Brochure - Sample Programmes

Conductor/Co-Founder - Harry Bradford Co-Founders - Danni O’Neill and Kirsty O’Neill

“A very exciting young chamber ensemble” Peter Phillips

“Gob-smackingly stunning...we are all still talking about the experience”

Audience Member

“Recordare share my passion for the choral repertoire combined with a drive for excellence, enthusiasm and entertaining performances” Ben Parry

“This is a very professional and inspiring ensemble”

Weston Music Society

ABOUT US

2 ABOUT US

Recordare is a professional vocal ensemble, passionate about curating highly expressive performances and recordings.

Founded in 2018 by award winning conductor Harry Bradford and professional sopranos Danni and Kirsty O’Neill, the group consists of some of the best young professional singers in the UK. With origins in the Genesis Sixteen training scheme and the Royal Academy of Music, the singers regularly perform with many of the UK’s finest vocal ensembles and are also accomplished soloists in the spheres of both oratorio and opera.

The size of the group varies depending on the musical demands of the project and this flexible structure allows the group to offer a varied musical palette from intimate, solo voice programmes right up to larger scale choral/orchestral works. The group performs most regularly as a 16-voice chamber choir which lends itself well to the various musical demands of the group’s innovative programmes.

Previous performances have included concerts for Weston Music Society, Martin Randall Travel - including the ‘London Choral Day’ and the ‘Celebrating William Byrd’ festival. ‘Music Divine’ for the Islington Proms, sold out concerts of ‘An Echo’s Reply’, including Frank Martin’s Messe pour double choeur and ‘Ye Sacred Muses’ in St Margaret's Church, Putney. Another highlight includes opening the prestigious 'Spotlight Concert' as part of The Sixteen's ‘Sounds Sublime’ festival.

Recordare have also appeared on Classic FM's social media channels with a performance of Reginald Jacques’ arrangement of Away in a manger which reached over 90,000 views. This, alongside two other recordings with Selber Records, can be found on Spotify and all other major streaming platforms.

In 2020, Recordare enjoyed working with the 10,000-strong Choir of the Earth (with worldwide membership), creating learning tracks and providing solos for their ‘Requiems at Home’ and ‘Christmas at Home’ projects. The group has since supported a number of in-person come and sing events and is often invited to perform at weddings, funerals and other functions.

MEET THE TEAM

Harry Bradford

is a prize-winning conductor and choral director working in the UK and Europe. Since winning Second Prize in the prestigious Eric Ericson Award in 2021, he has collaborated with a number of the world’s finest vocal ensembles including the MDR Rundfunkchor, Leipzig, the Eric Ericsons Kammarkör, The Sixteen and the Swedish Radio Choir.

Recent career highlights include the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 and JS Bach B Minor Mass at Cadogan Hall, Handel Israel in Egypt at St John’s Smith Square and CPE Bach Magnificat at the St Endellion Easter Festival. Alongside his position as the conductor of Recordare, Harry is the Musical Director of Thames Philharmonic Choir, the English Baroque Choir and North Herts Guild of Singers.

HARRY BRADFORD

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Equally in demand as workshop leader, Harry has led choral workshops for The Sixteen as part of their Choral Pilgrimage tour, the Cherubim Music Trust and Labrador Events. Harry was also a course director for the Choir of the Earth, an online choir with a global membership, leading them in their ‘Requiems at Home’ and Festival of Music courses.

Harry read music at Downing College Cambridge and was a member of the choir of King’s College under the late Sir Stephen Cleobury. He studied Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Professor Patrick Russill and graduated with distinction, a DipRAM and the Academy Alumni Award for ‘a singularly distinguished studentship’. During his time at the Academy, Harry was also Genesis Sixteen conducting scholar 2018-19, studying under Harry Christophers and Eamonn Dougan, and the Alec Robertson scholar at Westminster Cathedral.

He remains active as a singer and recently performed as part of the Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal at the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Danni O’Neill

soprano, recently graduated with distinction in her Master’s degree in vocal performance from the Royal Academy of Music.

