West London Chorus – Recent Events

19.00 Monday 15th December 2025 at St Nicholas Church, Church Street, Chiswick W4
Christmas Chorale Concert – ‘I Sing of a Maiden’

A candlelit concert from our Chorale Chamber Choir, including seasonal works by Rutter, Willcocks, Rachmanivov and others, including our own Hilary Campbell – also with mulled wine and mince pies!

 

 

19.30 Saturday 6th December 2025 – Winter Concert at St Michaels and All Angels, Bedford Park – Mozart & Haydn

Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Mozart – Missa Brevis in C K220 ‘Spatzenmesse’ (aka ‘Sparrow Mass’)
Haydn – Missa in angustiis (aka ‘Nelson Mass’)
..and other works

Two contrasting masses, with Mozart’s light and almost humorous ‘Sparrow Mass’, written when he was comparatively young, and Haydn’s ‘Mass in Troubled Times’ written at the peak of his career as a mature composer.

‘..a very ambitious programme beautifully conducted and executed..’

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Saturday 20th September 2025 at St Michaels Church W4
Come and Sing Workshop – Handel’s ‘Dixit Dominus’

Members and visitors from other choirs came together for the afternoon to explore this challenging work with our distinguished Music Director, Hilary Campbell.  This was also early preparation for our performing the work in July 2026 at our special 50th Anniversary Concert in the Cadogan Hall!

‘Well organised and enjoyable!’
‘I wasn’t expecting to love the music!’
‘I’ve learnt far more than I had even hoped!’
‘The choir’s enthusiasm is infectious!’

 

19/20th July 2025 at Southwark Cathedral, London SE1

This weekend we were honoured to be invited to be the guest choir for both days’ services and to sing in such a historic cathedral.

Here is a link to the live stream of our Choral Eucharist service at Southwark.
The service starts at about 4’30” in, and we begin singing the Gloria at 9’44”.

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Saturday 5th July 2025 – Summer Concert at St Stephens Church, Gloucester Road, SW7
‘The Rainbow’

This concert was a selection of choral pieces and songs on the theme of ‘colour’.
It featured the UK premiere of The Rainbow – a new work by Bob Chilcott. This vibrant nine-movement work added upper voices from local schools to the choir in a multi-faceted exploration of each colour of the rainbow; each assigned its own identity and framed as an element of the natural world.

Bob Chilcott congratulates us all at the UK premiere of ‘The Rainbow’

“What a fabulous concert! I was so thrilled by the performance of my piece and the commitment of all involved. The choir were really excellent and it was so great having the choir of students who were wonderful. Seeing and hearing a concert like this is a reminder of what it takes to make something like this happen. It shows that great things can happen not only through commitment of time and energy, generosity of spirit, and of friendship… but also through a collective dedication to something that clearly enriches lives. It’s a privilege for me, as a composer, to have you act as advocates for my work in this way and I am so grateful to you all for this. Thank you.”

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Saturday 5th April 2025 – Spring concert at St Michaels and All Angels, Bedford Park W4
Rossini’s ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’
Rossini had finished writing his many operas thirty years previously, but he came out of a comfortable retirement to write this delightful and original work, which he somewhat self-deprecatingly called his ‘poor little mass’. We performed this intriguing work , which was neither little nor particularly solemn, to an attentive and appreciative full house!

This from a current bass: ” I was so blown away by the performance I decided to join the choir”

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Saturday 1st March 2025 – at St Peters Church, Black Lion Lane, London W6
Come and Sing – Rutter’s ‘Gloria’
This was a fun afternoon working on Rutter’s Gloria under the direction of our award winning Musical Director, Hilary Campbell – with a scratch performance for friends and family!

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Monday 16th December 2024 – Christmas Concert at St Nicholas Church, Chiswick
‘A Christmas Rose’
This candlelit concert of Christmas music was given by our new Chorale chamber choir, featuring the choir and our soloist scholars singing works including…
My Love is like a Red, Red Rose – arr Williams
The Rose in the Middle of Winter – Chilcott
A Spotless Rose – Howells

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Saturday 7th December 2024 – Autumn concert at St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park W4
Handel’s ‘Messiah’
The evening saw a complete performance of Messiah Part One – the ‘Christmas’ part – concluding with the famous Hallelujah Chorus. In the afternoon we put on a special ‘Mini-Messiah‘ for families and children, to introduce them to the instruments of the orchestra and the different voices of the singers, and show how they all come together to produce Handel’s great music!

Both events were performed to packed houses and appreciative audiences!

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Saturday 6th July 2024 – Summer concert at St Nicholas Church, Church Street, Chiswick W4
‘A Fancy of Folksongs’
This was a selection of folk songs on the subject of ‘love and courtship’.
It featured works by Stephen Jackson and our Patron, Cecilia McDowall with many other traditional songs – some romantic and some bawdy!

Said Stephen afterwards:
“I was thrilled by your performance of Rio Grande. It’s not easy and you absolutely nailed it.”
..and from Cecilia: “What a truly lovely concert! I just loved A Fancy of Folksongs from the swaggering Ramblers to the engaging choral dialogue in O no, John! “

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Saturday 11th May 2024 – St Pauls Church, Grove Park Road, London W4 3SB
Come and Sing – ‘Messiah Choruses’
This afternoon was spent singing selected choruses from this iconic work under the stimulating direction of our Musical Director Hilary Campbell – building up to a scratch ‘performance’ for family and friends!

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Weekend of 13/14th April 2024 – York Minster
We were honoured to be invited back to York Minster to be the guest choir for their weekend services.

