Cantanti Camerati
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Extracts from review of a summer concert
“Cantanti Camerati delighted their audience with a varied programme of songs across the centuries…..” “The choir sang [madrigals from ‘The Triumphs of Oriana’] in a celebration of Elizabeth II’s 90th year – ‘Long live fair Oriana’.” Of a Stanford partsong, “The choir created ‘sound pictures’….with a moving climax…” Of Vaughan Williams’ Three Shakespeare Songs, “the atmospheric piece, Full Fathom Five….a demanding piece for singers, beautifully sung by the choir.” “…captivated by such a beautifully put together summer concert.” “Please come and sing for us again!” |
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Cantanti Camerati is a chamber choir that specialises in performing unaccompanied English music. We are also known for the wide range of music that we tackle - from band-accompanied Broadway shows to opera excerpts. The choir was formed in 1968, is based in Richmond-upon-Thames and rehearses on Thursday evenings at St James's Church, St James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ.
NEXT CONCERT DATE Saturday 18th December 2021 Christmas Concert at 7.30pm at St Mary's Church, Twickenham Click here for details
Conductor - Seb Gillot BA (Cantab), FRCO
News - It was wonderful to welcome a few new singers at our open rehearsal on Thursday evening as well as almost the complete choir - our best attended rehearsal in almost two years. We will happily welcome new singers at other times so if you are interested in coming along to a rehearsal and seeing what we do then let us know! We are very friendly and welcoming and we sound good too.
- Seb made his debut concert with Cantanti Camerati at our Golden Anniversary Concert. We look forward to many more enjoyable rehearsals and concerts with him.
In a normal year (!), we perform at least four public concerts both in the London Borough of Richmond, and further afield, for example in St. James’ Church, Piccadilly. Our secular concerts have had themes of "Shakespeare in Song", "The Flowers appear on the Earth" and "Pictures at an Exhibition", utilising venues such as the beautiful Victorian Normansfield Theatre, and the arts venue at The Exchange, among others. Our concerts of sacred music have been performed at St Anne's Church, Kew Green, St James's Church, Hampton Hill and St Mary's Church, Twickenham.
To celebrate the choir's 50th Anniversary in 2018, we enjoyed a bumper musical trip down memory lane to a packed church. Other years have provided opportunities to sing a Summer Soirée, or to support local events.
Our Christmas concerts with organ, while traditional at heart, are exciting affairs, often including string or brass quartet, handbells, hurdy-gurdy, and a peal of tower bells in the hour before the concert, as well as audience participation in carols. Many of our concerts have been given to support charitable causes.
The choir maintains links with choirs in Fontainebleau in France, and Konstanz in southern Germany. In addition, in October 2009 a sizeable group from the choir visited Sierra Leone in order to encourage the re-establishment of musical education in the Freetown area following the ending of the civil war. In the months leading up to that visit, the choir ran a donation scheme for second-hand musical instruments, receiving an overwhelmingly generous response, and were able to provide over 200 musical instruments and stacks of sheet music.
New members are welcome to join the choir, and when space permits, entry to full membership is after a formal audition; members are expected to be able to make a regular commitment, in order that standards may be maintained. There is, of course, a membership fee but we believe that it is more modest than that for many choirs. We have reduced terms for students and those on low incomes.
Contact Information
Anne Gooding
Chairman