West London Chorus to Hold Come & Sing Event

Take part in a performance of Rutter's Gloria

Hilary Campell conducting West London Chorus. Picture: West London Chorus

February 16, 2025

West London Chorus is offering the opportunity for an afternoon of music, learning and fun at a Come and Sing event.

Led by the choir’s musical director Hilary Campbell at St. Peter’s Church on Black Lion Lane on Saturday 1 March, you will learn the piece and then participate in an informal performance later in the day.

Previous participant Anthony said, "Come and Sing events with Hilary are a lot of fun - but also very constructive and informative".

Timetable
1pm                 Arrival/Registration
1.30pm            Session One
3.30pm            Tea and cake
4pm                 Session Two
5.15pm            Informal performance to friends 
5.30pm            END

Tickets cost £20 plus booking fee and can be purchased online.

The following month the West London Chorus Concert will feature a performance of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle under the direction of Hilary Campbell.

It is taking place at 7:30pm on Saturday 5 April at St Michel & all Angels, Bath Road Chiswick (W4 1TT).

Having finished writing his many operas thirty years previously, Rossini came out of a comfortable retirement to write this work, which he self-deprecatingly referred to as his ‘poor little mass’ – one of his ‘sins of old age‘, as he called his later works. Despite that, the work was well received.

The work will be performed with the original Rossini accompaniment of two pianos and a Harmonium. 

Ticket prices range from £7-£20 and they can be purchased online.

The original Chiswick Choir was founded in 1976 in W4 by John Thackray, a passionate musician who served as conductor for many London choirs. Between 1984 and 2015 the choir was conducted by Alistair Jones and since January 2016 the choir has been under the direction of award-winning composer and conductor Hilary Campbell. In 2021 the choir changed its name to the West London Chorus to reflect its wider reach and appeal.

Over the course of its career the Choir has built a repertoire principally based on the European tradition from the 16th to 20th centuries. The choir has also performed more contemporary pieces, including the world premiere of Alistair Jones’s Stabat Mater in 2006, Will Todd’s Mass In Blue and works by Bob Chilcott and others.

The choir’s repertoire includes most of the major works suited to a group of its size – the Bach Passions, Mass in B minor, oratorios by Handel, works by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, Verdi’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and so on. Excursions into the 20th century have included performances of Britten’s Saint Nicolas, Tippet’s A Child of Our Time and Stravinsky’s A Symphony of Psalms.

It always welcomes new members, and more information is available on its web site.

The choir also offers a limited number of vocal scholarships each year to nurture the skills and experience of talented singers between the ages of 18 and 30.