Leicestershire Chorale

The Spirit of Truth - In celebration of 20 years of Leicestershire Chorale Choral Scholarships Scheme
2025-07-05 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | St Andrew’s Church, 53 Jarrom Street, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE2 7DH, United Kingdom
Choral Metamorphoses of existing works by Tallis, Byrd, Bach, Stanford, Vaughan Williams and Wesley, adapted and rearranged by modern composers Judith Bingham, Roderick Williams, Knut Nystedt, Bob Chilcott and William Petter
Tom Williams Conductor
Nick Scott-Burt Piano and Organ
St Andrew’s Jarrom St, Leicester
After a chance conversation in August 2005 with a Leicester University student on an RSCM course in Salisbury, the name of Adam Piplica was suggested as someone who could become the first of now well over a hundred young singers, to benefit from scholarship to sing with Chorale, whilst still at school or university. Many have gone on to university scholarships or to music conservatoire and some have even built successful singing careers beyond that. Others have kept singing as a strong suit and important part of their adult lives, some even coming back to re-join Chorale as members later on. To celebrate this momentous anniversary, we aim to invite back as many former scholars as possible to join together in a ‘Scholars Choir’ who will sing with and independently of our existing Chorale. We will explore a series of choral re-imaginings of classics from the repertoire such as Thomas Tallis’s If ye love me, William Byrd’s Ave verum and JS Bach’s chorale Komm süsser Tod, reworked by Judith Bingham, Roderick Williams and Knut Nystedt respectively. This programme will provide the perfect opportunity both to hear our former scholars singing in their present glory, but also to have them sing amongst us once again.
Tickets £15, Friends £12, under 19 £10, under 13 £5
Tickets can be purchased via Ticketsource at The Spirit of Truth at St Andrews Church event tickets from TicketSource

These are the Cries
2025-11-08 19:30 | St Catherine’s Church, Burbage, LE10 2DE
Music for Voices, Bass Viol and Chamber Organ in the significant Anniversary Years of composers Orlando Gibbons, Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina and Luciano Berio.
7.30pm Sat 8th November St Catherine’s Church, Burbage LE10 2DE
Tom Williams Director
Nick Scott-Burt Chamber Organ
Matthew Farrell Countertenor and Bass Viol
A programme to celebrate the music of three great composers of the past, paired with music from celebrated living composer James Weeks and with period instrumentalists Matthew Farrell and Nick Scott-Burt. 2025 is a major anniversary year for all three composers Palestrina, Gibbons and Berio, who each made a unique and telling contribution to the landscape of classical music history. In this concert, we seek to highlight music from each that might be slightly lesser-known to audiences, including Gibbons Cries of London, three movements of Berio’s vocal sequence of the same name and music from the Canticum Canticorum (Song of Songs) by Palestrina, paired with contemporary settings of similar texts by James Weeks, taken from his work Mala Punica and a more recent reworking of a Gibbons madrigal. Performing alongide the choir will be exciting young countertenor and bass viol player Matthew Farrell, former musical son of Leicester who is now making waves as a member of Westminster Cathedral Choir and with his viol consort Arculo.
Tickets: £15 Full £12 Friends £10 U19 £5 U13. Tickets on the door and at Ticketsource.

Illuminare Jerusalem
2025-12-13 19:30 - 21:00 | St Mary de Castro, Castle Street, Leicester, LE1 5WN, United Kingdom
Choral Music for Advent and Christmas written by women or those writing for upper voices, including music by Judith Weir, Celia McDowall, Becky McGlade and Kerry Andrew
Tom Williams Director
Nick Scott-Burt Organ
A fresh and thrilling take on the Advent and Christmas story from a variety of composers, many writing in the 21st Century, with less recent contributions from Hildegard of Bingen and Italian Baroque composer Chiara Margarita Cozzolani. These carols include two written by former and current Masters of the Queen’s/King’s Music and several performed in high profile BBC broadcasts and recorded on award-winning album releases. Join us for this new and exciting venture.
Sat 13th December at St Mary de Castro, Castle St, Leicester, LE1 5WN
Tickets: £15 Full £12 Friends £10 U19 £5 U13 on the door and from Ticketsource

