| Biography | The London Oriana Choir is one of Britains leading choral groups and one of the most exciting in London. Founded by Leon Lovett in 1973, from 1996 to summer 2013 it was under the directorship of David Drummond, who further developed the choir with his vision, innovative teaching ideas and repertoire. In September 2013 the choir welcomes Dominic Peckham to take over musical direction of the choir.
The choir has performed in all of Londons major concert halls, churches and cathedrals, including the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, the Royal Albert Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James's Piccadilly, St Paul's Cathedral and Southwark Cathedral. It has also performed at Abbey Road Studios, the London O2 Arena and Hampton Court Palace.
Each year the London Oriana Choir embarks on at least one overseas tour, which is always marked both by fine music and a chance for the choir to enjoy its famous social side. So far, the choir has given concerts in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and the Pushkin Palace outside St Petersburg, at festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Strasbourg, Aachen and Cork, and at other important venues in Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, France, Monaco, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Ukraine and Latvia.
The choirs repertoire is broad, ranging from the great choral and orchestral works by Verdi, Brahms, Mozart, Handel and Bach to contemporary commissions. A cappella music is sung in many languages and in all styles from early Renaissance to the present day, from secular to sacred, classical to jazz and including popular and folk music from around the world. The choir is often accompanied by professional orchestras and has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Brandenburg Sinfonia, and Fine Arts Brass.
As well as its own concert series, the London Oriana Choir is often invited to sing for other organisations including BBC television. The choir has produced five commercial CD recordings, including a world première of Sir Henry Walford Davies's cantata Everyman with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra, which received Editor's Choice awards in both Gramophone magazine and International Record Review. In April 2008 another world première recording was released, Armstrong Gibbs's choral symphony Odysseus with the BBC Concert Orchestra. For Christmas 2012 the choir recorded "Nativitie", including the world premiere recording of the eponymous composition by renowned Scottish composer Kenneth Leighton. |