The English Arts Chorale 2007-8

Artistic Director: Leslie Olive

The English Arts Chorale is an ambitious, enthusiastic choir which aims to enjoy its music-making by achieving the very highest artistic standards. In its 27-year history, under its founder conductor Leslie Olive it has performed with distinguished orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, appearing at the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Snape Maltings, St Albans Town Hall, Fairfield Hall, and the cathedrals of St Edmundsbury, Manchester, Peterborough, Lichfield, Wells, Guildford, Chichester, Ely, Southwark, and Rochester as well as churches and regional concert halls too numerous to mention. It has toured to Paris, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. It has performed some less familiar repertoire such as Vaughan Williams' A Pilgrim's Progress, as well as routinely performing the Fauré, Mozart, and Verdi Requiems entirely from memory. In 1993 it gave birth to Reigate Summer Music Festival, where it performed all three of Elgar's major repertoire oratorios - The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles, and The Kingdom - within a week.The English Arts Chorale has broadcast on numerous occasions for BBC radio, and has worked with conductors including Klaus Tennstedt, Sir Roger Norrington, and Brian Kay.

The Chorale is constantly on the look-out for new singers in all sections, and our busy 2007-8 Season is no exception. If you share our passion, come and join us! Our aspiration can be summed up in a few words. We aim: