10 of the greatest choirs in the world

 

The Choir of King's College Cambridge. Picture: Alamy

By Rosie Pentreath

@rosiepentreath

From the greatest gospel powerhouses, and inspiring youth initiatives, to traditional cathedral choirs, we celebrate some of the greatest vocal ensembles performing around the world today. 

The human voice is one of the most versatile, varied and utterly sublime musical instruments we have at our disposal.

And when blended and heard in the context of an ensemble or choir, the sound can be transcendent.

Here we celebrate some of the greatest choirs performing around the world today. 

1. Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

   A pillar of the English choral tradition, the Choir of King’s College was founded in the 15th century, and still performs to audiences all over the world – through international touring, and through broadcasts and recordings, including their beloved annual Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols on airwaves around the world on Christmas Eve. The service, which was first broadcast in 1928, is heard by millions across the globe every year.

   
   

   

   O Holy Night – Choir of King's College Cambridge

2. The Sixteen

   Sticking with the English choral tradition, and The Sixteen is a UK-based choral ensemble known and celebrated all over the world for performances delivered with precision, power and passion. The choir’s sound is rich and expressive and through TV broadcasts and film inclusions has introduced countless newcomers to works drawn from well over five centuries of sacred and secular repertoire. The choir established Genesis Sixteen in 2011 to nurture the next generation of vocal talent.

   
   

   

   William Byrd ‘O Lord, Make Thy Servant Charles’, sung by The Sixteen

3. Escolania de Montserrat

   Catalonia’s traditional boy’s choir, Escolania de Montserrat, was formed for the express purpose of providing choral music for the services of the Montserrat Abbey, to the north-west of Barcelona. One of the oldest institutions of its kind in Europe, the 13th-century choir also prides itself on its provision of “the Christian and moral education for the boys who perform in the choir”.

   

   El Virolai

4. The Tallis Scholars

   British early music choir, The Tallis Scholars was founded by Peter Phillips in 1973, and it’s done much to champion music of the Renaissance and beyond. The choir has its own recording label, Gimell, and through this has released numerous acclaimed and award-winning recordings. The choir’s famous 1980 recording of Allegri’s Miserere remains one of the finest recordings of the piece ever made.

   

   Allegri: Miserere | Peter Phillips & Tallis Scholars

5. Estonian Philharmonic Choir

   The Estonian Philharmonic Choir is inextricably linked with the music of great composer Arvo Pärt, whose work it performs and records often, alongside that of other Estonian composers, and composers from all over the world and all through history. The choir was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was the artistic director and chief conductor for twenty years. Paul Hillier, Daniel Reuss and Kaspars Putniņš have also steered the ship.

   

   Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Arvo Pärt - Salve Regina

6. The Mississippi Mass Choir

   One of the most celebrated gospel choirs in the US, The Mississippi Mass Choir was founded by gospel singer Franklin Williams and since it released its debut recording in 1988 it’s been in numerous Billboard charts, while winning Grammys and making TV appearances – including on the sitcom Black-ish, and the Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown.

   

   The Mississippi Mass Choir - The Promise

7. RIAS Chamber Choir

   The chorale arm of Berlin’s Radio Orchestra and Choirs, RIAS Chamber Choir first performed in October 1948, under the baton of Herbert Froitzheim. As well as being the vocal ensemble for some of the best orchestras in the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, this choir’s raison d'être is also the commissioning and championing of contemporary music for vocal ensembles.

   

   RIAS Kammerchor / Ensemble Resonanz / Justin Doyle - BACH "Komm, Jesu, komm" BMV 229

8. Treorchy Male Voice Choir

   In 2022, Welsh singing legend, Tom Jones, named Treorchy Male Voice Choir – which was founded in its namesake town in Wales’s Rhondda Valley in 1883 – the best of its kind in the world. From organic beginnings as a group of 10 to 15 men meeting in town hall, pub and adjacent settings, the choir has gone on to make over 50 recordings and win the hearts of people throughout Wales – which is world famous for its fine choirs – and far beyond.

   

   Treorchy Male Choir's stunning flashmob version of Calon Lân

9. Polyphony

   Stephen Layton’s ensemble, Polyphony, was born at Cambridge University and quickly made a name for itself as a fine choir of note. The Evening Standard once wrote, “No one, but no one, performs Handel's Messiah better every year than the choir Polyphony”, and the choir regularly performs with the best orchestras, and atop the most hallowed stages, all over the world.

   And though they may be famous for their baroque performances, there’s no other choir you’d want singing contemporary choral music form the likes of Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen.

