More than 25 years of music-making
Most of the Academy Choir’s concerts since our beginnings in 1980 have been in Wimbledon, initially in St Mary’s Parish Church. We moved to St. John’s Church in 2002, to take advantage of the larger performing space and the acoustic properties of the building.
We have also given concerts and chamber operas in Paris on four occasions and sung Services at Gloucester, Hereford and Southwark Cathedrals and at Eton and Stowe. In 2005 we celebrated the Trafalgar Bicentenary with Haydn’s Nelson Mass at Nelson’s Church in Merton.
Our repertoire has included:
| Tallis | Spem in alium, Lamentations I & II, Masses, Motets |
| Byrd | Masses for 4 and 5 Voices, Motets |
| Monteverdi | Vespers of 1610, Venetian Vespers, Orfeo |
| Purcell | Dido and Aeneas, Birthday Odes, St Cecilia Ode, Epicedium, Motets, Funeral Sentences |
| Bach | Mass in B Minor, St John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, Easter Oratorio, Motets, Cantatas |
| Handel | Jephtha, Theodora, Hercules, Messiah, Dixit Dominus |
| Haydn | Nelson Mass, Heiligmesse, Stabat Mater, Te Deum, Symphonies, Salve Regina, The Creation |
| Mozart | Requiem, Mass in C Minor, Mauerische Trauermusik, Kyrie in D minor, Cantata K 623, Symphonies |
| Beethoven | Mass in C, Meeresstille und Gluckliche Fahrt |
| Schubert | Mass in E flat, Mass in A flat, Rosamunde music, Music from Lazarus |
| Berlioz | L’Enfance du Christ |
| Mendelssohn | Wie der Hirsch schreit, Hear my prayer |
| Schumann | Requiem fur Mignon |
| Wagner | Siegfried Idyll |
| Bruckner | Masses Nos 2 and 3, Motets |
| Brahms | Liebeslieder Walzer, Alto Rhapsody |
| Elgar | Go, song of mine, The Prince of Sleep, Serenade for Strings, Cello Concerto, From the Bavarian Highlands, Sospiri, Sursum Corda, Give unto the Lord |
| Britten | Rejoice in the Lamb, Hymn to St Cecilia, Missa Brevis, Serenade for tenor, horn and strings |
| Poulenc | Gloria, Stabat Mater, Litanies a la Vierge Noire, Organ Concerto, Motets |
| Debussy | Trois Chansons |
Soloists appearing with the Academy include:
Sopranos:
- Sarah Fox
- Geraldine McGreevy
- Mary Nelson
- Ruth Holton
- Rachel Nicholls
- Miriam Allan
- Charlotte Mobbs
- Malin Christensson
- Angela Kazimierczuk
- Jennifer Smith
- Patrizia Kwella
- Grace Davidson
- Elizabeth Robson
Altos
- Hilary Summers
- Diana Moore
- Linda Hirst
- Robin Blaze
- Charles Brett
- Richard Scott
- Richard Wyn Roberts
- Kathryn Turpin
Tenors:
- Paul Agnew
- John Bowen
- William Kendall
- Ian Partridge
- Matthew Beale
Basses
- Colin Campbell
- Stephen Varcoe
- Robert Rice
- Simon Birchall
- Derek Welton
- Richard Wigmore
- Neil Howlett
Instrumentalists:
- Michael Thompson - horn
- Michael Laird - trumpet
- Adrian Butterfield - violin
- Susan Dent - horn
- Guy Johnston - cello