London Boy Singers

London Boy Singers
Origin London, England
Genres classical
Years active 1961 (1961)–unknown
Associated acts Finchley Children's Music Group

The London Boy Singers was an English boys' choir which formed in 1961.[1] It initially drew its members from the Finchley Children's Music Group. The choir was started at the suggestion of Benjamin Britten, who was its first president.[2]

In the beginning the choir was run by a group of three adults: John Andrewes, who also led the Finchley Children's Music Group, Rosamund Strode, a musician, singer and later assistant to Britten, and Jonathan Steele,[3] deputy to George Malcolm at Westminster Cathedral. Jonathan Steele soon became the conductor and leader of the London Boy Singers.

The choir sang at the Aldeburgh Festival on a number of occasions. It sang in Westminster Abbey in the first London performance of Britten's War Requiem in 1962. The group performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1964 and 1974.[4][5]

Many of its singers took part in other events, including working with the Royal Opera House (including Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'[6]' and the premiere of Aston's ballet 'The Dream',[7] both in 1964), Covent Garden, the English Opera Group (including a tour of the USSR in 1964) and many individual operas and other engagements.

The choir sang on a record of Christmas Music for HMV, released in 1965.[8] It also recorded an EP of songs with the London Jazz Quartet which featured on Juke Box Jury.

Britten wrote 12 Apostles: Choral Octavo and [9] The Bitter Withy for the choir[10] and his arrangement of King Herod and the Cock was dedicated to it.[11] In 1966, Britten severed his relationship with the group. Jonathan Steele remained its director into the 1970s. The choir no longer exists.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Britten-Pears Foundation - London Boy Singers Association". Brittenpears.org. 1962-06-16. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  2. ↑ International Brewers' Journal. W. Reed. 1963. p. 685. The London Boy Singers formed in 1961 under the presidency of Benjamin Britten to carry out a programme of training and performance, has received a grant from Watney Mann.
  3. ↑ "Sixteen Boy Singers With A Problem - from the Catholic Herald Archive". Archive.catholicherald.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/1970s/1974/august-17/8625
  5. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/1960s/1964/august-10/7535
  6. ↑ http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?page=0&performance=14862&row=7
  7. ↑ http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=11736&row=0
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxpwTqQajmLEq1GSVb7DgKQ
  9. ↑ Britten, Benjamin (1998). 12 Apostles: Choral Octavo. Faber Edition Series. Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571505951. Scored for solo voice, unison chorus and piano, The Twelve Apostles was written for Peter Pears and the London Boy Singers.
  10. ↑ Brett, P. and Doctor, J.R. and Haggerty, G.E. and McClary, S. (2006). Music and Sexuality in Britten: Selected Essays. California Princeton Fulfillment Services. ISBN 9780520939127. [...] the ambitious but incomplete cantata, The Bitter Withy, intended for the London Boy Singers for whom two other settings were completed.
  11. ↑ Ford, B. (1996). Benjamin Britten's poets: the poetry he set to music. Carcanet. p. 226. LCCN 95127026. King Herod and the cock (1962) Britten's arrangement of this folksong for unison voices and piano was dedicated 'For the London Boy Singers'.
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