Saturday 2nd July 2022 at 7pm
St Anne’s Limehouse
Victoria Park Singers conducted by Hannah Brine
The Dionysus Ensemble
Jonathan Williams organist
Jenny Bacon soprano
Tom Risdale baritone
Please ensure your phone and any other electronic devices are switched to silent. Enjoy the concert!
Programme
Earth Prayer Hannah Brine
To Be Sung Of A Summer Night On The Water Frederick Delius
Sure On This Shining Night Morten Lauridsen
Requiem Gabriel Fauré
i. Introit and Kyrie
ii. Offertory
iii. Sanctus
iv. Pie Jesu
v. Libera me
vi. In Paradisum
Please stay after the concert to enjoy some refreshments
Victoria Park Singers
Victoria Park Singers is a thriving community choir formed by Hannah Brine in 2013. We are proud to have a no audition policy, yet are not afraid to tackle ambitious new choral works as well as music from the pop, gospel, folk and jazz genres. We have performed across London, including at the Union Chapel, Southbank Centre, St John at Hackney, Rich Mix and the the Museum of Childhood and since forming we have raised around £20,000 for charity. Ladies from our choir were lucky enough to perform as the opening act for the 2017 Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall with Gary Barlow & the cast of his musical The Girls, having performed the previous November at the Royal Variety Show. Choir members have also recently been spotted performing in the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall this summer (Prom 66: In the Name of the Earth) and on BT Sport, being ‘conducted’ by football legend Gary Lineker. In 2020 we graced the Barbican stage, together with the LSO orchestra and a massed choir to perform Andre Thomas’ Symphonic Gospel Spirit. Our Autumn term starts on Wednesday 21st September and new members are welcome.
Hannah Brine
Originally from Leicester, Hannah founded Finsbury Park Singers, Kensington Singers, Victoria Park Singers, High Peak Singers and the ITV office choir. She coached the choir for, and sang with, Gary Barlow for his 2016 Royal Variety performance and his 2017 Olivier Awards, for which he was the opening act, and also performed with Gary on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. Her session credits include Disney, Upstart Crow and various dance releases. She has taught at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, as well as studying on the Estill Voice Model Certified Master Teacher programme with Anne Marie Speed. She has an LRSM distinction in choral conducting, and in 2015 was named a BBC Unsung Hero for her work with Victoria Park Singers.
Hannah released her debut EP A Piece of My Heart in January 2022. Her work over lockdown has seen her tracks feature on new British radio soap opera Greenborne, starring John Altman (Eastenders’ Nasty Nick Cotton). She can also be found composing for choirs. Her Virtual choir piece Winter Lark, written during the 2020 pandemic, was premiered on Scala Radio, and Ray of Sunlight was performed earlier this year by the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Youth Choir. Her 2022 single You & I, recorded with Roger Shah and Ciaran McCauley, reached Number 1 of the worldwide Trance charts.
The Dionysus Ensemble
Robert Gibbs & Richard Smith – violins
Claire Newton – viola
Léonie Adams – cello
Alice Kent – double bass
A virtuosic chamber ensemble with a string quartet at its core, The Dionysus Ensemble is equally at home on the concert platform, playing for events in both formal and informal settings, as well as providing music education projects.
Recipient of a 2021 Royal Philharmonic Society Award, The Dionysus Ensemble was also selected by The British Council to represent the UK in their Australia Season in 2022.
Since 2013, the string team from The Dionysus Ensemble have run three not for profit interactive children’s concert series, and in 2018 were appointed the first ever professional musical ensemble to be officially attached to the Commonwealth – as Ensemble In Residence for accredited music organisation, The Commonwealth Resounds.
As part of TDE’s Commonwealth work, the ensemble have delivered a Music for Social Change outreach project in The Solomon Islands & are delivering an instrumental project bringing school children together as part of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival.
