Fairhaven Singers, London Mozart Players, Ralph Woodward
Biography Fairhaven Singers, London Mozart Players, Ralph Woodward
Fairhaven Singers
Under Musical Director Ralph Woodward, the Fairhaven Singers has become a leading Cambridge choir. We are known for our exciting and diverse repertoire, featuring sacred and secular music spanning eight centuries. Our concerts range widely in mood and style, from intimate evenings of a cappella music to major choral-orchestral works with world-class soloists. We also regularly commission new works from major contemporary composers. Recent commissions have included pieces by Jonathan Dove, James MacMillan, Ola Gjeilo, Cecilia McDowall and Ēriks Ešenvalds.
Expert listeners always hear something new at a Fairhaven Singers concert, while newcomers enjoy a lively and inspiring introduction to choral music. We also perform a special concert for children every July. Each performance offers our trademark energy, quality and warmth. As a Cambridge choir, our concerts usually take place in some of the country’s most beautiful and inspiring buildings.
Performances of the highest calibre have earned Fairhaven Singers an excellent reputation in a city known for the vitality and richness of its choral tradition. Our innovative programming has delighted audiences in Cambridge and across Europe. Alongside inspiring works from a choral tradition stretching back eight centuries, we also perform works by this generation’s most celebrated contemporary composers. We have commissioned new music by Jonathan Dove, Will Todd, Carl Rütti, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Cecilia McDowall and Ola Gjeilo, among others.
We regularly work with world-class soloists and orchestras. Highlights have included a collaboration with Michael Chance and the English Chamber Orchestra, a project with Dame Emma Kirkby and the City of London Sinfonia, and Bach’s St John Passion with The Parley of Instruments.
The choir has appeared on BBC Radios 2, 3 and 4, and Classic FM, and has released four CDs. Recent international tours have taken the choir to Italy, Portugal, Greece and Germany. Within the UK, the choir has also performed several times at Snape Maltings Concert Hall for the Aldeburgh Festival and the Britten Festival, and at major venues in London such as St Martin-in-the-Fields, St John’s Smith Square and Southwark Cathedral.
We have ambitious plans for future musical projects, and we warmly welcome donations that will enable us to enrich our contribution to the arts. A simple way to support our work and to keep in regular touch with us is to become a Friend of the Fairhaven Singers. If you or your company are interested in making donations towards specific projects or advertising in our programmes, the Chairman would be very happy to hear from you.
Every year the choir performs concerts for charity. If you are involved with a charity and wish to discuss how the Fairhaven Singers can help, or if you wish to hire us for a wedding, corporate function, conference or reception, please email the Chairman.
