- THIS EVENT IS NOW IN THE PAST AND WAS A GREAT SUCCESS -
starting at 15:00 UK time on Thursday 25 April 2024
and ending 24 hours later
at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, London W1S 1FX
in aid of St. George’s Church and with conductors including:
John Rutter CBE, Laurence Cummings OBE, Harry Bradford, Hugh Morris, Barry Holden, Stephen Jackson, Ben England BEM, Libby Crabtree, Ralph Allwood MBE, Richard Gowers, Roger Durston, Dominic McGonigal and Alex Hardy.
The Event will be live-streamed for free by the Royal School of Church Music.
Please tune in to our live streams below (all times are UK Time):
To open the chat feature, please click on the headline of each stream.
STREAM ONE
Thursday 25th April, 15:00 - 22:00 UK Time
STREAM TWO
Thursday 25th April, 22:00 - Friday 26th April, 09:00
STREAM THREE
Friday 26th April, 09:00 - 15:00
Schedule of Conductors
Below is the schedule of conductors and accompanists (subject to change):
| Time | Conductor | Accompanist |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 25 April 2024 | ||
| 15:00 | Ben England | Richard Gowers |
| 16:00 | Ben England | Richard Gowers |
| 17:00 | Hugh Morris | Rachel Keegan (piano) |
| 18:00 | John Rutter | Roger Sayer |
| 19:00 | John Rutter | Roger Sayer |
| 20:00 | Dominic McGonigal | Rachel Keegan (piano) |
| 21:00 | Ralph Allwood | Rachel Keegan (piano) |
| 22:00 | Barry Holden | Rachel Keegan (piano) |
| 23:00 | Harry Bradford | Rachel Keegan (piano) |
| Friday 26 April 2024 | ||
| 00:00 | Laurence Cummings | Jamie Andrews |
| 01:00 | Laurence Cummings | Jamie Andrews |
| 02:00 | Laurence Cummings | Jamie Andrews |
| 03:00 | Alex Hardy | Choir of the Earth recording |
| 04:00 | Alex Hardy | Choir of the Earth recording |
| 05:00 | Choir Member | Choir of the Earth recording |
| 06:00 | Choir Member | Choir of the Earth recording |
| 07:00 | Choir Member | Choir of the Earth recording |
| 08:00 | Choir Member | Choir of the Earth recording |
| 09:00 | Libby Crabtree | David Goode |
| 10:00 | Libby Crabtree | David Goode |
| 11:00 | Laurence Cummings | David Goode |
| 12:00 | Laurence Cummings | David Goode |
| 13:00 | Stephen Jackson | James Orford |
| 14:00 | Roger Durston | Richard Gowers |
In September 2023, John Rutter concluded our first MESSIAH 24 hour “Drop-In” on hours 23 and 24.
It was an emotional end to a remarkable 24 hours in aid of the Portico Appeal at Handel’s Church, St. George’s, Hanover Square, raising almost £10,000.
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat”
“One of the best singing experiences I’ve had”
So we are doing it all over again.
We now invite you to our second “MESSIAH 24 hour Drop-In”
Come along at any time during the 24 hour period. We’ll start promptly at 15:00 on Thursday 25 April 2024 with AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD with whoever is there and we’ll work our way through the choruses until we get to the end. And when we get to the end, we’ll start all over again and repeat this for 24 hours until we finish at 15:00 on Friday 26 April 2024.
What will this cost?
We are charging £10 to come along to cover the costs of the event. We then suggest a donation of £5 an hour (or part hour) to attend the 24 hour MESSIAH Drop-In in aid of St. George’s. If you come along for up to 60 minutes, that’s £5. If you stay for 5 hours, that’s £25 and if you stay for the full 24 hours, that’s £120.
Join us for our MESSIAH 24 hour “Drop-In”
(Thursday 25 April 2024)
I have never sung this before. How do I learn it?
When you register using the button above or below, we shall send immediately send you a “pack” which includes a digital score which you can print out or use on your tablet.
Also in this “pack” are videos for the separate voice parts (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass) and these will teach you the music if you have never sung it before. So please do not worry. You whave everything you need to arrive knowing the music.
Finally for those who need just a refresher, there are rehearsal audio tracks sung by a professional chamber choir. These are voice-part specific, so you can hear your own part louder than the others.
Who will conduct?
Ben England will open proceedings and Roger Durston will close the 24 hours.
We currently have the following conductors with us:
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John Rutter was born in London and studied music at Clare College, Cambridge. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years; much of his early work consisted of church music and other choral pieces including Christmas carols. From 1975–79 he was Director of Music at his alma mater, Clare College, and directed the college chapel choir in various recordings and broadcasts. Since 1979 he has divided his time between composition and conducting. Today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions are performed around the world. His music has featured in a number of British royal occasions, including the two most recent royal weddings. He edits the Oxford Choral Classics series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs. In 1983 he formed his own choir the Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings, and he appears regularly in several countries as guest conductor and choral ambassador. He holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music. In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, joining a prestigious list of 24 Fellows including John Adams, Pierre Boulez CBE, Kate Bush CBE and Sir Elton John.
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Ben England has been performing and teaching music in Bristol since 1995 and is the Musical Director of Choir of the Earth. He was awarded the British Empire Medal by HM The Queen for services to choral music during the pandemic.
