On Tuesday 12th November 2019 at 7.15pm the choir gave a performance of Bach’s “O Jesu Christ, meins lebens licht” and his wonderful yet seldom heard short “Mass in F Major [BWV 233]” coupled with Purcell’s “Welcome to all the pleasures”.
The Bar Choral Society’s 2019 Summer Concert took place on Monday 8th July in Temple Church. Alongside countertenor Robin Blaze, the Choristers of Temple Church, pianists Iain Farrington and John Reid and The Percussion Ensemble of London, the choir performed Jonathan Dove’s Arion and the Dolphin and Constant Lambert’s The Rio Grande.
On 20th November 2018 the choir gave a sell-out performance of Mozart’s celebrated Requiem. The choir were joined by Amy Haworth – Soprano; Ben Williamson – Alto; Nathan Vale – Tenor; Michael Burke – Bass and The Temple Players. The performance was supported by Close Brothers Asset Management.
On 19th June 2018 the choir focused on two works by George Frideric Handel, his Coronation Anthems and Birthday Ode to Queen Anne. The choir was joined by soloists, Soprano, Amy Wood; Countertenor, James Hall; Tenor, James Way and Baritone, Richard Latham as well as The Temple Players.
On 20th November 2017 in Inner Temple Hall the Society presented a lively concert of upbeat favourites from Broadway. Including music by George & Ira Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, the choir took its audience on a whirlwind trip from “An American in Paris” to “Chicago” before telling a “West Side Story” in “New York, New York”. This concert was in support of the National Brain Appeal.
On 11th April 2017 they performed Bach St John Passion. Written and premiered during his first year in Leipzig, the St John Passion is the leaner and more dramatic of Bach’s two surviving settings of the Holy Week narrative.
In this distinctive performance, the choir was led by their Music Director and Conductor, Greg Morris and joined by Soloists James Way as Evangelist, Gareth John as Christus, William Towers Alto, Matthew Sandy Tenor and Andrew Rupp Bass.
The choir was also joined by the chamber choir Collegium Musicum of London and the Temple Players. The Choristers of the Temple Church performed the soprano arias, while the choir took the role of a Lutheran congregation and sang the chorales, the emotional and theological heart of the work.
On 17th May 2017, choir members also joined with the Parliament Choir to sing Walton Belshazzar’s Feast at the Royal Festival Hall with the South Bank Sinfonia.
On 16th November 2016 in Middle Temple Hall the choir performed Joseph Haydn’s
The Creation, led by Music Director and Conductor, Greg Morris, and were joined by soloists
Amy Haworth Soprano, Andrew Tortise Tenor and DeAndre Simmons Bass.
The concert was sold out which not only made for a glorious evening, it also increased support for research in MND, with both The National Brain Appeal and
The Motor Neurone Disease Association being beneficiaries of the concert.
On 12th May 2016 in Temple Church, the choir held an evening where the programme framed Brahms Alto Rhapsody with his glorious chorus Geistliches Lied, Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (from German Requiem), and works from the great English choral tradition.
Full Programme available here:
Bar Choral Society Concert - 12th May 2016
We were delighted to have secured mezzo soprano Jennifer Johnston as soloist for the Brahms Alto Rhapsody in this concert. A former Member of the Bar, Jennifer decided to forgo a legal career to pursue a musical path with dazzling results. She has established herself
internationally with appearances at La Scala, the Salzburg Festival, the Bavarian State Opera, the BBC Proms and the Berlin Philharmonic.
The choir was led by their Music Director and Conductor, Greg Morris, and joined by
Roger Sayer, Organ.
The concert was generously sponsored by Sanderson House.
On 16th November 2015 in Temple Church, we held a concert with the programme: Handel Let the Bright Seraphim and Let their Celestial Concerts all Unite, Aria and chorus from Samson, Monteverdi Ave Maris Stella (from the Vespers 1610) and Vivaldi Winter from The Four Seasons and Vivaldi Gloria.
The choir was led by their Music Director and Conductor, Greg Morris, and joined by
wonderful soloists Grace Davidson Soprano, David Allsopp Countertenor, Rachel Ambrose Evans Soprano and by the Temple Players.
The concert was in aid of the National Brain Appeal and the National Hospital for Neurology
Grace Davidson singing ‘God Be in My Head’ (Walford Davies) before the concert, for the victims of the Paris attacks.
Soloists, MD, Choir and Orchestra taking their bow.
Mr and Mrs John Rutter CBE
Audience eye view
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On 10th June 2015 The Bar Choral Society presented its third concert in Temple Church
focusing on the great choral work by Joseph Haydn: The Missa in Angustiis (“Mass for troubled times”) or the Nelson Mass. Written near the end of his life, it is one of the six masses that are now seen as a culmination of Haydn’s liturgical composition. To mark the American Bar
Association’s presence in London and its Magna Carta Conference, the concert
complemented the Mass and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Greensleeves with classic American songs Deep River, arr. Luboff and Summertime – Gershwin, arr. Farrington.
Led by Music Director and Conductor, Greg Morris, the choir were delighted to be joined by soloists Elin Manahan Thomas Soprano, Ruth Massey Mezzo soprano, Matthew Sandy Tenor, DeAndre Simmons Bass, and the Southbank Sinfonia.
Do please enjoy this excerpt from the concert, when DeAndre Simmons and the choir performed Deep River:
Bar Choral Society Concert 10 June 2015
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The Bar Choral Society’s second concert took place on Tuesday 18th November, in the Temple Church.
We were delighted to perform, to a packed Temple Church audience, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with soloists Sarah Gabriel (soprano) and Roderick Williams (baritone).
Greg Morris, Music Director
Sarah Gabriel, soprano
Roderick Williams, baritone
The Bar Choral Society