Alongside holding a scholarship at RAM, Danni was awarded the Michael Head Prize for English Song, a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and performed JS Bach’s solo cantata Weichet Nur, Betrübte Schatten alongside violinist Rachel Podger.

Danni recently made her Wigmore Hall debut with the solo-voice ensemble Solomon’s Knot and her professional opera chorus debuts in Lille and Luxembourg Opera Houses performing Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Handel’s Semele with the Concert D’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm.

Recent oratorio engagements include JS Bach St Matthew Passion with The Hanover Band, St John Passion in Southwell Minster, Handel Dixit Dominus with The Instruments of Time and Truth, the world premiere of Cecilia McDowall’s Bird of Time with Ealing Choral Society and Telemann Cantata Deine Toten werden leben at Baroquestock. Recent operatic experience includes Hogarth’s Garden with London Early Opera and Second Woman/Witch in Dido and Aeneas with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra at the Musiikkitalo.

Danni continues to perform with many of the UK’s most prestigious ensembles including The Sixteen, Polyphony, The Gabrieli Consort, The Academy of Ancient Music, La Nuova Musica, and The BBC Singers. She combines this work with her position as a regular soprano in the professional choir at St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge.

Danni currently studies with Raymond Connell and is coached by James Baillieu.

Kirsty O’Neill

As a choral singer, Kirsty has performed, recorded and toured with professional choirs, including The Gabrieli Consort, Polyphony, The BBC Singers, Chamber Choir of London, Ora Singers and a number of London’s professional church choirs. She is an alumna of the Genesis Sixteen programme run by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen and was a Choral Scholar at Royal Holloway, University of London. With the Royal Holloway Chapel Choir, she toured and recorded extensively and featured as a soloist on their ‘Winter Songs’ Christmas CD which reached number one in the UK Classical Charts.

4 KIRSTY & DANNI O’NEILL

is a freelance soprano soloist performing as a soloist and ensemble singer throughout the UK and abroad. She is due to graduate from her Master’s degree in vocal performance at The Royal Academy of Music in 2024 where she holds a scholarship and is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust.

Kirsty is a regular soloist for Oratorio concerts around the country with recent highlights including Mozart Requiem and Solemn Vespers, and Haydn Nelson Mass in Canterbury Cathedral, Handel Dixit Dominus and JS Bach’s B Minor Mass in Norwich Cathedral, JS Bach St John Passion with Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Mozart Mass in C Minor with Ealing Choral Society in Cadogan Hall.

SAMPLE PROGRAMMES The following is a selection of our sample acappella concert programmes.

This is by no means an exhaustive list and each programme can be tailored to the particular demands of the venue and occasion. Each programme is approximately 1H 30Mins long (including interval) and assumes a chamber choir of 16 singers with the exception of 'An Echo's Reply' (18 singers) and our two consort programmes 'Songs of the Setting Sun' and 'Flowers of the Field' (8 singers or 16 singers).

SAMPLE PROGRAMMES

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Arise, My Love ......................................... p. 7 Beyond the Stars ................................. p. 8 Christmas ........................................................ p. 9 Flowers of the Field ......................... p. 10 An Echo’s Reply ...................................... p. 11 Songs of the Setting Sun .......... p. 12 The Angels Dancing ........................ p. 13 The Aviary ...................................................... p. 14 War and Peace ........................................ p. 15 Ye Sacred Muses .................................. p. 16 SAMPLE PROGRAMMES

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Arise, My Love In a geo-political era of much uncertainty and strife, we can find comfort in the omnipotence and all-encompassing beauty of love in all its forms. In this programme we explore, through a variety of musical lenses, romantic love, familial love and indeed neighbourly love - the love and mutual respect between every human on the earth. We begin with settings of the ‘Song of Songs’, forms of Hebrew love poetry, with a varied selection of music by Aleotti, Willan, Daley and Gjeilo amongst others.

English Folksongs and partsongs also feature prominently with music from two of the great 20th century composers, Finzi and Vaughan Williams.

Representing the programme’s two central themes are Bertolusi’s sumptuous Osculetur me and Gustav Holst’s wonderfully dramatic I Love My Love, which both feature as part of our very first set of recorded singles, released in 2021.

