham Vocal Festival.

The pieces are available here.

VOCES8 announces new baritone

Christopher Moore will take over from Robert Clark from September this year.

Christopher said “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining VOCES8 after three wonderful years singing with the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge. I’ve always admired the group’s incredible standards of music-making and commitment to engaging as wide an audience as possible; I feel honoured to be able to play a part in continuing this work. I can’t wait to start singing, learning, and meeting the group’s many fans around the world.”

Christopher’s first season with the ensemble 2018-2019 season will see him perform in the USA, Japan, China, Australia (the ensemble’s debut tour) as well as the UK and Ireland, and many other European countries. He will also be teaching back at Cambridge University as part of the M. Mus in choral studies.

www.voces8.com

Apollo5 winners at The Music Teacher awards 2018

Best Classical Music Education Initiative at the Music Teacher awards 2018

In partnership with United Learning and long term friend and collaborator Alexander L’Estrange, Apollo5has been awarded Best Classical Music Education Initiative 2018 at the UK Music Teacher Awards. ‘Wassail’, a new work commissioned by United Learning was performed in London’s Southwark Cathedral and at the RNCM in Manchester in November 2017.

The VCM Foundation team delivered the majority of the workshops in United Learning Schools, and formed the professional choir for the two concerts, which included nearly 1,000 children from schools all across the UK.

The team members who were involved in making this project a success were Clare Stewart (Apollo5), Greg Link (Apollo5), Oliver Martin-Smith (Apollo5), Penny Appleyard (Apollo5), Lizzie Humphries (VOCES8 Scholar), Katie Jeffries-Harris (VOCES8 Scholar), Rebekah Jones (VCM Foundation), Laurel Neighbour (VOCES8 Scholar), Charlotte Brosnan (Apollo5 alumna) Charles MacDougall (VOCES8 alumnus), Harry Bennett (Apollo5 alumnus) Ann Wright (VCM Foundation), Paul Smith (VOCES8 alumnus).

‘Supporting schools with learning and performing “Wassail” took our team to rural Lancashire, Salford, Northamptonshire, South London and West Sussex to name just a few of the places. In many cases the schools had never worked with professional singers before. In some, “Wassail” was the catalyst to starting a school choir. It was such a pleasure to support so many teachers and pupils.’ (Ann Wright, VCM Education Manager)