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"one of the world's finest choirs" - MusicWeb International "a really outstanding choir" "one of the finest small choral groups of our
time" Over the last 27 years, the Vasari Singers has built up a reputation for excellence, versatility and sensitivity in both live performances and recordings and is widely regarded as one of the UK's leading choirs. With a commitment to supporting the creation of new choral works by British composers, Vasari has commissioned and premiered 20 new works since 2000. The choir gives annual concerts at London's St John's, Smith Square, and St Martin in the Fields, with wide-ranging repertoire. Vasari has performed in most of London's major concert venues, including the South Bank, the Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre and the Royal Albert Hall, taking part in numerous commercial concerts and festivals, including the BBC Proms. The choir sings regularly in Canterbury Cathedral, and has deputized for the choirs at Chester, Ely, Gloucester, Liverpool, Sheffield, York Minster, Winchester and Westminster Abbey. Vasari also takes on commercial work, having performed the soundtrack for the BAFTA-nominated Discovery Channel documentary, Seven Wonders, and the recent BBC 2 documentary Holy Warriors. The group has made 19 CDs, recording for EMI, United, Guild and Signum and has collected some enthusiastic reviews; two recordings of the music of Marcel Dupré both received the "Editors Choice" awards in Gramophone magazine, and our recording of the Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor was also recently voted Top Choice by Jeremy Summerly in Radio 3's and BBC Music Magazine's Building a Library. Most recently, the choir has recorded Francis Pott's 'The Cloud of Unknowing' with soloist James Gilchrist for Signum records in 2007. The work, commissioned in 2005 by Vasari Singers with a grant from the PRS Foundation, premièred to great acclaim in St Pancras church, London, in May 2006. Vasari Singers may be found on the web at www.vasarisingers.org
Jeremy Backhouse enjoys a growing reputation in the UK and overseas for inspiring vivid, passionate performances. Equally at home with Renaissance music through to contemporary commissions, he is widely recognised as one of Britain's leading choral conductors. He has been the sole Music Director of the award-winning chamber choir Vasari Singers since 1981 and is also Conductor of the 150-voice Guildford Philharmonic Choir, now Vivace Chorus. Head chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Jeremy Backhouse studied music and composition at Liverpool University and began his career as a Music Editor with EMI. From 1998 to December 2004 he was Conductor of the Wooburn Singers - only the third in the choir's history, following Richard Hickox and Stephen Jackson. He has also worked with the BBC Club Choir, Kent Youth Choir, Brighton Festival Chorus, London Choral Society, Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir, Philharmonia Chorus and the BBC Singers.
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You can visit the Vasari Singers' web site at You can visit Jeremy Backhouse's web site
at
Photos: Sim Canetty-Clarke |
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