Claudio Monteverdi – Si ch’io vorrei morire Vincenzo Bertolusi – Osculetur me Rafaella Aleotti – Surge propera Healey Willan – Rise up, my love Eleanor Daley – Upon Your Heart Ola Gjeilo – Northern Lights Edward Cuthbert Bairstow – I sat down under his shadow John Sheppard – I give you a new commandment Thomas Tallis – If ye love me Roderick Williams – Love bade me welcome Thomas Tomkins – When David heard Robert Ramsey – How are the mighty fallen Gerald Finzi – I praise the tender flower

ARISE, MY LOVE

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Gerald Finzi – My spirit sang all day Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Dark Eyed Sailor Gustav Holst – I Love My Love Trad. arr. Janet Wheeler – Like a Red, Red Rose Jake Runestad – Let My Love Be Heard David Bednall – The Cloths of Heaven Approximate duration 1h 20min including Interval

“Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, Who made the eyes but I?”

Beyond the Stars ‘One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind’ – throughout history, we have been amazed and infatuated by the beauty of the night sky. Generations of humans have wondered why we are here and what lies beyond our realm, with the shimmering promise of the stars seen as dazzling beacons of hope to the dreamers looking up. ‘Beyond the Stars’ represents a varied curation of music with an interstellar theme from both the sacred and secular realms. Religion and science find a fascinating common ground in this programme with music for Epiphany and in celebration of the Virgin Mary contrasted with Alec Roth’s Stargazer and Eric Whitacre’s wonderfully compelling Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine.

Elsewhere, Laura Mvula’s hauntingly beautiful Sing to the Moon and Charles Villiers Stanford’s God and the Universe remind us of the comfort that can be found in remembering our place in the incomprehensibly large universe in which we exist.

Plainsong - Ave maris stella Otto Olsson – Ave maris stella Francisco Guerrero - Conditor alme siderum William Byrd - Siderum rector Claudio Monteverdi – Sfogava con le stelle Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – The Evening Star Alec Roth – Stargazer Ériks Ešenvalds – Stars

Eric Whitacre – Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine Orlande de Lassus – Videntes stellam Lucy Walker – There will be stars

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Laura Mvula – Sing to the Moon

BEYOND THE STARS

Ben Ponniah – Seeing the star

Francisco Lopez Capillas – Cui luna, sol et omnia Charles Villiers Stanford – God and the Universe Charles Hubert Hastings Parry – My soul, there is a Country

Approximate duration 1h 30min including Interval

“I hear them singing as they shine.”

Christmas Now May We Singen Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without choral music. Whether it be in churches, schools, railway stations or simply at home, the sound of voices singing together in harmony has become synonymous with festive cheer and good will. In our selection of Christmas music, we explore several important moments of the Christmas story; the excited anticipation of advent, the journeys of the shepherds and wise men, the wrath of Herod and the intimacy of the nativity tableaux. Contemporary composers feature heavily here with music by Anna Semple, Kerensa Briggs, Oliver Tarney and Richard Allain placed alongside favourites by Bob Chilcott, Cecilia McDowall and Arvo Pärt. Despite its apparent simplicity, Reginald Jacques’ arrangement of a traditional Normandy tune for Away in a manger is certainly one of the standout pieces in this programme.

The piece is very special to us all and our recording was broadcast widely on Classic FM’s social media channels in 2021. Our selection of festive delights is rounded off with Ben Parry’s arrangement of Jingle Bells that will be sure to bring a smile to your face and leave you replete with Christmas joy.

Michael Praetorius – Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Kerensa Briggs – A tender shoot Richard Rodney Bennet – The Apple Tree Ben Parry – Veni Emmanuel Anna Semple – Drop down, ye heavens Francisco Guerrero – Pastores loquebantur Bob Chilcott – The Shepherd’s Carol Orlande de Lassus – Videntes stellam Oliver Tarney – The Wise Men and the Star Richard Allain – Coventry Carol Herbert Howells – Here is the little door Arnold Bax – I Sing of a Maiden Arvo Pärt – Bogoroditse Djevo Benjamin Britten – A Hymn to the Virgin

CHRISTMAS

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Jonathan Rathbone – The Oxen Trad arr. David Willcocks – Tomorrow shall be my dancing day Trad arr. Reginald Jacques – Away in a manger John Tavener – The Lamb Cecilia McDowall – Now may we singen Healey Willan – Hodie, Christus natus est!