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Laurence Cummings has served as Musical Director of the London Handel Orchestra and the London Handel Festival since 1999, a founding member of the London Handel Players, and a Trustee of the Handel House Museum. In November 2020, the Academy of Ancient Music announced the appointment of Cummings as its next music director.
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Ralph Allwood was for 26 years Director of Music at Eton College and is now a freelance choral director, teacher and conductor. Ralph is co-founder and conductor of Inner Voices, made up of singers from state schools in London. He is also a Supervisor for harmony at Jesus College, Cambridge and Director of the only conservatoire chapel choir in the world, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir, He is Chair of the Choral Evensong Trust.
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Roger Durston is President of Choir of the Earth. Roger was Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School before becoming Headmaster of the BRIT School in Croydon in 2000. He also played a prime role in helping the Glyndebourne Opera establish its education programme. He has conducted The Messiah 30 times, three of which were at the Royal Albert Hall.
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Libby Crabtree is Musical Director of the long established Edinburgh choral society Jubilo. Libby has also enjoyed being guest conductor for Cadenza and recently conducted Brahms’ Requiem in a sell-out performance at Greyfriars Kirk. She directs one-day choral workshops for various choirs and has recently conducted a session for The Sixteen as part of their Choral Pilgrimage programme. Other work includes workshops for the Edinburgh Bach Choir and the Dunedin Consort.
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Harry Bradford 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 the 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. 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. He combines his love of music and education as a Teacher/Singer for the Pimlico Musical Foundation.
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Dominic McGonigal’s work has been described as “beautiful music” and “confident writing for instruments and voices, great textures and a perfect sense of spacing and pacing.” His work, Ave Maris Stella Takes Flight, recently won the Palimpsest Competition. It has been recorded by Canterbury Cathedral Choir with Sam Corkin (sax) and the album Palimpsets was released on Signum Classics in September 2023. He has recently been commissioned to write a symphony, expected to be premiered in 2024.
Dominic found his voice as a composer with the Missa Et Incarnatus Est, a large work for 8-part choir, soloists and instrumental ensemble. This led to two commissions from Pat Halling to write string quartets for the Quartet Pro Musica which which have since been recorded. Vocal group Fever Pitch commissioned him to write a new piece for their Christmas repertoire, which resulted in In The Beginning, premiered at a major charity event in St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden and later performed in Southwark Cathedral. Recent commissions include a setting of the song La Fleur des Eaux for tenor and orchestra, Theorbo Chaser for theorbo duet, 345 for brass quintet, Some Stranger Somewhere for choir a cappella and Pachamama Regina Caeli which was premiered by tenor Rafael Montero and baroque guitarist Fabio Fernandes in June 2023.
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Alex became involved in the Rodolfus choir after going on one of the Foundation’s choral courses in the summer of 2019.
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Barry was Head Chorister at St Paul's Cathedral under Barry Rose in the 1970s. He's spent years singing in choirs likeLondon Symphony Chorus, the Purcell Singers and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner, before taking up choir directing at St Mary Mags in Wandsworth Common. He's building up a Come-and-Sing monthly Evensong there and directed a Faure Requiem for 300 singers earlier this year.
His other life is across recordings starting out with Chandos Records, moving over to Naxos in their heyday, then over to Decca and Deutsche Grammophon for Universal Music Group, building gorgeous Boxed Sets. He's currently integrating newly-acquired Hyperion Records into Universal Music Group and adding its 2000+ albums to streaming platforms. Among those 2000 albums are over 35 alone from St Paul's Cathedral Choir and the very choir he started out in.
How do I take part?
Please pre-register for £10 per person so that we have an idea of how many people to expect and so that we can keep in touch with you by email. You can arrive and leave at anytime during the 24 hour period and there is no need to tell us when you will arrive - simply turn up whenever you wish. Come back time and again if you wish. Entirely up to you.
We shall publish the times when conductors are expected to conduct and this might affect the time you decide to attend. And everyone who pre-registers will get a Certificate of Participation after the event by email.
Picture: Andrea Liu
What about soloists?
We invite soloists to come along at any time.
If a soloist arrives, we’ll finish the chorus we are singing and slot in the soloist whether it’s in the right order or not. In this way, the soloist can “sing and go”.
How do I make my donation?
Just turn up at the church at any time during the MESSIAH 24 hour “Drop-In”. We’ll ask you to start the timer on your phone when you enter the church so that when you leave, we can see how long you’ve been inside. We suggest that you make a donation of £5 per hour (or part hour) on exit by tapping your card on our machine.
How many people can sing at once?
The church has a capacity of 320 in the nave and we shall only use this part of the church - we shall not use the upstairs gallery.
We shall monitor the number of people inside the church to ensure we don’t get over crowded. If the church is full at anytime during the 24 hours, we shall ask you to form an orderly queue and you will be let in when there is a space.
Where do the proceeds go?
All the donations for the event itself go to preserving the fabric of St. George’s Church
May I bring a friend just to watch?
Of course. They will be encouraged to donate the same amount as everyone else.
Who is Labrador Events?
Labrador Events is the events arm of the leading online choir, Choir of the Earth, which has members from all over the world.
Choir of the Earth can be found at www.choiroftheearth.com