Biography
London's Epiphoni Consort arose to bridge the divide separating amateur ensembles from fully professional ones within the capital's choral landscape. Its roster draws singers who possess professional-caliber voices yet maintain non-musical careers.
Tim Reader, a University of Exeter choral-conducting alumnus, established the ensemble in 2014 and remains its director. He identified a niche for a group whose standards sit midway between unpaid and paid ensembles. Auditions determine entry for its twelve-to-sixteen members. Each year the Consort presents two or three self-produced London programs and a comparable number of paid engagements, among them weddings and corporate functions. It also sings Evensong once or twice annually at London churches and supplies additional liturgical services in exchange for reduced rates on rehearsal space. Members join one another in purely social activities, while one or two out-of-town bookings per year require them to share travel expenses. The choir made its first recording for Delphian in 2017 with David Bednall: Sudden Light and has taken prizes at both the Locus Iste Competition and the London A Cappella Choir Competition.
Repertoire spans every historical period. The group has performed at Westminster Abbey, St. Martin in the Fields, and St. John's Smith Square, together with other prominent British halls. Broadcast credits include the BBC4 documentary The Joy of Rachmaninov and BBC2's Terry Pratchett: Back In Black, on which it sang Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet Spem in alium. Expanded collaborations have paired the singers with the Echo Ensemble for Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil and Duruflé's Requiem, and with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra for Walton's oratorio Belshazzar's Feast. Delphian issued a second album, When Love Speaks: Choral Music by Owain Park, in 2020 and a third, Precious Things: Choral Music by Bernard Hughes, in 2022.
Tim Reader, a University of Exeter choral-conducting alumnus, established the ensemble in 2014 and remains its director. He identified a niche for a group whose standards sit midway between unpaid and paid ensembles. Auditions determine entry for its twelve-to-sixteen members. Each year the Consort presents two or three self-produced London programs and a comparable number of paid engagements, among them weddings and corporate functions. It also sings Evensong once or twice annually at London churches and supplies additional liturgical services in exchange for reduced rates on rehearsal space. Members join one another in purely social activities, while one or two out-of-town bookings per year require them to share travel expenses. The choir made its first recording for Delphian in 2017 with David Bednall: Sudden Light and has taken prizes at both the Locus Iste Competition and the London A Cappella Choir Competition.
Repertoire spans every historical period. The group has performed at Westminster Abbey, St. Martin in the Fields, and St. John's Smith Square, together with other prominent British halls. Broadcast credits include the BBC4 documentary The Joy of Rachmaninov and BBC2's Terry Pratchett: Back In Black, on which it sang Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet Spem in alium. Expanded collaborations have paired the singers with the Echo Ensemble for Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil and Duruflé's Requiem, and with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra for Walton's oratorio Belshazzar's Feast. Delphian issued a second album, When Love Speaks: Choral Music by Owain Park, in 2020 and a third, Precious Things: Choral Music by Bernard Hughes, in 2022.
Albums
Precious Things: Choral Music by Bernard Hughes
2022
When Love Speaks: Choral Music by Owain Park
2020
David Bednall: Sudden Light (Choral Works)
2017
Singles
