Got to find me a choir...

June 24, 2009 8:38 AM

Choralfilter: I want to sing in a choir in London. Have you/do you sing in a London choir, and is it for me?

I want to sing in a choir in London, but I don't want to only sing traditional music. Not that I have a problem with classical choral pieces, in fact I love them, but I want a bit of variety, even current music.

I've googled, but the only things I find are the big ones, where you have to pay an extortionate amount to join, not to mention audition. There are plenty of gospel choirs too but that mostly turns me off as I find there is often a heavily religious element to those which I'd prefer to avoid.

So, the moon on a stick please. Mefites, what can you suggest?

posted by greenish to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Do you have even a tenuous connection to any of the University of London's colleges? I know that several of their college student musical groups accept a certain proportion of non-student members. I was informally invited to join a couple at King's College, where I've never studied. You *might* need to have some past connection to the UoL for this, but I honestly don't know.

Alternatively, I've heard the Bart's Choir sing a few times and they're pretty good. I get the impression that they're mostly medical students and staff from Bart's hospital, but their website says that anyone can join. And great for you, their "links" page (in a frame so I can't link directly) has a list of links to "other choirs Barts members belong to".

Finally, I sang with Ferrier Operatic for a short while. They're a friendly bunch, and seem to alternate between (semi?)staged productions and straight concerts. For their typical repertoire, think along the lines of Sondheim and Gilbert & Sullivan.
posted by metaBugs at 9:09 AM on June 24, 2009

I sing with the South London Choir down in Balham. It's non-audition, £20/month (though MJ, the conductor, is very understanding if people can't pay for any reason), and does a whole range of music including the occasional classical, some gospel, a bit of jazz, and also music written specially for the choir as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.

It's a community choir, so we do occasional outreach concerts at old people's homes, etc, and this also means it's a great place to find plumbers, electricians, etc, if you need them!
posted by mjewell at 9:18 AM on June 24, 2009

Possibly too specialised for your requirements, but the London Bulgarian Choir are very good (I went to a concert a few weeks ago) and don't seem too expensive to join.
posted by amestoy at 12:45 PM on June 24, 2009

Best answer: I used to sing with a punk choir in Bethnal Green last year: Hackney Secular Singers - our show-stopper was 'Ever fallen in love with someone' witnesssed by the likes of Alain de Botton and Tom Hodgkinson no less at a School for Life gig. They're a fairly small group of very lovely people and meet on Mondays at St John's Hall opposite the Tube Station. It's all pretty informal but they're good singers and it's fun to make up arrangements together. Cost is a split of the room hire, about £2.50 each.

I'm determined to rejoin once exams are done in Oct...
posted by freya_lamb at 1:54 PM on June 24, 2009