How come The Kitchen Choir?
The Choir was founded in 2007 as a summer alternative to the village Panto (Ellesmere Devils), meeting initially in the kitchen of the founder conductor, Chris Charlesworth - hence the choir’s slightly quirky name! In 2013, having deputised for Chris on a number of occasions, Alison Swain took over the baton and is our current musical director. Late in 2022 David Pickthall joined us as Kitchen Choir accompanist. Alongside his expert playing and arrangements, his skill at the keyboard combines with his creative sense of humour to keep us all entertained during rehearsals!
Ethos
We are an inclusive choir governed by committee to share out the inevitable numbers of jobs required to run the group efficiently. We are accepting of singers of all abilities - not all of us read music, nor are we necessarily experienced choral singers, but we all share the same good humoured and enthusiastic approach to music-making that is apparent in our performances.
We do not audition, but we encourage new members to try us out for a 6-week trial period before committing to us (and paying our very reasonable subs!). We channel our efforts into achieving exciting and musical performances. Most of all we have fun!
Repertoire
We sing four-part harmony arrangements of an eclectic assortment of music. Recent performances have included:
Where can you hear us?
We sing regularly at the Ellesmere Centre, Stetchworth, also giving concerts at venues in the vicinity and enjoying 'Singouts' in local hostelries and the like. We support local churches participating in their concerts and services and we love to raise money for charity through our performances. For details of future gigs please see our News Page
Will the Kitchen Choir sing for us?
We are always on the look-out for new venues and opportunities to perform. We usually ask for a modest contribution to help cover our costs and like to support our favourite charities (East Anglian Air Ambulance in particular). If your event is specifically to support a charity, then we would usually waive our fee.
If you think we would suit an event that you are organising, please contact our Publicity Officer at publicity (at) kitchenchoir.org.uk
The Choir was founded in 2007 as a summer alternative to the village Panto (Ellesmere Devils), meeting initially in the kitchen of the founder conductor, Chris Charlesworth - hence the choir’s slightly quirky name! In 2013, having deputised for Chris on a number of occasions, Alison Swain took over the baton and is our current musical director. Late in 2022 David Pickthall joined us as Kitchen Choir accompanist. Alongside his expert playing and arrangements, his skill at the keyboard combines with his creative sense of humour to keep us all entertained during rehearsals!
Ethos
We are an inclusive choir governed by committee to share out the inevitable numbers of jobs required to run the group efficiently. We are accepting of singers of all abilities - not all of us read music, nor are we necessarily experienced choral singers, but we all share the same good humoured and enthusiastic approach to music-making that is apparent in our performances.
We do not audition, but we encourage new members to try us out for a 6-week trial period before committing to us (and paying our very reasonable subs!). We channel our efforts into achieving exciting and musical performances. Most of all we have fun!
Repertoire
We sing four-part harmony arrangements of an eclectic assortment of music. Recent performances have included:
- Rock 'n Roll favourites - At the Hop, Rave on, Lollipop
- Gospel - Oh Happy Day, Wade in the Water, Nobody Knows
- Church music – e.g. "anthems" and parts of bigger works (e.g. Stainer’s Crucifixion, Mozart's Requiem)
- Madrigals - Now is the Month of Maying, Fair Phyllis, Sweet Suffolk Owl
- ‘Classical’ favourites - Bruckner's Locus iste, Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, Duruflé's Ubi Caritas
- Seasonal music
- Popular classics – Kiss from a Rose, For the Longest time, Only You
- ‘Cross-over’ music – The Lord is my Shepherd (theme from The Vicar of Dibley)
Where can you hear us?
We sing regularly at the Ellesmere Centre, Stetchworth, also giving concerts at venues in the vicinity and enjoying 'Singouts' in local hostelries and the like. We support local churches participating in their concerts and services and we love to raise money for charity through our performances. For details of future gigs please see our News Page
Will the Kitchen Choir sing for us?
We are always on the look-out for new venues and opportunities to perform. We usually ask for a modest contribution to help cover our costs and like to support our favourite charities (East Anglian Air Ambulance in particular). If your event is specifically to support a charity, then we would usually waive our fee.
If you think we would suit an event that you are organising, please contact our Publicity Officer at publicity (at) kitchenchoir.org.uk