Getting to know Bristol - Exultate Singers
Posted on: 28 Mar 2017When it comes to sheer divine choral mastery, few ensembles can match Bristol's Exultate Singers. Founded in 2002, the choir has gone on to carve out a considerable reputation as one of the finest group exponents of the choral craft in the UK.
With 200 concerts, broadcasts on Radios 2, 3 and 4 and Classic FM as well as sublime performances on The One Show and BBC's Songs of Praise, they have gone from strength to strength with a repertoire of concerts and recordings that are as formidable as they are fantastic.
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For their concert at St George's on Saturday 1st April they will be joined by the music ensemble His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts and soloists from the vocal group I Fagiolini for Monteverdi's masterpiece, a work that consummately and seductively combines the regal, triumphant majesty of the Renaissance with the grandeur of the Baroque.
We caught up with Exultate Singers' conductor David Ogden to ask him about, amongst other things, the formation of the choir, their programme for this year and their plans for the future.
What made you put the choir together?
I was asked to do a BBC Radio 4 live broadcast of Sunday Worship in September 2002 so I got a group of friends together to sing for it, and we soon realised the choir had potential and ambition. We wanted to explore what we achieve in performances of choral works from the 16th century to the present day and we are thankful that we have a loyal and growing following of audience members who enjoy what we do and keep coming to hear us!
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Is the choir made up of all professional singers or a combination of amateurs and professionals?
The choir is mostly made of up very good amateur singers although we do have two members who sing professionally in concerts and recitals around Bristol. The others include an artist, a graphic designer, a magazine editor, a student, PR and HR professionals, psychotherapists, civil servants, lawyers, engineers, doctors, teachers, university lecturers, accountants and people who work in the railway and nuclear industries. Quite a mix.
What do you think of the current classical music scene in Bristol?
It’s incredibly vibrant! With thousands of accomplished amateur musicians making music every week as well as the visiting professional performers at the Colston Hall and St George’s Bristol as well lunchtime organ and vocal recitals, you could go to a classical music concert every day.
Tell us a bit about the concerts and any recordings you've got lined up for this year.
One of the strengths of the choir is its flexibility which enables us to stage a huge range of concerts of different scales, so this year we’re collaborating with the 100-voice City of Bristol Choir and the professional orchestra Bristol Ensemble for a performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in the Colston Hall in June and giving a much smaller-scale concert at Westbury-on-Trym Parish Church for its 1300th anniversary. In May we’re giving a concert in Cheltenham inspired by flight, and later in the year we’re travelling to Sicily for a tour, giving two concerts there. In November we’re back at St George’s for a Remembrance Sunday concert which will include two world premieres, including a work by the world-famous Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan, and then it’s on to Christmas with three concerts in St James Priory and St George’s Bristol. This year is Exultate Singers’ 15th anniversary so we’ve been active in commissioning new choral works to mark the occasion – we’ve already given the premiere of a piece by the Lebanese-French composer Naji Hakim and there’s plenty more to come.
Exultate with Sir James MacMillan
Who are your particular musical influences?
Bach. Don’t need to say any more!
What has been the high-point for the choir so far?
There are so many it’s difficult to choose one. Singing Gabrieli and Croce in St Mark’s Venice was a particularly memorable experience.
Are there any countries or venues you'd particularly like to perform in?
I’d love to perform Rachmaninov Vespers in Russia.
Apart from St George's obviously (!), what are some of your other favourite venues and sightseeing parts of the city?
St James Priory is one of our favourite places to sing, a gem tucked away behind the bus station. It’s a medieval church, one of the most beautiful buildings in Bristol which was restored a few years ago thanks to the tireless work of Sue and John Jotcham who run it. It’s a very special haven of tranquillity amidst the bustle of the city centre. It was the venue for our very first performance as a choir – that radio broadcast back in September 2002 – and we have given concerts in there every year since.
I think a wonderful way to see Bristol is on the ferry boats – the harbourside area has been transformed over the past few years and it’s a really vibrant, attractive area. I’m looking forward to the refurbishment of St George’s Bristol and the Colston Hall which will really invigorate music-making in the city.
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What do you think are the best and worst things about Bristol?
The best thing is that it is a melting pot of people from many different countries and cultures which are often ignored and not recognised as they should be. I think the arts in Bristol could be given a higher profile and celebrated in the local media much more. We have such a rich cultural life in Bristol which should be given prominence over stories of crime and petty arguments. I work with over 500 singers each week aged from 8 to 80 from many different backgrounds from all over the city who have an infectious enthusiasm for communicating the joy of music to others and singing really can be life-changing.
Where would you like to see the choir in 5 years' time?
We’d love to see Exultate Singers continue as a flagship choir for Bristol and the South West. With an amateur choir, you’re always working hard to maintain the high standards that we set for ourselves amidst the demands on their time from work, family and other commitments. We’ve been lucky to enjoy some fantastic experiences, from giving some memorable concerts in the traditional venues like St George’s, to some more unusual concerts like an outdoor performance in Leigh Woods on Luke Jerram’s fishing boats for his Withdrawn project last year, so we will continue to be imaginative and seize those opportunities when they appear.
The concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets range from £5 to £24 and can be purchased online here. For more information about the performers, visit www.exultatesingers.org and www.hmsc.co.uk and their Twitter feeds @ExultateSingers and @hismajsagbutts
Article by:
Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg. He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels. You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.
