| Biography | Founded by Dr Charles Harris, the 4500-voice Imperial Choir was comprised of several large London-based choirs and performed for a decade from 1909-1919. On occassion the Imperial Choir grew in size to as large as 10,000 voices, for example for celebrations to mark peace and the end of the First World War. In 1913 Dr Harris took 2000 members of the Imperial Choir to perform at the Ghent Exhibition (Belgium).
Dr Harris himself, travelled extensively from 1909-1910, throughout Australia and South Africa, lecturing, conducting, and organizing the Musical Festival of the Empire, a world music tour of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and the USA that took place during 1911.
This choir may have been a precursor to the Imperial Stadium Choir, formed as part of the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley (Dr Charles Harris, founder of the Empire Choir, acted as musical director of the 1924 British Empire Exhibition). |