Chantage at 25

2024 marks 25 years of Chantage! 

Performance highlights

2006: winners of BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year
​2009: Recorded live with Elbow at Abbey Road Studios 
2011: Performed with the Swingle Singers
2012: Performed with Paco Pena at the Royal Festival Hall
2014: Performed at the BBC Proms
2015: Winners of the Grand Prix at the Malta International Choir Festival.
2018: Host choir for the first London International Choral Conducting Competition

Choir memories

​"2006, the adult finals of Choir of the Year. The acoustic in the Millennium Centre was incredibly dry. We’d rehearsed in dry acoustics, but nothing like this. One of the works we were singing was "A boy and a girl", by Eric Whitaker. It was a glorious piece, with lingering phrases and plenty of silences - neither of which would work in the bone dry hall. 

I remember Jim getting us to change the consonants, teaching us all to sing ‘wet’ consonants, a longer S, a more breathy T, and so on. The effect was remarkable. It gave the impression we were singing in a church, as if the acoustic had changed completely. The audience was spellbound. It’s something that has never left me. Of course, winning the competition helped!"
- James Simpson (former Chantage singer)
​"I can probably make a claim to having clocked up the highest number of miles travelling to and from Chantage over the last 22 years. There are some times when I’ll be getting on the train up to London at the end of a work day, and I’ll be asking myself if it’s actually worth it. But then I’ll get to the rehearsal, and after a few minutes of singing with some wonderful people, I’ll feel my mood lift completely, and I’ll be more upbeat for the rest of the week. It’s got me through some fairly dark times in my life, and I’ll always be grateful for that."
- Toby Armstrong (current Chantage singer)


"Chantage testimony! I first joined chantage a few weeks before a choral competition in Malta. It was exciting repertoire to get stuck into and I love to travel. Great bunch of people, high level of singing and a fun social life!"
- William Howard (current Chantage singer)
"I love the fact that you might not have sung with Chantage for about five years or two kids or a job move later, but nobody seems to notice because it’s about the music, and is as if you never left. New members just slot in and are welcomed with open arms. It’s a melting pot of very interesting people, who manage to channel themselves into a stunningly blended sound soup. With some silly banter! 

​Chantage and Wednesday night at St Dunstan's has been the only true constant in the last 25 years. Whether I have been a member or not, it’s a comfort to know it is there. Big memories are joining in 2006, and going from not singing much after leaving university, to joining Chantage and winning choir of the year! I burst into tears when we won. Chantage singing at my wedding, and some members singing at my mother’s funeral, elevated the proceedings beyond words. Performing with The Swingles when I was 8 months pregnant was another highlight and singing with Eric Whitacre at the ABCD was a bucket list goal too. Chantage is a family."
- Lucilla Fermi (current Chantage singer)
"It was Christmas 2004. A small group of us were due to sing at Somerset House for a private event. The night before had been a Chantage party where much merriment was had and a few drinks consumed. I left with Jim and reminded him that we needed to meet everyone at Somerset House at 10am to sing in said performance. We went our separate ways with Jim promising to be on time. I lived about an hour away and left on time to get there. En route I texted and called Jim to make sure he was on his way. He had all the music. He didn’t answer my calls or reply to my messages. As I got closer I had still not heard from him. I feared the worst that he had overslept and indeed he had. I met the other 3 singers and we had no music and no conductor. As it was a simple 4 part Christmas Carol kind of gig and there were just 4 of us we had to think on our feet. Now bearing in mind mobile phones didn’t have internet connection at this point we were limited with our options. Fortunately the marvellous Dr (now Professor) Sanjay Manohar had a PDA devise and he was able to look up the lyrics to some carols for us. We huddled around the devise and made up the harmonies for a dozen or so carols before a sheepish looking Jim turned up. We finished the performance and I think we just about got away with it!

I also have fond memories of our tour to Normandy in September 2005. Sanjay drinking wine from a flower vase, James Simpson cooking a roast dinner for approximately 30 singers across several different kitchens in the chateau. Managing to navigate 3 mini busses from London to Normandy before the days of sat nav. (I’d printed the directions out!) Coming home with approximately 20 bottle of wine because it was so cheap, the ferry crossing where everyone won a prize for something they had done that week and getting all the way back to a service station just outside of London when someone (I won’t say who) accidentally put petrol in the diesel tank of the mini bus and then needed to call he AA to take it back to the rental company!

We did some pretty stonking singing over the years - Choir of the Year a few times and then our momentous win in 2006. Such wonderful memories with some amazing people. Totally makes me the person I am today and has allowed me to continue to sing and now run my own choir in Sussex. I will always remember those special Chantage days and friends I have made. I am so delighted to be able to come back for the 25th Anniversary. If I lived closer I would be back every week!"
- Laura Dobson (former Chantage singer)
"I joined Chantage in January 2023 and have koved singing with such a wonderful bunch of people and getting to perform some amazing music. Highlights have included our christmas gigs (complete with festive hats, jumpers, and singalongs) and our Rachmaninov Vespers concert by candlelight. The choir is so welcoming and friendly while simultaneously making music at a really high standard. Wednesday mid week rehearsals always a highlight of my working week!"
​- Lottie (current Chantage singer)
"I love Chantage because the calibre is really high but there isn’t the pressure or intensity you find with some of the other London choirs of a similar level. Much of this is because of Jim who gives his time and love so generously to the choir but does not demand more of each member than they are able to give amidst busy work and family lives. This means there is such a happy atmosphere in which you’re able to sing a huge variety of music across masses of concerts and tours each year but it still feels fun and relaxing. 

Best memory has to be the Malta festival. I couldn’t sing because I was living in Athens at the time but I came to support and film bits of the competition. The choir smashed the choreography out the bag, drawing in massive crowds when we performed in the open air! And also won!! 

Also singing at the airport at crack of dawn to the surprise (and delight?!) of the other passengers and crew when our flight was delayed by several hours on our way to the Derry festival.  And I've loved the many weddings of various members of the choir we have sung at and celebrated."
- Alice Hunter-Johnson
Thank you to In this Room for our 25th anniversary artwork and to NightOwl for our multimedia production.