Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields

Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Name	Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Founded	1920s
Genre	Classical music, Choral music, Sacred music

Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields is a professional parish choir associated with St Martin-in-the-Fields, a Church of England parish in Trafalgar Square, London. The choir has been linked to liturgical life at the church and concert presentation in venues across London, the United Kingdom, and internationally, engaging with ensembles, soloists, and institutions connected to Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms, Southbank Centre, and cathedral foundations such as Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. Its activities intersect with broadcasters like the BBC and labels including EMI Classics, Decca Records, and Hyperion Records.

History

The choir's origins trace to choral foundations in the early 20th century within City of Westminster parish practice and the post-World War I revival of Anglican musical life involving figures associated with Royal College of Music and King's College, Cambridge. Throughout the 20th century the choir worked alongside organists and directors active in movements related to Victorian choral revival, English cathedral music, and liturgical reforms connected to Church Assembly deliberations and the liturgical scholarship of Dom Gregory Murray and Percy Dearmer. During the mid-20th century the choir took part in citywide projects with institutions such as London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, while engaging with civic occasions at Buckingham Palace and ecumenical services attended by delegations from Anglican Communion provinces and diplomatic missions in Whitehall.

Choir and Musical Tradition

Rooted in Anglican choral tradition alongside practices exemplified by King's College Choir, Cambridge, St John's College, Cambridge, Christ Church, Oxford, and Westminster Cathedral Choir School, the ensemble maintains treble, alto, tenor, and bass voices drawn from professional singers and choral scholars with connections to conservatoires such as Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. Its liturgical repertoire reflects settings by composers in the English Music Festival lineage including Herbert Howells, Edward Elgar, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and contemporaries like John Rutter and Benjamin Britten. The choir's practice also engages repertoire associated with continental traditions represented by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Repertoire and Recordings

The choir's discography and broadcast history include recordings of Canticles, Service settings, and oratorios by composers tied to Anglican and wider sacred repertoires such as Henry Purcell, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, and Antonín Dvořák. Collaborations have produced releases on Decca Records, EMI Classics, Hyperion Records, Chandos Records, Naxos Records, and independent labels, and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Festival appearances and studio projects have covered music from Gregorian chant repertory to modern commissions by composers like Arvo Pärt, Sir James MacMillan, Tarik O'Regan, Judith Weir, and Olga Neuwirth.

Notable Members and Directors

Directors and organists associated with the choir have included musicians trained at Oxford University, Cambridge University, and institutions such as Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Royal Academy of Music, many of whom later held posts at Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, and university chapels including Trinity College, Cambridge. Singers who spent formative years in the choir have gone on to careers with ensembles such as The Sixteen, Monteverdi Choir, BBC Singers, King's Singers, Tenebrae Choir, The Tallis Scholars, and orchestras including London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. The choir's leadership has worked with conductors and figures like Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Marin Alsop, and Nicholas McGegan on joint projects.

Performances and Tours

The ensemble's concert activity has included regular services at St Martin-in-the-Fields and concert seasons in venues such as Cadogan Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, and international stages in cities like New York City, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Tokyo, and Sydney. Tours and festival appearances have connected the choir with events including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Salzburg Festival, and ecumenical gatherings tied to World Council of Churches forums and diocesan conferences. Collaborative projects have paired the choir with ensembles such as Academy of St Martin in the Fields, English National Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and chamber groups associated with the Baroque movement and early-music specialists.

Education and Outreach

The choir's educational remit includes choral training initiatives modeled on programs at Cathedral Choir Schools and youth schemes similar to those run by Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and College of St. Martin's traditions, offering workshops in partnership with institutions like Royal Schools of Music and community projects supported by Arts Council England. Outreach has targeted audiences through school residencies in Greater London, singing workshops at Southbank Centre and Barbican Centre, and participatory concerts tied to charitable partners such as Crisis, The Samaritans, and heritage organisations including English Heritage.

Category:Church choirs Category:British choirs