Trad arr. Ben Parry – Jingle Bells Approximate duration 1h 30min including Interval

“Blooms in the cold bleak winter, Turning our darkness into light.”

Flowers of the Field As the pressures resulting from the impending climate crisis dominate our headlines it is important to take time and appreciate the beauties of the natural world around us, and what we stand to lose. Christopher Smart wrote in his poem Jubilate Agno, ‘for the flowers are great blessings’ and indeed we are truly blessed to live alongside and in tandem with such a diverse and vibrant part of the natural world. With the concept of the rose having strong associations with elements of the Christian faith, Marian and Christmas music feature heavily in this programme, with Howells’ timeless A spotless rose a particular highlight.

Alongside a variety of madrigals and traditional folksongs from Scotland, Sweden and China, Britten’s Five Flower Songs provide the main body of secular music. The musical apex is found in Clemens non Papa’s motet Ego flos campi, after which the programme is named. The luxurious polyphonic writing arrives with majestic splendour at a final chord which is reminiscent of a flower finally and perfectly coming into bloom.

John Rutter – There is a Flower Kerensa Briggs – A tender shoot Piotr Illych Tchaikovsky – Crown of Roses William Byrd – Crowned with flowers John Wilbye – Flora gave me fairest flowers Robert Pearsall – Sweet as a flower in May Benjamin Britten – Five Flower Songs Paul Mealor – Now sleeps the crimson petal

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – I vaghi fiori Rafaella Aleotti – Vidi speciosam Clemens non Papa – Ego flos campi Eric Whitacre – Go lovely rose Rihards Dubra – Florete flores Hugo Alfven – Uti vår hage Trad arr. Sebastian Johns– Jasmine Flower Song (Mo Li Hua) Trad arr. Jacob Ewens and Esther Jones – Wild Mountain Thyme

Approximate duration 1h 25min including Interval

“How small a part of time they share, That are so wondrous sweet and fair!”

10 FLOWERS OF THE FIELD

Herbert Howells – A spotless rose

An Echo’s Reply With an excitingly broad harmonic and textural palette, music for a cappella double choir has been seen as a gold standard for choral composers throughout the generations.

In a pan-European adventure beginning with renaissance music by Palestrina and Philips, we then explore music by Mendelssohn and Brahms as well as Slovenian composer Nana Forte’s setting of En ego campana – a highly rhythmic and intensely dramatic musical representation of tintinnabulation. The central item of the programme is Frank Martin’s Messe pour double choeur which is widely regarded as one of the finest and most compelling pieces of a cappella choral music ever written. Martin pushes the choir to its absolute limits, utilising the full range of the ensemble to create sparkling textures and rich harmonic colours.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Magnificat primi toni Peter Philips – Ecce vicit leo Nana Forte – En ego campana Felix Mendelssohn – Sechs Sprüche Johannes Brahms – Fest und Gedensprüche

AN ECHO’S REPLY

11 Frank Martin – Messe pour double choeur

Approximate duration 1h 25min including Interval

“I did not want it to be performed…

I considered it…as being a matter between God and myself.”

Songs of the Setting Sun ‘Now that the Sun hath veiled his light’ – words from Henry Purcell’s Evening Hymn reflecting the beautiful sight of the sun’s warm glow disappearing beyond the Western hills as the hustle and bustle of the day morphs seamlessly into the undisturbed serenity of the night. Influenced heavily by the evening service of Compline, we utilise both chant and movement in this programme to transport the listener into an almost hypnotic state of being.

Settings of Compline hymns, psalms and canticles by composers such as Palestrina, Assandra and Stravinsky are contrasted with secular music by Britten and Whitacre to create a holistic appreciation of eventide.

