Vasari Singers
Now in its 32nd year, the chamber choir performs a wide range of repertoire with passion and sensitivity to exacting standards and considerable press acclaim.
Recent reviews of the choir’s commission and premiere CD of the oratorio The Cloud of Unknowing by Francis Pott, included “a top flight choir and, moreover, one that is at the top of its form, a performance that goes way beyond the printed page of the score” – MusicWeb International, “passionate and precise” – The Times and “The Mighty Vasari Singers give it everything they can muster” – The Gramophone.
MusicWeb International’s review of recording of Will Todd’s Mass in Blue described Vasari as “one of the world’s finest choirs”. In Gramophone Magazine’s November 2005 review of Anthems for the 21st Century, Vasari was described as “a consistently outstanding choir” and “one of the most accomplished small choral groups of our time”.
Vasari performs regularly in most of London’s major concert venues and taken part in numerous commercial concerts and festivals, including the BBC Proms. The choir appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television, recently including appearing on the BAFTA-award winning documentary soundtrack Seven Wonders.
The choir is acclaimed for its versatility, performing choral music from a wide range of styles and eras, from the Renaissance to contemporary.
As well as concerts, taking part in choral evensong is a major feature of Vasari’s schedule. The choir sings regularly in Canterbury Cathedral other main English cathedrals, with recent visits to Durham, Salisbury, Bath Abbey, Gloucester, Liverpool and Ripon.
Choir performingNew music is central to the choir’s activities, and since 2000 has commissioned over 20 works from British composers. In 2005 Vasari celebrated its 25th anniversary with 10 new commissions, a recording of these and other 21st-century anthems and a world première concert at St John’s, Smith Square. In November 2008, the group commissioned and premièred a new a capella Requiem by the British Composer Gabriel Jackson.
Vasari’s extensive discography reflects the choir’s versatility, passion and quality.
The highly acclaimed Cloud of Unknowing was MusicWeb International’s CD of the Year in 2007. The two CDs of works by the French composer Marcel Dupré, both received Gramophone’s ‘Editor’s Choice’. The Howells Requiem and Frank Martin Mass CD was Gramophone Award-nominated, and the 2007 disc Noel Nouvelet was MusicWeb International’s Recording of the Month. A new recording of Maurice Durufle’s Requiem, with soloists Sarah Connolly Christopher Maltman, Robert Cohen, and Jeremy Filsell at the organ, was released on Signum in 2009.