Live stream of our Choral Eucharist service on Sunday 14th April in York.
Live stream of our Choral Evensong service on Sunday 14th April in York.

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Saturday 23rd March 2024 – Spring concert at St Paul’s Grove Park
Schubert – Mass No 5 in A flat D678 and a selection of Lieder
Another welcome full house enjoyed a selection of Schubert Lieder followed by our performance of Schubert’s original and inventive Mass No 5, accompanied by the orchestral forces of the British Sinfonietta.

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Monday 11th December 2023 – ‘Christmas by Candlelight’ at St Nicholas Church, W4 2PH
This was the first concert by our WLC Chorale – a small chamber choir of members from the West London Chorus. It was an eclectic mix of beautiful and inspiring Christmas music, some better known than others, with solos from our own choral scholars – together with mulled wine & mince pies!

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Saturday 2nd December 2023 – Winter Concert at St Michaels Bedford Park
‘Bach and Vivaldi’
A full house enjoyed these two much-loved classics of the choral repertoire – Bach’s Magnificat and Vivaldi’s Gloria – with music both magnificent and glorious from the choir and guest soloists – and the orchestral forces of the British Sinfonietta!

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2nd/3rd September 2023 – Guest choir at Llandaff Cathedral

This weekend we were guest choir at Llandaff Cathedral for Choral Evensong on the Saturday and Sunday and Choral Eucharist on the Sunday.

The works we performed in these services included Mozart’s Missa Brevis and Ave Verum Corpus, Magnifcat and Nunc Dimittis by Vaughan Williams and Stamford, Rutter’s A Crown of Glory, Elgar’s O Hearken Thou and Howell’s Like as the Hart.

Here’s a link to the ‘live stream’ of our Sunday Choral Evensong on the Llandaff Cathedral website.
The actual service starts at about four minutes in.

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Saturday 1st July 2023 – Summer Concert at St Pauls Grove Park W4
‘A Coronation Celebration’

This was a timely ‘Coronation Celebration’ with guest singers from the West London Chamber Choir and brass ensemble Bella Tromba.

The concert included these rousing choral works:
Walton – Coronation Te Deum
Rutter – A Crown of Glory
Bruckner – Ecce Sacerdos Magnus
Elgar – O Hearken Thou
Parry – I Was Glad
…and these even more rousing works for brass and organ:
Britten – Fanfare for St Edmundsbury
Holst – Deddington Suite
Walton – Crown Imperial – Orb and Sceptre

After the concert, members of the brass ensemble said:
“…what a pleasure it was to work with a choir who really went for it and a conductor with such high standards. We were all buzzing after!”

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Saturday 1st April 2023 – Spring Concert at St Michael & All Angels, W4 1TT
‘Psalms, Songs and Seasons’
This concert included Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein, Five Hebrew Love Songs by Eric Whitacre and A Time for all Seasons written by Cecilia McDowall, who is also the Choir’s Patron.

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3rd December 2022 – Winter Concert at St Michael’s and All Angels, Bedford Park W4
Mozart Requiem

For our big December concert we performed one of the most famous choral works in the classical repertoire, with a full orchestra and in front of an appreciative full-house. Many of those present said this was one of our best performances!
Written in 1791 during the last days of Mozart’s life, the origins of this beautiful work are shrouded in mystery, though none of that detracts from its musical power and emotional impact.

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July 2022 – ‘Platinum Jubilee Celebratory Summer Concert’ at St Peters Church, Acton
Handel’s Coronation Anthems
Handel’s four celebratory Anthems, including the rousing Zadok the Priest and The King shall rejoice, were written in 1727 for the Coronation of George II. A contemporary account of their first performance in Westminster Abbey describes a somewhat chaotic event – unlike our polished performance at this celebratory event!
[This was our first substantial audience since the Coronavirus restrictions had been lifted.]

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April 2022 – Easter Concert in St Paul’s Church, Grove Park
‘A New Heaven’
This was a programme of sacred and uplifting choral works by 20th century British composers, including Elgar, Howells, Bainton and others.
A few days later we took these works on our much delayed performing tour of Bruges, Ghent and Ypres.

Singing in Bruges and at the Menin Gate in Ypres

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Our first event of 2022 was a ‘Come and Sing’ workshop in January, when choir members and guests spent the afternoon working on Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ with our musical director Hilary Campbell.

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December 2021 at St Michael and all Angels, Chiswick
‘On Christmas Night’
This Christmas concert saw the launch of our first commercial CD recording as the West London Chorus with two festive and seasonal works by the well-known choral composer, Bob Chilcott.
Wenceslas is based on the legendary tale of the Bohemian King and his Page, while On Christmas Night charts the trajectory of the Nativity story.

Play an extract from our CD:

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September 2021 – St Paul’s Church Grove Park – Choral Composition Competition

Our much delayed Choral Composition Competition was funded by a legacy from Robin Johnson, a long standing member of the choir. From the many entries, the choir prepared and performed a shortlist of five pieces, and we were delighted that Cecilia McDowall and Stephen Jackson agreed to adjudicate the competition on the night. The concert took place with a small invited audience in accordance with the prevailing Coronavirus restrictions.

Listen to the music!
Watch the whole evening’s event!
More about the Robin Johnson Composition Concert

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December 2020 – St Michael & All Angels W4
‘On Christmas Night’
This was our last pre-Covid concert, when we put on a socially-distanced performance of this work by Bob Chilcott, with no audience and a reduced number of singers, who came together under the prevailing Coronavirus restrictions.

Programme notes and accompanying text