TDE were honoured to be selected to play at the Commonwealth Day service in 2019 which was broadcast live internationally from Westminster Abbey by the BBC, after which, founder & Artistic Director Léonie Adams was presented to The Queen and senior members of the Royal Family & Government at the request of The Palace.
Since then TDE have been invited to perform at private events for the Royal Commonwealth Society and at Marlborough House for Secretary-General Patricia Scotland including for the inaugural Commonwealth Day Heads of State Banquet in 2020.
In 2020, The Commonwealth Secretariat commissioned TDE to create an online Commonwealth musical video with performers from each member nation coming together during the pandemic – the United Commonwealth Covid Music Project.
The Dionysus Ensemble was commissioned by the Mayor of London in 2021 as part of his “Let’s Do London” campaign, to provide a series of interactive PopUp performances in central London & has delivered projects on poetry & music with vulnerable teenagers in Slough, a climate change music project for Jesuit Missions in three of their UK schools & a workshop & performance project with children & community groups for HOMESlough as part of the COP26 climate change summit.
TDE have also released a world premiere recording of newly discovered music by William Herschel to critical acclaim, as part of the bicentenary celebrations in 2022 for William Herschel.
Jenny Bacon – soprano
Jenny studied post-graduate singing at the Royal Academy of Music, London having read music as an undergraduate at Somerville College, Oxford. Jenny currently studies with Joy Mammen.
Jenny’s operatic roles include Rose Maurrant in Weill’s ‘Street Scene’ and the title role of Janáèek’s ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’. Oratorio performances include Haydn’s ‘Creation’, Rossini’s ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’ and Mozart’s ‘Requiem’.
Jenny is a regular soprano at The Guards Chapel and frequently works with The BBC Singers, Sonoro, RSVP Voices and Philharmonia Voices. Jenny has worked with composer Steve Reich worldwide performing ‘Music for 18’ and ‘Proverb’. She appeared in multiple performances with the Clod Ensemble at the Tate Modern in ‘The Silver Swan’ in 2012.
In 2009 she reached the semi-final of The Thelma King Award and the final of The Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition. She also performed Bach’s St Matthew Passion under Masaaki Suzuki as part of the prestigious Britten-Pears Young Artists programme. Jenny recorded a CD of solo folksongs Ae Fond Kiss in 2013.
Session work includes the Harry Potter soundtrack and the Robin Gibb Requiem. Concert highlights of recent years range from chorus for Mahler VIII Symphony of a Thousand at the Royal Festival Hall, vocals for 2001: A Space Odyssey in Shanghai and a concert performance of Goldie’s Timeless album. Jenny also featured as an on screen soloist in the documentary film Exhibition on Screen: Canaletto & the Art of Venice.
Tom Risdale – baritone
Our baritone soloist is our very own Tom Risdale. Tom lives and works in Hackney, and has been a member of Victoria Park Singers for 6 years. He is section leader for the basses. He has previously appeared as a Pit Man in Gary Clarkes production of Wasteland at The Place and is currently one of the choir voices appearing with ABBA in ABBA Voyage.
Jonathan Williams – organist
Jonathan Williams read music at the University of Cambridge, receiving a BA (Hons) and MPhil, before going to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Since then, he has worked as an actor, singer and musical director for numerous productions in the West End, the UK and Europe. He has been a musical director for the Royal Shakespeare Company and worked on its recent productions of The Shoemaker’s Holiday, Oppenheimer, Doctor Faustus, Don Quixote and The Alchemist. Jonathan also works regularly for the education departments of the Royal Opera, Wigmore Hall and English National Opera, providing workshops for children, students and families.
Acknowledgements
A huge thanks to all the singers involved in tonight’s concert for their hard work. An especially big thank you goes to the team of volunteers from the choir who have helped make this event possible.
Thanks to the staff at St Anne’s Limehouse and our rehearsal venue, Lauriston School, and to you, our lovely audience, for supporting us.