Gustav Holst’s spellbinding The Evening Watch takes centre stage, with a fascinating rendering of Henry Vaughan’s metaphysical Dialogue between body and soul before bed.

Accompanied by Holst’s lush harmonic writing, one is easily transported from the stresses of the day to a place of comfort and spiritual balm.

Robert White – Christe qui lux es et dies IV Thomas Tallis – Te lucis ante terminum Thomas Tallis – In manus tuas Philip Moore – Evening Prayers from Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Kerensa Briggs – Media vita Henry Walford Davies – Psalm 121 John Rutter – God be in my head Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Nunc dimittis Charles Wood – Hail, gladdening light

Owain Park – Night Prayer Maurice Durufle – Notre Père John Sheppard – The Lord’s Prayer

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Benjamin Britten – The Evening Primrose

SONGS OF THE SETTING SUN

Igor Stravinksy – Pater Noster

Gustav Holst – The Evening Watch Josef Rheinberger – Abendlied Caterina Assandra – Salve Regina Eric Whitacre – Sleep Approximate duration 1h 25min including Interval

“Farewell! I go to sleep; but when the day-star springs, I’ll wake again.”

The Angels Dancing ‘The Angels Dancing’ is a celebration of the power and importance of music and the title is taken from the programme’s centrepiece, Britten’s glorious invocation of the patron saint of music Hymn to St Cecilia.

Britten’s piece is characterised by an overwhelming sense of joy and buoyancy which has influenced the rest of the programme. With madrigals by Lassus and Tomkins, partsongs by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s ecstatic Gaude et laetare and even Steve Reich’s Clapping Music, this programme is sure to, in the words of Britten’s epic, to ‘appear and inspire’.

Ivo Antognini – Canticum Novum William Byrd – Laudibus in sanctis Edward Elgar – There is sweet music Ralph Vaughan Williams – Silence and Music Benjamin Britten – Hymn to St Cecilia James MacMillan – Cecilia Virgo

Orlando Gibbons – O clap your hands Steve Reich – Clapping Music Cheryl Frances-Hoad – Gaude et laetare

THE ANGELS DANCING

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Thomas Tomkins – Music divine Orlande de Lassus – Musica Dei donum optimi Richard Rodney Bennett – What sweeter music Sarah Quartel – How can I keep from singing Randall Thompson – Alleluia

Approximate duration 1h 30min including Interval

“Where tuneful concords sweetly do agree.”

The Aviary Birdsong has the ability to charm and beguile us, stir and energise us or gently lull us to sleep.

It is the first sound we hear in the morning and the last thing we hear at night, Composers throughout history have been inspired by birds, both in terms of their music and what they represent, and this collection of music sees us dive deeper into this fascinating range of musical material. Many different species of bird are represented; larks, swallows, robins and swans to name a few with music ranging from Cornysh to Copland, Gibbons to McGlade and Hindemith to Panufnik. Perhaps the most exciting and striking piece in the programme is Janequin’s Le chant des oiseaux - a masterpiece in word-painting with exact imitations of birdsong expertly woven into the polyphony. This is a truly varied and unique aural experience that we are excited to share with you.

Tomás Luis de Victoria – Vidi speciosam Thomas Tallis – Like as the doleful dove Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Turtle Dove Becky McGlade – To a Skylark Aaron Copland – Lark Trad arr. James Whitbourn – The Lark in Clear Air Thomas Morley – Hard by a crystal fountain Jacques Arcadelt – Il bianco e dolce cigno Paul Hindemith – Un cygne Orlando Gibbons – The silver swan

Trad arr. John Rutter – She’s like the swallow Caroline Shaw – And the swallow William Cornysh – Ah, Robin Clément Janequin – Le chant des oiseaux John McCabe – Proud Songsters Ruth Byrchmore – A Birthday Charles Villiers Stanford – The Bluebird

Approximate duration 1h 30min including Interval

“My heart is like a singing bird.”

14 THE AVIARY

Roxanna Panufnik – Celestial Bird

War and Peace In many ways, the entirety of history can be delineated in terms of Tolstoy’s famous dichotomy - war is waged in search of peace, peace is interrupted by the perils of war and so the cycle repeats.

