London Symphony Chorus

President Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE Vice President Michael Tilson Thomas Patrons Simon Russell Beale CBE | Howard Goodall CBE

Chorus Director Simon Halsey CBE Associate Directors Lucy Hollins | David Lawrence | Barbara Hoefling | Mariana Rosas

Chorus Accompanist Benjamin Frost Chair Alice Jones LSO Choral Projects Manager Sumita Menon

Vocal coaches Norbert Meyn | Anita Morrison | Rebecca Outram | Robert Rice

The London Symphony Chorus was formed in 1966 to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra, and is renowned internationally for its concerts and recordings with the Orchestra. Their important partnership was strengthened in 2012 with the appointment of Simon Halsey as joint Chorus Director of the LSC and Choral Director for the LSO. The Chorus plays a major role in furthering the vision of LSO Sing, which also encompasses the LSO Community Choir, LSO Discovery Choirs for young people, and Singing Days at LSO St Luke’s.

The LSC has worked with many leading international conductors and other major orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and European Union Youth Orchestra. It has also toured extensively throughout Europe and visited North America, Israel, Australia and South East Asia.

The partnership between the LSC and LSO, particularly under Richard Hickox in the 1980s and 1990s, and later with Sir Colin Davis, led to its large catalogue of recordings which have won nine awards, including five Grammys. Gramophone included the recordings of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust and Romeo and Juliet on LSO Live with Sir Colin as two of the top ten Berlioz recordings. Recent LSO Live recordings with the Chorus include Bernstein’s Wonderful Town, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust and Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives, all with Sir Simon Rattle.

In early 2020 the Chorus undertook a major European tour of Beethoven, including Christ on the Mount of Olives, with the LSO and Sir Simon Rattle. Seven concerts were then cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic but the Chorus continued to rehearse online and performed outside or in masks when restrictions allowed. Recent performances include the world premieres of Howard Goodall’s Never to Forget and Errollyn Wallen’s After Winter with Simon Halsey at the Spitalfields Festival in July 2021, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre Philharmonique in Monte-Carlo and Aix-en-Provence with Kazuki Yamada, Julian Anderson’s Exiles (an LSC co-commission) and Haydn’s The Creation with Sir Simon Rattle, and Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero with Sir Antonio Pappano.

In September 2022 the Chorus joined forces with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir for Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder under Edward Gardner at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, opening the LPO’s 2022/23 season.

Never to Forget is an LSC commission in memory of health and social care workers who died from COVID-19 while caring for others. An initial eight-minute version was recorded online by the Chorus with LSO players and released as a video during the pandemic. Rambert choreographed and recorded a video of dance to this, and then performed the completed work with the Chorus at a national Remember Me and Never to Forget Memorial Concert at St Paul’s Cathedral in March 2022.

The Chorus is an independent charity run by its members. It is committed to excellence, to diversity, equity and inclusion, and the development of its members. It engages actively in the musical life of London, seeking new members and audiences, and commissioning and performing new works. lsc.org.uk

Tenors

Paul Allatt

Erik Azzopardi

Joaquim Badia

Paul Beecham

Philipp Boeing

James David

Michael Delany

Colin Dunn

Matthew Fernando

Simon Goldman

Rajiv Guha

Michael Harman

Jude Lenier

John Marks

Alastair Mathews

Matthew McCabe

Diego Richardson Nishikuni

Chris Riley

Peter Sedgwick

Chris Straw

Richard Street

Malcolm Taylor

James Warbis

Robert Ward

Basses

Aitor Almaraz

Roger Blitz

Matthew Clarke

Harry Clarke

Robert Garbolinski

John Graham

Bryan Hammersley

Owen Hanmer

Robert Hare

Rocky Hirst

Douglas Jones

Hugh McLeod

Jesus Sanchez Sanzo

Richard Tannenbaum

Daniel Thompson

Robin Thurston

Jez Wareing

Anthony Wilder

Simon Backhouse