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Girls Choir Biography
The Southend Girls’ Choir was founded in 1988, and has since built an enviable reputation across the South East and further afield.
The choir has broadcast on television and radio, and performs regularly at the Royal Albert Hall, St Martin in the Fields and the Purcell Room. The choir undertakes regular concert tours, and has performed in the Sydney Opera House and for the Australian Broadcasting Company, as part of a three week tour of Australia, in Canada and the US, Seychelles, France, Germany and across the UK.
The choir recently performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Worchester. Sir David Willcocks is the choir’s president, and takes an active interest in the Southend Girls' Choir and the choir has worked with Sir David, in addition to working with eminent conductors and arrangers including Bob Chilcott and John Rutter. The choir has commissioned works by Bob Chilcott, Debbie Wiseman and Ian Hughes, and has given many premiere performances of works written for them.
The Southend Girls’ Choir holds the world record, as verified by the Guinness Book of Records, for performing a concert at the highest altitude in aeroplane, above the northern coast of Australia. The choir gave a 45 minute recital at a height of 36,000 feet, thus becoming the world record holders for such an event.
The two choirs join together for a number of concerts each year, when senior members of both choirs work on specialised repertoire.
The choirs made a recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000, have performed at the Royal Albert Hall for the past 3 years, and in 2000 made a commercial CD entitled Angelis – Voices of Angels, which received major coverage on national radio stations.
The Choir performs at major venues across the country, and can be heard regularly singing at Royal Albert Hall, St Martin in the Fields, St James Piccadilly, St Mary Woolnoth in addition to performances in major venues in Europe, US and Australia. Their repertoire is wide and varied, and
Their diversity shows them recording backing vocals for pop songs for Warner Bros, performing in the Crypt of the House of Commons, and singing at the launch of the liner “Millennium” in Southampton.
Jointly the choirs perform for Music Clubs and festivals around the country, and have raised many thousands of pounds for charities.
They have performed in the BBC Proms Concerts in recent years, including singing in the Royal Prom in 2006 for 80th birthday of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, and have also taken part as one of 4 invited choirs to perform at the Gala Concert for the annual conference of the Association of British Choral Directors in Lincoln Cathedral.
The choir makes annual concert tours each year, and recent tours have included singing in St Mark's Venice, Barcelona Cathedral, Milan Cathedral and Florence Duomo. In 2008 they performed with the Southend Boys' Choir in the Sydney Opera House.
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Both choirs are supported by Southend Borough Council.
What people have said about the Southend Girls' Choir ….
'The Southend Girls' Choir is simply the best youth choir around for all sorts of music.'Ian Hughes, composer, director & arranger
'… a wonderful positive bright sound, musically shaped and always with clear words … 'Jasper Thorogood, Director of Music, Felsted School
'The Southend Girls' Choir has a perfect combination of subtlety, energy and character …'Jim Papoulis, composer, director & producer (New York)
Sydney Opera House, Australia - 1998
For more information on the Southend Girls Choir, please contact:
Musical Director - Southend Girls Choir
PO Box 6
Civic Centre
Victoria Avenue
Southend-on-Sea
Essex
SS2 6ER
Tel. 01702 215623
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Both Choirs have had recitals in such prestigious Venues as:
Ely Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral
Hereford Cathedral
Twekesbury Abbey
Edinburgh Cathedral
Dunblane Cathedral
Truro Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Hexagon Centre, Reading
The Anvil, Basingstoke
St David's Hall, Cardiff
St Martin in the Fields, London
Royal Festival Hall
Purcell Room
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Royal Albert Hall
Barbican
Disneyland Paris
Sydney Opera House
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Cathedrals and major Churches in -
Canada, Australia, Seychelles, France, Italy, Germany
Choirs and Youth Groups Hosted include:
Adelaide Girls' Choir
Frankfurt International School Choir
Medicine Hat Choir (Canada)
Ottawa Children's Choir
Montreal Children's Choir
San Diego Children's Choir
Sopot Secondary School students
Quebec Children's Choir
Allington College (Sydney)
Australian Girls' Choir
Choir Tours
1995 - Southend Girls' Choir - Frankfurt, Germany
1995 - Southend Girls' Choir - Seychelles
1998 - Southend Girls' Choir - Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane - Australia
2000 - Southend Girls' Choir - Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara - Canada
2002 - Southend Girls' Choir - Nice, Monaco, Paris - France
2003 - Southend Girls' Choir - Venice, Milan, Paris
2004 - Southend Girls' and Boys' Choirs - New York, Chicago, Cleveland
2005 - Southend Girls' Choir - Florence and Paris
2006 - Southend Girls' and Boys' Choirs - Florida
2007 - Southend Girls' Choir - Barcelona and Paris
2008 - Southend Girls' and Boys' Choirs - Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and Singapore
2009 - Southend Girls' Choir - Lake Garda and Venice and Paris
2010 - Southend Girls' and Boys' Choirs - San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco
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