With this selection of music, we present representations of war with fiery polyphony from Dering, Tomkins and Janequin which are contrasted with reflective music by Daley, Harris and Mauresberger commenting on the devastating aftermath that war inevitably leaves in its wake. The concept of peace is explored with highly evocative music by Piers Kennedy, Undine Smith Moore and Pawel Łukaszewski, with each piece using both harmony and texture to create aural manifestations of absolute tranquillity.

Richard Dering – Factum est silentium Thomas Tomkins – O God, the proud are risen Clément Janequin – La Guerre William Henry Harris – Holy is the true light Rudolf Mauresberger – Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst Eleanor Daley – In Remembrance Edward Elgar – They are at rest Arvo Pärt – Da pacem Domine

Gioachino Rossini – O salutaris hostia Amy Beach – Help us, O God

WAR AND PEACE

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Amy Beach – Peace, I leave with you Piers Kennedy – Blessed are the Peacemakers Undine Smith Moore – We Shall Walk Through the Valley Pawel Łukaszewski – Nunc dimittis Ralph Vaughan Williams – Valiant for Truth

Approximate duration 1h 30min including Interval

“My sword, I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage.”

Ye Sacred Muses William Byrd is undoubtedly one of Britain’s finest musical exports and in 2023 we commemorate 400 years since his death. With such a monumental compositional output, we have chosen to focus on two distinct periods of Byrd’s life, namely his time at the Chapel Royal working with Thomas Tallis on their 1575 Cantiones Sacrae, and his time living and working in secret as a recusant Catholic in Essex during the late 1590s. The title ‘Ye Sacred Muses’ comes from Byrd’s famous song written in memory of Tallis with his grief made manifest with the powerful words ‘Tallis is dead and music dies’. In an appropriately funereal selection, we commend Byrd with Howells’ piece Take him, earth, for cherishing – written in memory of President John F Kennedy but with words that seem a fitting tribute to a man whose music shaped the very fabric of our choral tradition.

William Byrd – Emendemus in melius Plainsong - Misereris omnium William Byrd – O lux beata Trinitas Thomas Tallis – Salvator mundi I William Byrd – Ye sacred muses (Tallis is dead) Plainsong - Miserere mei William Byrd – Memento homo Kerensa Briggs – Media vita William Byrd – Tribue, domine

William Byrd – Vigilate William Byrd – Kyrie from Mass for five voices Thomas Tomkins – Funeral Sentences William Byrd – Sanctus and Benedictus from Mass for five voices Herbert Howells – Take him, earth, for cherishing William Byrd – Agnus Dei from Mass for five voices

Approximate duration 1h 30min including Interval

“Ye Sacred Muses, Whom Music’s lore delighteth.”

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Roxanna Panufnik – Kyrie after Byrd

BECOME A FRIEND The Friends of Recordare play an integral part in the continuance of our musical journey.

Your friendship enables us to financially support our musicians, contribute to wider recording and touring projects, commission new compositions, as well as help us with our day-to-day running costs.

Thank you!

AMETHYST FRIEND

Friends’ newsletter, hear about upcoming events Acknowledgement on our website and in programmes * Friends only receptions and events

SAPPHIRE FRIEND

All Amethyst benefits, plus Discounted and concession price tickets * Reserved seating *

BECOME A FRIEND

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EMERALD FRIEND

All Sapphire benefits, plus Two complimentary tickets per year Invitations to attend rehearsals

DONATE *at self-promoted events and other possible events.

GET IN TOUCH If you would prefer to support us by one-off donation or to make a larger donation to the group, to fund a particular event, tour, commission or recording project, please do get in touch.

RECORDARECHAMBERCHOIR@GMAIL.COM www.recordarechamberchoir.co.uk @recordare_choir @recordarechamberchoir @recordarechoir @RecordareC @recordare-chamber-choir @recordarechamberchoir

18 GET IN TOUCH

Get in touch to reserve tickets, book us for events, festivals and concerts, or ask any questions you may have.

We look forward to hearing from you.