Midwinter Songs
2026-02-14 19:30 - 21:00 | Stoneygate Baptist Church, 315 London Road, Leicester, LE2 3ND
Choral and Solo Song with Piano from the American 20th Century, including music by Morten Lauridsen, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Randall Thompson
Tom Williams Director
Nick Scott-Burt Piano
Morten Lauridsen’s five settings of the English poet and historical novelist Robert Graves, provide a striking and varied musical commentary on love and loss. Originally scored for piano and choral voices, Lauridsen later orchestrated the movements. It is his earlier and more intimate version that we use as the basis for our programme of 20th Century American music, performed in the 250th anniversary year of American Independence. In addition to the Midwinter Songs, we will also sing Lauridsen’s iconic setting of O magnum mysterium and music by American greats Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Randall Thompson. An aptly reflective programme for the concert date in question.
Tickets: £15 Full £12 Friends £10 U19 £5 U13 on the door and from Ticketsource

Lamentations
2026-03-28 19:30 - 21:00 | St Mary de Castro, Castle Street, Leicester, LE1 5WN, United Kingdom
Choral Songs of Lamentation from the Renaissance to the Modern Age including music by Thomas Tallis, Dominique Phinot, Rudolf Mauersberger and Edward Bairstow
Tom Williams Director
Nick Scott-Burt Organ
The Lamentations of Jeremiah have proved a most poignantly fruitful text for composers throughout the history of choral music. In this concert, punctuated by inventive and expressive organ improvisation from Nick Scott-Burt, we present two classic interpretations of this great biblical text by Thomas Tallis and Edward Bairstow, as well as a couple of lesser-known responses from Franco-Flemish composer Dominique Phinot and former conductor of the Dresdener Kreuzchor, Rudolf Mauersberger. The latter’s response to the destruction of his home city in the Second World War, the motet Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst, is one of the most profound settings of the Lamentation text in whole musical canon. Beautiful polyphony combined with thought-provoking themes to stir and soothe the soul in equal measure.
Tickets: £15 Full £12 Friends £10 U19 £5 U13 on the door or from Ticketsource

Transports of Delight!
2026-06-27 19:30 - 21:00 | St Andrew’s Church, 53 Jarrom Street, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE2 7DH, United Kingdom
An eclectic programme of Lyrical Pop, Tudor madrigals, Victoriana, Modes of limited transposition, Country and Western and Folk Song Arrangements
Tom Williams Director
Nick Scott-Burt Piano & Organ
Marc Vastenavondt Compere
Tom Williams says:

‘For our summer concert this year we’re following a route we don’t usually take. We let our hair down more than normal, performing often quite an eclectic programme, which ends up with some pieces one might not necessarily associate with a choir like Leicestershire Chorale…

Over the years we’ve become better and better at delivering this change of musical pace and I know the choir have enjoyed it too, bringing a different challenge to some of the more intense classical music we perform at other points. I’ve had experience and joy in singing music that wasn’t always within my regular wheelhouse, so for this summer I decided to revisit a programme I co-crafted for another group – an a cappella vocal ensemble called Six8.

Transports of Delight is a sometimes wild and heady mix of renaissance madrigals (both English and Italian), a renaissance motet from the Franco-Flemish school; a Romantic English part song by Granville Bantock, a Schubert lied, an imaginative piece of Messiaen organ music, with some a cappella arrangements of folk songs, spirituals and pop songs too. These often very different musical moments are linked by their stories of journeying, by various means and modes of transport and to sometimes surprising and even heavenly destinations.

The evening will be led by a compere, the former West End lead singer and actor Mark Vastenavondt, quite possibly akin to the charming, rambling style of Messrs Flanders and Swann to whom the programme is in a roundabout way dedicated. We hope that, with a glass of something delicious in hand, that you’ll enjoy the journey, stopping to wonder along the way at the many jewels we offer for you to behold. Either way, it’ll certainly be memorable and an exciting departure from our normal fare……’
Tickets: £15 Full £12 Friends £10 U19 £5 U13 on the door and from Ticketsource

