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The Edinburgh Festival Chorus
About the Festival
The much acclaimed Edinburgh Festival Chorus is a group of talented amateur singers, admittance is by audition. The singers practise weekly throughout the year in preparation for several concerts given during the Festival itself. Each year the Chorus perform with major international conductors, orchestras and soloists.
In 2008 the Festival Chorus performed The Opening Concert for Festival 08 Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Handel's Israel in Egypt, Le Roi David by Honegger and Sir Michael Tippett's A Child of our Time.
' this performance belonged to the Edinburgh Festival Chorus'.
Le Roi David (The Guardian)
If you would like information on how to join the Festival Chorus, please contact Chorus Administrator, Helen MacLeod on 0131 473 2027, email chorus@eif.co.uk or write to:-
Helen Macleod
Chorus Administrator
Edinburgh International Festival
The Hub
Castlehill
Edinburgh
EH1 2NE
Christopher Bell, Chorus Master
Belfast born, Edinburgh based Christopher Bell is currently Chorus Director of the Grant Park Chorus, Chicago, USA, Chorus Master of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus and of the Belfast Philharmonic Choir, and Artistic Director of Children's Classic Concerts. He was largely responsible for the formation of the National Youth Choir of Scotland in 1996 and has been its Artistic Director since then.
The Chorus has performed with world renowned conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti, Michael Gielen, Sir Charles Mackerras, Carlo Rizzi, John Eliot Gardiner and Esa-Pekka Salonen. It has performed works including Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, Messiaen's St Francois d'Assise, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Berlioz's The Trojans and Verdi's Macbeth. It has toured to Salzburg, Berlin, Cologne, Paris and the London Proms and has recorded Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, Zimmermann's Requiem for a Young Poet, Beethoven's Fidelio, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Mozart's Idomeneo.
'The Festival Chorus sang with a terrific torn beauty' The Sunday Times
40th Anniversay Commemorative Brochure
The Edinburgh Festival Chorus celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2005. A commemorative brochure on the history of the Chorus was produced to mark the occasion. Copies are available from Kathy Crawford at kathy@crawfordnb.co.uk or from the Hub Box Office.
