Choir

We are an amateur choir specialising in the polyphony and plainchant of the Roman Catholic church. Our home is the lovely church of Our Lady, in St John’s Wood, London.

Our members come from around the UK and, occasionally, abroad. The choir was founded by Claude Crozet in 1971 and some of the original members still sing with us. Claude’s project was considered quite pioneering during a period of cultural “reform” within the Church and his work has been continued by other conductors within the choir and beyond. In addition to our extensive repertoire of early music, we occasionally venture into the Baroque and beyond, including two orchestral masses a year.

We have been adding new members all along so there is a broad range of ages and we always welcome new singers to keep this great institution thriving. Please read on if you might be interested in singing with us regularly or occasionally. We usually rehearse on Fridays from 19:30 to 21:00 (followed by further profound musical exploration… in the pub). On Sunday morning we rehearse at 9:15 for the 10:30 service. Occasionally we take a Friday off and just wing it on the day. If a singer is not available on a Friday they are encouraged to be on stand-by for Sunday morning if needed. Weekly attendance, though highly valued, is by no means compulsory. The choir has always been flexible, allowing for changes in life and geography. We have a huge collection of masses so music is rarely repeated within 3 years. This means that the members must be able to read music accurately. However, perfect sight reading is not absolutely necessary and a love of the genre is more important than encyclopaedic knowledge. Moderate expenses are paid that would just about cover the bus fare but essentially we’re doing it for the love.

If you would like to join us, please introduce yourself at the end of mass or send a message.  There is more information on our dedicated webpage: Church of Our Lady’s Choir Homepage

History

The choir of the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady, St John’s Wood, London, affectionately known by the choir as ‘LG’ after Lisson Grove, the road in which the church stands, was formed in 1971 by Claude Crozet, who remained its director until 2011. For the period between 1999-2011, two assistant directors, Simon Lillystone and Jean-Marc Evans shared conducting duties with Claude, who was then living abroad for much of each month. On Claude’s retirement, Simon became Director of Music from 2011-2014. Martin Toyer succeeded Simon from Advent 2014.

For most of the choir’s history, the modern rite of the Mass in Latin has been used but recently the English translation has been adopted for most Sundays with Latin reserved for the last Sunday of the month. Within this framework, the choir has specialized in renaissance polyphony (for all of the Ordinary of the Mass other than the Creed) and plainchant for all of the Propers (other than the Gradual which is usually sung in faux-bourdon). Although the core repertoire of the choir is mainstream 16th century Italian, Spanish, Flemish and English, in recent years directors have edited their own editions of rare masses and motets. The choir would have certainly given the first modern performance of many works. Classical settings of masses (eg Haydn and Mozart) with orchestra have been a feature of Easter and Pentecost celebrations at LG since the early days and are continued today. We believe that the range of musical forms and repertoire within the liturgy to be rare even among professional choirs in capital cities.

Members of the Choir have always been amateur singers interested in singing high quality music in a small group. A particular characteristic of the choir is that no weekly commitment is required and singers indicate their availability in advance for any particular Friday evening and Sunday morning. Members are not required to find deputies when they are not available. The choir welcomes occasional singers (especially past members) in addition to those who can give a more regular commitment. As well as the composition of the choir varying somewhat most Sundays (depending on members’ availability) the recent tradition of having more than one conductor for the choir is continuing. A small number of guest conductors is invited for about one service in four. Finally, members of faiths other than Roman Catholic (or maybe of none) have always been most welcome and constitute a large fraction of the choir.

Occasionally, the choir has sung in other churches for special occasions (eg in Merton College Oxford in a Sarum Rite mass) and has been on short summer tours in France giving concerts as well as singing services, for example in Lyon Cathedral.

The organ in the Church of Our Lady, Lisson Grove, was built by Walker in 1977 through the generosity of a benefactor. The small 7 rank extension instrument was refurbished by Collins and moved to its current location in a new case at the time of the general refurbishment of the church in 2009-10. It benefits from the excellent acoustic properties of the church.

Junior Choir

Rehearsals are every Sunday at 10:30am in the parish hall.  Any new members, aged 7-14 years old, are welcome and you should contact Martina, the choir’s director, if your son or daughter is interested.