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. 

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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
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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.

Chantage shared the stage at the Holy Redeemer, Exmouth Market with The Fourth Choir for a joint performance the day after the UK elections.  The choirs performed several joint numbers, including Faire is the Heaven for double choir, by William Harris. Chantage performed songs from their recent Album 'My Promise', and selections from Frank Martin Mass for double choir.

Chantage is delighted with all the amazing feedback and reviews for our first Prom on Saturday 16 August 2014! 5 stars in the Times, 4 stars in the Guardian, Telegraph and Independent, as well as a huge number of positive tweets and comments.  Thanks to everyone who gave their feedback - here's just a sample:

• The Guardian - "...the result was every bit as strange and beautiful as one could hope..."
• The Independent - "Exciting in performance"
• The Telegraph - "Breathtaking"
• Classical Source - "Chantage, a chamber choir of formidable skill under the direction of James Davey..."
• Bachtrack "an eclectic performance which came together like a dream"
• The Space - "an ever-changing, astonishing feat of memory and physical fitness"

Chantage were invited to record at Abbey Road Studios with indie band, Elbow, in a live performance/recording of their Mercury Music Prize winning album, The Seldom Seen Kid. The recording was also broadcast on BBC Radio 2.

Over 1 million views were recorded from people pressing their Red Button or going online to watch the unique performance Elbow gave with Chantage and the BBC Concert Orchestra, making it the most popular music session ever shown on the BBC's Red Button.

Lewis Carnie, Head of Programmes for Radio 2 and 6 Music said:
"I'm delighted that so many Radio 2 listeners accessed one of the finest live performances we have ever recorded for Radio 2"