One of London’s leading chamber choirs, The Purcell Singers was formed in 1994 by conductor and organist Mark Ford. The choir’s President is Sarah Walker CBE.
Our repertoire is wide, ranging from Gibbons to Tavener, via Bach, Howells, Poulenc, Barber and Britten, and we have developed a particular reputation for championing unusual late romantic works, notably those of the German composer Georg Schumann.
Our charitable objectives are to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in and appreciation of the art and science of choral music in all its aspects, by the presentation of public concerts and recitals and, if possible, by the making of recordings; and other solely charitable objects as defined by The Charities Act 2006, or any subsequent Act as determined from time to time by the Trustees of The Purcell Singers and delivered for the public benefit.
We have performed extensively in London venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, St. Martin-inthe-Fields, St. James’s Piccadilly, and Southwark and St. Paul’s Cathedrals. We have also travelled extensively within the UK and Europe, including tours to France, Germany and Italy. We have participated in a number of festivals, including the Brighton, Hurst and Howden Festivals; the Brandenburg Choral Festival; and the Langen Festival in Frankfurt. We have been awarded ‘Best Classical Performance’ at the Brighton Festival.
The choir has so far recorded four classical albums, including two première discs of works by Georg Schumann, the first of which was Gramophone Magazine’s Critics’ Choice, and the second also described as a “hugely impressive disc” (Gramophone). Our recordings have been frequently broadcast on the radio, and we have appeared on television. We are also active in session work, and can be heard on the cast album of Mary Poppins (the original West End production).
We have recorded several discs for film and television at Angel Studios, as well as numerous film trailers at Abbey Road and Air Studios. You may recognise some of these tracks from the trailers for films such as King Kong, War of the Worlds, The Island, The Da Vinci Code, and Spider-man 3. We also recorded Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for Madagascar 2 and some numbers for the West End production of Flashdance – The Musical.