   

   Whitacre: Sleep

10. Ndlovu Youth Choir

    Ndlovu Youth Choir is a South African choir, founded in 2009 with the aim of giving children from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to participate in music and education, and to thrive. The choir, which has appeared on America’s Got Talent, is a viral internet sensation, and it’s got recording chops too: its debut studio album Africa(2019) went straight to number one in the South African charts when it was released.

    

    Ndlovu Youth Choir - Celebrate (Official Music Video)

‘Mozart dropped a new single’ – classical fans queue to hear newly discovered work in Leipzig

3 October 2024, 23:04 | Updated: 3 October 2024, 23:08

Band in Leipzig perform Mozart piece

By Kyle Macdonald

Long lines of music lovers formed to hear a piece of history, as a previously unknown Mozart trio received its first public performance. 

It‘s not often that you can hear new music from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But that’s just what modern audiences enjoyed last weekend, with performances of a newly discovered string trio.

Last Thursday, Leipzig municipal libraries revealed their discovery of a previously unknown work by the great Austrian composer.

The music was found in the collection of the Leipzig Municipal Library while researchers were completing a new edition of the Köchel catalogue of Mozart’s works. 

Korina Kilian from the Leipzig Municipal Libraries, holds a music newly discovered manuscript. Picture: Alamy

Composed for string trio, the seven-movement piece is believed to have been written in the mid to late 1760s, when Mozart was a teenager. The manuscript features dark brown ink on off-white laid paper, with the title Serenate ex C.

The 12-minute piece has now been named Ganz kleine Nachtmusik. The first modern performance of it took place last week at the composer’s birthplace in Salzburg.

Mozart fans queue ahead of the previously unknown work’s premiere in Leipzig. Picture: Alamy

With huge excitement, Ganz kleine Nachtmusik received its German premiere at the Leipzig Opera. On Saturday, 400-metre-long queues formed in Augustusplatz outside the opera house with fans eager to hear the performance. It was played by graduates of the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School.

“Mozart dropped a new single,” commented one viewer on YouTube. Watch it being played above.

Graduates of the Johann Sebastian Bach Music School play the previously unknown work by Mozart. Picture: Alamy

“We are convinced that we can now present a completely unknown, charming piece by the young Mozart,” Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the Mozarteum Foundation, told the German Press Agency.

Leisinger said the piece displayed compositional characteristics which suggested Mozart would have been between 10 and 13 years old at the time of writing. Experts also suggested it was likely the piece was written for an outdoor performance, with the opening march intended to grab the audiences attention. Watch it in full below.

W.A. Mozart - Serenata ex C - Eine ganz kleine Nachtmusik (official release)

“Absolutely beautiful,” commented one Mozart fan, who made it to the Leipzig premiere.

“It’s an honour to be one of the first humans to hear this song in hundreds of years,” wrote another viewer on YouTube.

Later the musicians involved spoke to Classic FM and told of the ‘incredible honour’ of being selected to premiere the piece, but also the mysteriousness of the project, being handed the music without a title or explanation.

“Nobody could have ever imagined what it actually turned out to be,” Violinists David and Vincent Geer and cellist Elisabeth Zimmermann told Classic FM a week later.

“It didn't even occur to us that we might have been chosen for something this big,” Vincent told us. “We thought it would just be an ordinary little gig.”

LIttle did he or his musical partners know that they were going to be part of classical music history.

A close-up view of the manuscript discovered at Leipzig's municipal libraries. Picture: Alamy

The story of this rediscovered piece has gone viral and is surely now one of the biggest music stories of 2024.

In an era of streaming, international pop acts, and trending TikTok sounds, new music of a teenage Mozart still creates a moment like no other.

Spring Waltz (Mariage d'Amour) Chopin - Tuscany 4K

17,736,331 views Oct 19, 2022 #springwaltz #halidonmusic #chopin

Enjoy this scenic relaxation film in 4K of Tuscany, Italy while listening to the calming and relaxing piece of classical piano music. Spring Waltz, attributed to Frédéric Chopin was in fact composed by Paul de Senneville under the name "Mariage d'Amour". Relaxing, calm piano music & the beauty of nature in 4K. Best classical music of all time.

Ennio Morricone: Once Upon a Time in America – Suite, Boian Videnoff .

