We were delighted to perform Bach's glorious Baroque Masterpiece, the Christmas Oratorio, with the Lawes Baroque Orchestra, in the beautiful setting of St Peter's Church, Hammersmith. 

Rebecca Lea, Soprano
Eleanor Minney, Mezzo Soprano
Christopher Bowen, Tenor
Jimmy Holliday, Bass

We were thrilled to take part in the City of Derry International Choir Festival in October 2017, placing third place in the international competition.

Thanks to Lorcan Doherty for the beautiful photographs.

As part of our ongoing project to record the first album dedicated exclusively to the choral music of emerging Swedish composer Mårten Jansson, we were delighted to perform an evening of Swedish music on 2 March 2017.

We were warmly hosted by the choir of the Swedish Church in Marylebone, performing some joint pieces together including Gloria from Jansson's Missa Popularis.  

We also performed a selection of his compositions that we will be recording, including the premiere of Triptyk, a set of three spiritual songs set to texts by Kerstin Dillmar.  Thank you to everyone who came along to listen and to Mårten himself for joining us and sharing some of the stories behind his music.

We were thrilled to perform a selection of our favourite festive music at a truly unique venue this Christmas - the stunning London Museum of Water and Steam.  Our programme included:​

• O Magnum Mysterium, Francis Poulenc
• Coventry Carol, arr, Francis Grier
• The Boar's Head Carol, arr. Elizabeth Poston
• Vox dicentis: Cluna, E.W Naylor

See some of the highlights below:

Back in 2014, Chantage teamed up with the Aurora Orchestra to perform the world premiere of MELD, by Benedict Mason at the BBC Proms.  Written specifically for the Royal Albert Hall, the performers used the entire space during the piece - and it was filmed with multiple cameras positioned around the hall.

Released this week, and available online until 4 July 2016, you can view the complete performance here:

Chantage gave the UK premiere of Mårten Jansson’s 'Missa Popularis' in celebration of the Patronal Festival for St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street, on Sunday 21 May 2016.

Joined by a string ensemble made up of members of the Orchestra of the City, Chantage was honoured by the presence of the composer at the special performance.

Tickets are now on sale for the second of Chantage's Shakespeare-themed performances.  Chantage are delighted to be performing with the Salomon Orchestra, widely described as London’s finest non-professional symphony orchestra.

Conducted by Graham Ross. Narrator: Sir Timothy Ackroyd. Chorus: Chantage.

– Tchaikovsky – Fantasy Overture ‘Hamlet’
– Vaughan Williams – Three Shakespeare Songs (conducted by James Davey)
– Delius – Walk To The Paradise Garden
– Walton – Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario (Christopher Palmer arrangement)

Over the last four and a half centuries, William Shakespeare’s work has inspired poets, artists and composers across the globe.

In commemoration of his death in 1616, Chantage showcased settings to music of Shakespeare’s haunting and poignant poetry at St James' Piccadilly..  The concert featured, amongst other works, the Songs of Ariel by Swiss composer Frank Martin, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Three Shakespeare Songs and Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s Four Shakespeare Songs.

Chantage was joined by Slingshot Theatre, performing scenes from Shakespeare's plays. 

​
Miranda is a character in Shakespeare's play The Tempest, first performed around 1611. The play features a song by the character Ariel; this passage has been set to music many times and Chantage will be singing some of those settings. It is more commonly known as ‘Full Fathom Five.
 
“Full fathom five thy father lies;

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes;

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change
 into something rich and strange.
 Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: 
Ding-dong.

Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell”
 from ‘Ariel’s song’ The Tempest Act 1, Scene ii
​

Chantage are delighted to announce they will be joined by Christopher Hawes and Sarah Mardel from Slingshot Theatre, who will be performing excerpts from Shakespeare's works, at our next concert on 23 April 2016.  

About Slingshot Theatre
 
Slingshot exist to make people laugh, to make people think and to engage people in the unique wonder of live theatre. We champion the use of half-mask, celebrate the surreal and are very ordered in our creation of anarchy.

A reviewer writing about our first show Zanniskinheads described it as “like watching two delinquent children playing and fantasising”. He meant it as a criticism but we wear it as a badge. Theatre is play. In Shakespeare’s day actors weren’t called actors, they were called ‘players’. We go to watch a ‘play’. We sit in a building and imagine that what we are seeing is real. We imagine and we dream. 

Find out more about Slingshot Theatre on their website.