In July, some of our students headed to Paris for the annual Chamber Choir Tour, which was generously supported by members of our alumni community.
Read Senior Organ Scholar Alex Hall and Tour Director Tasha Dambacher's report on their Parisian adventures:
Members of the LMH Chamber Choir on tour in Paris
The LMH Chamber Choir undertook its most ambitious international tour to date this summer, performing in some of Paris's most prestigious churches. The tour represented a huge undertaking for the Chamber Choir, featuring the choir's largest ever membership, its most diverse tour repertoire, and some of the most incredible (and largest) venues the choir has ever performed in!
The first engagement of the tour took place at the beautiful church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs in the 6th Arrondissement. Preparation for this concert began in earnest immediately upon arrival in Paris, with the choir travelling straight from the Eurostar to the church for a two hour rehearsal. Despite the inevitable tiredness, the magic of having a huge Parisian church opened to us at night was not lost on us, and the building's stunning architecture and huge acoustic set the tone for the rest of the tour.
The concert, which took place the following evening, was a great success. An audience of local parishioners and tourists enjoyed a performance of British and French repertoire, in the spirit of international musical collaboration. The concert included choir favourites such as Parry’s My Soul There Is A Country and Joanna Forbes Lestrange’s Drop Drop Slow Tears, and culminated with a full performance of Fauré's Requiem.
In high spirits after our first successful concert of tour, the choir enjoyed an evening in the square in front of St Sulpice, leaving several choir members speechless at the scale of our next venue!
Following a day of rehearsals (punctuated by a choir picnic and plenty of sight-seeing), the choir headed to Eglise St Sulpice on Saturday for our second concert. The choir were warmly welcomed by the pupils of the parish, and spent an hour rehearsing (and drawing in a mass of curious tourists!).
The concert, performed for a large audience of tourists, locals, and the College’s Senior Tutor, Dr Anne Mullen, featured a programme of unaccompanied repertoire spanning five centuries. Notable performances included Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus and Gjeilo's Ubi Caritas, as well as the international premiere of Anthem for Lady Margaret’s Day, composed by our very own director of Music, Paul Burke.
The concert culminated with a standing ovation, before the choir said goodbye with a reflective encore of Sullivan’s The Long Day Closes.
Following the concert, we headed to a drinks reception overlooking Notre-Dame - where the choir and friends celebrated the success of the concert.
Bright and early on Sunday morning, the choir headed to Eglise St Eustache to sing at Mass to a full congregation. The choir performed several movements of Haydn's Little Organ Mass, alongside motets by Byrd and Gjeilo. If the venue's huge scale and soaring architecture was not enough to inspire awe in the choir, the resident organist's crashing improvisation to open the service certainly did!
The staff and priests at the church were exceptionally welcoming, and introduced us to the church dog, Orla, who sat with Alex (our senior organ scholar), under the organ bench during the service. After the mass, one of the priests commented that we were the best visiting choir they had seen in his thirteen years in the parish.
After a few more days of rehearsals, as well as a dip in the Seine and a celebration of Bastille Day at one of Paris’ famed Fireman’s Balls, the tour culminated at the gorgeous Eglise de la Madeline, one of Paris’ most iconic and unique churches.
This concert was particularly special as we performed Faure’s Requiem in the very church in which it was premiered in 1888. The choir sang brilliantly, accompanied by George (our Junior Organ Scholar) on the wonderful Cavaille-Coll choir organ. The concert ended without a dry eye, as the choir said goodbye to many of its graduating members, including Senior Organ Scholar Alex. We ended with an emotional encore of Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine, before heading to our final dinner and goodbyes!
The hugely successful tour was a fitting culmination to a fantastic year for the Chamber Choir.
We are particularly grateful for the immense support of the College, and the generosity of donors who made this tour possible; for the first time, the tour was entirely free for college members, ensuring that this amazing opportunity was accessible to every member of the choir.
The choir looks forward to continuing to go from strength to strength, and hopes to return to the City of Light in the future, with open invitations from every church we visited!
Written by Alexander Hall (Senior Organ Scholar) and Tasha Dambacher (Tour Director)
