Charter Choir of Homerton College

Dr Daniel Trocmé-Latter, Director of Music

Where to start a report on music, in a year when musicians’ lives have been turned upside down? I count myself extremely fortunate to be in a stable job, one which – even if it has involved almost nothing in the way of live music-making since March – has still meant I can work.

The sounds of Fauré’s Requiem from St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Charter Choir’s new Christmas recording, Till all the place with music ring, had barely finished resonating in our ears when we heard about the emergence of some mysterious new virus; the weeks passed and the first cases in different corners of the world were confirmed. In late February and in March, as we headed towards the end of Lent term, most of us in Cambridge still had no idea about the significance or the lasting impact of this coronavirus.

For the Charter Choir, there was no sign of slowing down: on Saturday 7 March the Choir’s ranks swelled to double their usual size as we welcomed c.25 alumni to sing a special Evensong in celebration of the College’s – and thereby also the Choir’s – 10-year Royal Charter anniversary. With those present spanning the whole of the past decade, including some dating back to the foundation year itself, the air was filled with exuberance and celebration, our glasses with wine. The augmented choir also sang at the Charter Dinner itself, to an audience of Fellows of the College and their esteemed guests. The next day, the number of confirmed cases in the UK was reported 273, with three confirmed deaths; 10 days later, the very idea of ever holding such an event as the Charter Dinner seemed implausible; two weeks later, the whole country was in lockdown. Institutions shut their doors; choirs, orchestras, and all other sorts of musical groups and solo performers were silenced.

Choral alumni joined the Charter Choir for an anniversary Evensong

Organ scholars past and present: Chris Baczkowski, Matt Walters and Mark Englander

Back in the University sphere, all teaching and examining was done online for the duration of Easter term, and all other in-person activities were curtailed. For the Charter Choir, and all other choirs in Cambridge and beyond, this meant that life became very complicated – or, from another perspective, very straightforward. There was simply no prospect of singing. Our anticipated tour to Italy – where we would have sung in Milan, Cremona, Mantua, and Ferrara – was out of the question. However, we were able to pull together a virtual Evensong in July, hosted generously by the Church of St John the Evangelist, Hills Road. Every choir member sent in a recording of themselves at home, singing a simple anthem and a hymn, with additional liturgical material provided by soloists. One of our first-year Choral Scholars, and an undergraduate in Medicine, Adam Wolowczyk, then took on the mammoth task of editing the musical content. Adam and I spent hours on the phone or over Zoom, correcting errors of pitch and rhythm, and discussing the overall balance of the choir as one recording was layered on another until the desired ensemble effect was achieved.

We have, of course, come a long way since then. Professional and non-professional choirs were able to resume in-person activities in August, after research from Public Health England concluded that singing was by and large no riskier than speaking at a similar volume. This gave the green light to cathedral and church choirs to start up again, albeit in unfamiliar and distanced layouts, and university choirs began following suit at the start of their new academic years. Hopes for a normalityresembling Michaelmas term in Cambridge, however, were soon dashed, as Covid-19 cases began to rise again in September. At Homerton in October, with risk assessments approved, singers placed two metres apart from one another, and strict cleaning processes in place, we managed just a single Evensong before West House was put into isolation. With all of our first-years out of the picture (meaning that a third of the Choir was taken out of action) and with yours truly also in isolation, the following Evensong then had to be cancelled. We managed one further performance, with much reduced forces, the following week, before the second national lockdown came into effect. At Homerton, this meant that all extracurricular in-person activities were suspended. By the time we emerged from that lockdown, the end of term had arrived.

The Charter Choir sing Evensong from their homes

However, the show had to go on somehow, so we geared up for one more virtual choir event: a carol service. Again, each choir member recorded themselves singing in isolation, and this time I put them all together, with software advice and assistance from Adam. The preparation (recording myself conducting, accompanying, and creating listening tracks for the choir) involved five to 10 hours of work, while the editing process took me something like 80 hours over six days – and all for just 15½ minutes of music,working out at about five hours’ editing per minute! Because lockdown had struck before we had begun rehearsing any Christmas music, the choir members had to fend for themselves in terms of note-learning. Many others played their part, making this a truly collaborative effort. Our Honorary Lay Chaplain, Miss Patricia Maude, organised the readings, with some poetry suggestions from our new Poet-in-Residence, Dr Mariah Whelan. Alumna Natalie Jobbins quickly organised a recording of the jazz trio accompaniment to her arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter. Current soprano and English student Charlotte Horner recorded not only the solo to Natalie’s piece but also listening tracks for each of the four parts to David Hurd’s Alleluia canon. Our unflappable IT department installed my new audio- and video-editing software (and even provided me with a new computer in my office when my existing one couldn’t cope with the graphics!). The Revd. Chris Campbell, Curate at St John’s Church, generously integrated all the moving parts into the final version of the video, which was broadcast on our YouTube channel on Tuesday 1 December.

Now, with choir members scattered all over the UK, Europe, and the world for the Christmas vacation, we brace ourselves for the challenges of 2021.

As ever, alumni and other supporters of the Choir are warmly encouraged to follow the Charter Choir on their Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/homcharterchoir, and we look forward to welcoming you back at a performance or service once ‘normality’ resumes. The virtual carol service can be viewed on the Homerton YouTube channel n