From nightly fears and fantasies: Choral Music for Compline
2026-11-07 19:30 - 21:00 | St Andrew’s Church, 53 Jarrom Street, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE2 7DH, United Kingdom
Choral music, organ and piano solo based on the monastic rite of Compline, including works by John Joubert, Matthew Martin, Henry Balfour Gardiner, William Harris and Kerry Andrew.
Tom Williams – Director
Nick Scott-Burt – Organ and Piano
A mixture of choral music, organ and piano solo to warm the heart and keep out the cold as the clocks go back and the nights draw in. The ancient monastic rite of Compline provides an inspiring structure for this contemplative programme. We bring you both rousing paeans to the ending of the day such as that by Henry Balfour Gardiner and soothing prayers to pave the way for blessed rest from the pen of Jonne Donne – set so beautifully to music by William Harris. Also, some more recent settings of Compline texts by Matthew Martin and Kerry Andrew. We hope these may offer a moment of quiet reflection close to the Eve of All Hallows and the Feast of All Souls.
Tickets: Full £18, Friends £15, U19 £5 on the door and available soon from Ticket source.

The Watchman Waketh: Choral Music for Advent
2026-12-19 18:30 - 19:30 | St Mary de Castro, Castle Street, Leicester, LE1 5WN, United Kingdom
Music for Advent including old favourites by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Orlando Gibbons and Otto Goldschmidt; newer settings of old texts by Christopher Fox and Judith Weir; three stirring congregational hymns; Bach on the piano and the organ; Advent poetry plus more besides, all woven into a moving candlelit sequence.
Tom Williams – Director
Nick Scott-Burt – Organ and Piano
To help maintain your sense of anticipation for Christmas coming, or indeed to offer an alternative to Slade, Mariah and the many iterations of O come all ye faithful you may have already heard this Festive season, we offer you a still rousing and uplifting programme of well-known and more recently-crafted choral and organ pieces for the season of Advent. You even get to join us in song, in three of the greatest carols of the season. As a reward for your efforts, we’ll offer you some mulled wine and a mince pie and hopefully provide a magical, candlelit atmosphere in this beautiful, 12th Century church within Leicester’s Old Castle quarter.
Please note the earlier start time – bring the family.
Tickets: Full £18, Friends £15, U19 £5 on the door and available soon from Ticket source.

Elijah (Pt I) Mendelssohn
2027-03-28 19:30 - 21:00 | Stoneygate Baptist Church, 315 London Road, Leicester, LE2 3ND
Tom Williams – Director
With Nicholas Scott-Burt and Da-Hee Kim piano duet
And Richard Latham baritone
In a similar production to our performance of Haydn’s great oratorio The Creation two seasons ago, we present to you Part I of Felix Mendelssohn’s epic tale of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, accompanied by piano duet and with most of the solo roles taken from within the choir. All except the title role, for which we’re immensely grateful to baritone Richard Latham in agreeing to come and perform with us. Come and revel in some glorious choruses, vocal chamber ensembles, lively narrative and rolling arias. This music is deeply elegant and attractive to the ear. A rare chance to hear the detail of a chamber performance with smaller forces and the clarity of piano duet accompaniment.
Tickets: Full £20, Friends £17, U19 £5 on the door and available soon from Ticket source.

Songs and Sonnets: Choral Music for A Summer's Evening
2027-06-26 19:30 - 21:00 | Church of St Peter and St Paul, Market Place, Uppingham, Leicestershire, LE15 9QH, United Kingdom
A programme inspired by our national bard William Shakespeare, in jazz-infused settings of his and other Elizabethan texts by George Shearing, John Rutter, Jaako Mantyjärvi and with solo songs by Arthur Young
Tom Williams – Director
With Nicholas Scott-Burt piano
Will Smith bass guitar/string bass
and soloists from within the choir
A programme on the lighter side, working with jazz piano and string bass in music by George Shearing (his famous Songs and Sonnets of the late Nineties), John Rutter’s swinging Birthday Madrigals, Jaako Mantyjärvi’s evocative Four Shakespeare Songs and other Elizabethan settings for solo voice by Arthur Young (previously recorded by jazz vocal legend Cleo Laine).
Tickets: Full £20, Friends £17, U19 £5 on the door and available soon from Ticket source.