307,975 views Feb 28, 2019 ROSENGARTEN MANNHEIM

Watch our concerts LIVE on HomeSymphony®: http://www.homesymphony.com Ennio Morricone: Once Upon a Time in America – Suite Mannheimer Philharmoniker Boian Videnoff, conductor Stefan Tarara, concertmaster Live from the Rosengarten Mannheim, 01. January 2019 Director: Sören Klitzing Director of Photography: Thomas Kutschker Sound: Bauer Studios Ludwigsburg Streaming: in medias res, Jens Breith Post-Production: Sören Klitzing

Ranking classical composers - Tier List

11,014 views Jan 26, 2024 #beethoven #rankings #piano

Hey guys, I thought it'd be fun to make a big video ranking classical music composers. We got Bach to Beethoven to Mozart to Schubert to Rachmaninoff, and bunches of others. I'll give them all a letter grade and fill you in on some fun details about them as we go along. Let me know what you'd change. Of course, recognizing that we are all unique and have our own styles/preferences...blah blah blah. Enjoy!!! 0:00 - Getting ready 0:31 - Making some cuts 1:28 - The tier list!!!

Jules Massenet / Thais / Meditation

4,227,122 views Apr 16, 2010

Jules Massenet Thais Meditation Classic FM M-Tel Radio Symphony Orchestra 13 March 2006 NDK Sofia MAXIM VENGEROV, Violin Conductor: Luciano Di Martino

TheClassicalmusic

3 Heartbreaking piano performance made audience cry, Pressler play Chopin

2,608,565 views Feb 11, 2024

0:00 1 Menahem Pressler play Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor 4:40 2 Vladimir Horowitz play Schumann Traumerei in Moscow 1986, this is his first time back to Russia in 60 years after he left Russia 7:08 3 Born Blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii played at Carnegie Hall his own composition "Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011 in Japan"

Nena’s Nocturne: How I discovered my grandmother’s legacy

 Concert pianist Nena del Rosario Villanueva

Anita Villanueva - Philstar.com

Anita Villanueva is the grandchild of the late concert pianist Nena del Rosario Villanueva (1935-2021), the Philippines’ first piano prodigy. Nena, mentored by the famed Isabelle Vengerova, made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 12 in 1947 upon winning a New York Times competition. She was the first Filipino pianist accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She went on to perform in the world’s most prestigious musical venues throughout her career.

Anita writes about a side of her grandma few people knew, how she slowly discovered her legacy in the music world, and her involvement in the Manila Symphony Orchestra’s campaign for Nena’s nomination for National Artist.

Upon hearing my grandmother’s name, a vivid image immediately comes to mind: she is in bed, her hair disheveled, donning one of her many white linen nightgowns. Her spindly fingers are grazing a box of half-eaten See’s Chocolates which she had likely received that same day.

This image is starkly different from the one staring back at me as I sift through photos of her grand performances as the Philippines’ own piano prodigy.

Growing up, my grandma and I shared a very special bond, one separate from her piano accolades. My frequent visits to her house were composed of a strict routine: first, she would mark my height and the date on her white closet doors. Next, I would take on the role of her makeup artist. As she sat at her vanity, I became the painter to her blank canvas of a face. I rummaged through dusty makeup bags and acrylic holders, gathering only the shiniest, most colorful of her expired products. 

I then began my work, rubbing shimmery green Chanel eyeshadow on one eyelid and lining her lips with bright red Guerlain lipstick, creating my masterpiece. Once I was finished, I held up a mirror for my grandma to relish her newfound beauty. Every time, without fail, she had lit up with laughter; tears swelling in her eyes as she examined the dance of colors on her face. 

Then came the third, most integral part of our routine: the McDonald’s drive-thru. With her make-up on, she and I, immensely proud of my work, would make our way down to her dark green Jaguar. We would drive to the nearest McDonald’s drive-thru, where I ordered a Big Mac with orange juice, and she ordered a caramel sundae with fries. I thought it was the most bizarre thing, watching her dip each fry in her ice cream; she was certainly the only person I had known to do it. 

Now, my childhood memories with my grandma, saturated with the smell of mothballs and the sound of her pearl bracelets, remain stowed away, only occasionally revisited. That is until I began to work on what I call the “Grandma Project.”

At first, I was tasked with the seemingly menial job of sorting through large plastic boxes filled with photos, newspaper clippings, and letters. However, the time spent simply sifting through these items became an incredibly transformative experience.

Only when I agreed to help organize her campaign did I discover the depth of this entirely different identity of hers. Growing up, I was always aware of her relationship with piano. Mentioning her name would often trigger the automated response of “the one with the piano right?” However, since she had never once mentioned it herself, I was completely oblivious to the impact she made on the Filipino and international music scenes. 

As I look through the various photos of her in huge auditoriums wearing ornate gowns, the letters from former presidents, and newspaper clippings of her at only fourteen, I am becoming acquainted with a different Nena, foreign from the one dipping fries in her caramel sundae.

Though this Nena is completely distinct from the one I so fondly remember, I carry with me the remnants of her identity as I strive to embody the light she sparked in the world.