Biography
The Elysian Singers of London have maintained a prominent position within the United Kingdom’s choral landscape. Their performances have included a notable engagement at Windsor Castle during the event marking Prince Charles’s fiftieth birthday, alongside cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the English Chamber Orchestra. From its inception the ensemble has promoted contemporary repertoire and maintained an exceptionally wide selection of pieces composed during the twentieth century and afterward.
Formed in 1986 by Matthew Greenall, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, the choir comprises roughly twenty-eight voices drawn largely from former members of collegiate ensembles at Oxford and Cambridge. New music received emphasis from the outset. The 1991 release Child of Light presented world premieres of compositions by Sir John Tavener, who later became the group’s patron, as well as Kenneth Leighton and Peter Maxwell Davies. In 1993 the singers broadcast Henryk Górecki’s Miserere in the composer’s presence. Additional collaborations have featured cellist Stephen Isserlis and further distinguished soloists such as violinist Tasmin Little, with whom they performed at Wigmore Hall.
Greenall served as director until 1999, at which point Sam Laughton, previously an organ scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, assumed leadership. The following year the choir reached the final round of the televised Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition held at the Royal Albert Hall. Performances have taken place at other major London sites including the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the Purcell Room, although numerous appearances occur in churches and cathedrals throughout London and the rest of Britain. The 2019 calendar listed concerts at Dore Abbey in Herefordshire, St Pancras Church in London, and St Paul’s Covent Garden in London. Recordings have appeared on the Somm, Meridian, and Signum Classics labels, among them the 2019 Signum Classics release Macmillan: One Equal Music.
Formed in 1986 by Matthew Greenall, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, the choir comprises roughly twenty-eight voices drawn largely from former members of collegiate ensembles at Oxford and Cambridge. New music received emphasis from the outset. The 1991 release Child of Light presented world premieres of compositions by Sir John Tavener, who later became the group’s patron, as well as Kenneth Leighton and Peter Maxwell Davies. In 1993 the singers broadcast Henryk Górecki’s Miserere in the composer’s presence. Additional collaborations have featured cellist Stephen Isserlis and further distinguished soloists such as violinist Tasmin Little, with whom they performed at Wigmore Hall.
Greenall served as director until 1999, at which point Sam Laughton, previously an organ scholar at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, assumed leadership. The following year the choir reached the final round of the televised Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition held at the Royal Albert Hall. Performances have taken place at other major London sites including the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the Purcell Room, although numerous appearances occur in churches and cathedrals throughout London and the rest of Britain. The 2019 calendar listed concerts at Dore Abbey in Herefordshire, St Pancras Church in London, and St Paul’s Covent Garden in London. Recordings have appeared on the Somm, Meridian, and Signum Classics labels, among them the 2019 Signum Classics release Macmillan: One Equal Music.
Singles
