Crouch End Festival Chorus (CEFC) is a symphonic choir based in north London which performs in a range of musical styles, including traditional choral repertoire, contemporary classical, rock, pop and film music.
Led by musical director David Temple, the choir has appeared in the BBC Proms concert series and has performed under the baton of conductors including Esa Pekka-Salonen, Semyon Bychkov, Edward Gardner and Valery Gergiev. CEFC also features on the sound track of films and TV series such as Disney's Prince Caspian, the BBC's Doctor Who and Amazon Prime Video's Good Omens TV series.
CEFC's patrons include the conductor Sir Mark Elder, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, film music composer Hans Zimmer, rock artists Ray Davies and Noel Gallagher, with whom the choir has performed live and in the recording studio and its co-founder, John Gregson.
David Temple was appointed MBE in the New Year's Honours List in January 2018 for his services to music.
History and organisation In 1984 John Gregson, the director of the then Crouch End Arts Festival, invited David Temple to become the Festivals' music director. Gregson suggested that the festival should have its own choir and invited Temple to become its chorus master. A scratch choir of amateur singers was formed to perform Verdi's Requiem and the choir was given the name Crouch End Festival Chorus. Its membership has grown to around 150 singers who rehearse weekly in Muswell Hill and perform at Alexandra Palace Theatre, and at venues across London including the Barbican Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Royal Albert Hall.
CEFC is a charitable company run by a board of trustees elected by its members, with the day-to-day functions of the organisation carried out by a management committee of volunteers from the choir's ranks. Members join the choir via a formal audition and all singers are re-auditioned every three years.
Classical repertoire
At its own concerts CEFC performs choral music over a wide chronological range from Thomas Tallis in the sixteenth century to new commissions. Over the course of its existence up to summer 2022 it has performed the work of 113 composers from John Adams to Hans Zimmer. The major British composers, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Tippett and Britten feature regularly on concert programmes, as do European composers including Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Poulenc and Stravinsky, and Americans including Bernstein, John Adams and Philip Glass. In recent years CEFC has sought to include women composers in its programmes, including Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Rani Arbo, and Lillie Harris, and commissions from Jessica Curry and Laura Bowler.
Commissions CEFC has a long history of commissioning and performing new choral works. DateComposerTitle 1985Ian LawrenceAfrican Hodie1990Howard HaighSaeta1993John WoolrichFar From Home1994David BedfordI Am Going Home With Thee1994Simon BainbridgeHerbsttag1994Sally BeamishLove Is Leaping1997Joby TalbotFinding Silence1998Robert HugillHere Be Angels1998Paul PattersonHell's Angels2000Joby TalbotThe Same Dog2001David BedfordThe City And The Stars2004Orlando GoughShift2009Roland PerrinHeaven On Earth2009Matthew FerraroThe Tension Of Opposites2012James McCarthy17 Days2014Murray Gold...When My Brother Fell Into The River2014Will ToddRage Against The Dying Of The Light2014Bernard HughesSalve Regina2014James McCarthyMalala2015Roland PerrinLansky: The Mob's Money Man2017Laura Bowlernavigating the dog watch2018Ryan LatimerFrigates & Folly2021Jessica CurryEcho
Other classical concerts
CEFC have appeared regularly at the BBC Proms since 2001. DateAdditional informationWorkOther performers and conductor 28 August 2001Scriabin, Prometheus: The Poem of FireKirov Orchestra, Valery Gergiev29 August 2002Sibelius, KullervoLondon Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès11 August 2003Prokofiev, Alexander NevskyLondon Philharmonic Choir, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniele Gatti9 September 2005Ravel, Daphnis and ChloéHelsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen31 August 2008Verdi, RequiemBBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek2 August 2009Berlioz, Te DeumBach Choir, Trinity Boys Choir, St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki16 July 2010First Night of the PromsMahler, Symphony No. 8Westminster Cathedral Choristers, St Paul’s Cathedral Choristers, Westminster Abby Choristers, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek12 August 2012Schoenberg, Gurre-liederNew London Chamber Choir, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste20 July 2014BBC Sport PromOrff, Carmina Burana (extracts), Richard Rodgers, ‘You’ll never walk alone’ from Carousel, Freddie Mercury, ‘We are the Champions’BBC Concert Orchestra, Rebecca Miller18 August 2014Rachmaninov, The BellsBBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner9 September 2015Webster, In the Sweet By and By, Zeuner, Ye Christian Heralds, Marsh, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, Mason, Nearer, My God, to Thee, Ives, Symphony No. 4BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton 31 July 2016Lera Auerbach, Symphony No. 3: The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar MenagerieBBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner27 July 2017London PremiereMark Simpson, The ImmortalLondon Voices, BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena9 September 2017Proms in the Park: Hyde ParkSongs of Ray DaviesRay Davies, BBC Concert Orchestra, Richard Balcombe8 September 2019European PremiereJohn Luther Adams, In the Name of the EarthBBC Symphony Chorus, Hackney Empire Community Choir, London International Gospel Choir, London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus, LSO Community Choir, Victoria Park Singers15 July 2022First Night of the PromsVerdi, RequiemBBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramao
CEFC is also frequently invited to collaborate with major orchestras. Recent performances include Britten's War Requiem with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Semyon Bychkov in November 2013,David Nice, The Arts Desk, 11.11.13. Retrieved 2016-02-21Colin Anderson, The Classical Source,10.11.13. Retrieved 2016-02-21 Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts with the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra under François-Xavier Roth in November 2016, Prokofiev's Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy in May 2018 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Philharmonia under Jakub Hrůša in April 2022.
Popular music In 2010, CEFC singers joined patron and regular collaborator Ray Davies on stage at the Glastonbury Festival performing to an audience of 50,000 people. The following year, the choir appeared again with Ray Davies in the final concert of the Meltdown Festival curated by the artist for the Royal Festival Hall. Also in 2011 came a performance with Basement Jaxx at the Barbican.
CEFC's working relationship with Noel Gallagher began in 2008 with an Oasis gig for the BBC's Electric Proms. After contributing to the debut album by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds in 2012, the choir toured with the band throughout the UK, and again in 2015.
Film and TV CEFC features on a number of original film soundtracks including The Awakening (2011) Prince Caspian (2008), and Rocketman (2019) as well as in music composed for the BBC's classic sci-fi series Dr Who. Composers Hans Zimmer and Ennio Morricone have both booked CEFC to perform in live concerts of their music.
Recordings The choir has made recordings of Bach's St John Passion and Britten's Saint Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols, conducted by David Temple. They have also recorded Parry's Judith, conducted by William Vann.
The choir has credits on more than one hundred CDs including albums by Lesley Garrett, Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe, and Kate Royal, and by rock and pop artists Travis, The Divine Comedy, Robbie Williams, Ray Davies, and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. Ray Davies' The Kinks Choral Collection featuring CEFC reached the UK top 30 best-selling albums in 2009 and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds achieved the top spot on the Official UK Chart in 2011.Archive Chart, UK Albums Chart, The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2016-02-21
References
External links Crouch End Festival Chorus