Loughborough Choir ‘Viva la Musica’ hold a concert to celebrate their 20th anniversary

CHORUS CELEBRATES ITS BIRTHDAY: Loughborough-based ‘Viva la Musica’ choir (Image: Viva la Musica)

Submitted by Richard Thomas

A Loughborough Chamber Choir celebrated its 20th anniversary by welcoming back eight former members for an anniversary concert.

Viva la Musica is an “accomplished” choir from Trinity Methodist Church and performs in Loughborough and Leicester.

At their recent anniversary concert, the members performed “exciting” French music to “enthusiastic” critics.

One reviewer said, “In every way the singers have outdone themselves – a perfect celebration of twenty years of musical creation.”

Viva again invited eight former members to join him in singing Fauré’s famous Requiem.

Conductor David Necklen established the 12-singer choir in 2002, and it won the Leicester Mercury Rose Bowl (for best choir) two years later.

The repertoire expanded in variety over the next 13 years with David, and Beth Williams joined as musical director in 2012.

A change of conductor in 2015 saw professional tenor and organist Simon Lumby lead Viva.

And the increasing complexity of the programs meant that the choir expanded to 20 singers to cover eight-part pieces, with solo roles from other members.

Many concerts are themed with complementary pieces of music composed as ensembles, allowing Viva to sing seldom-played and thought-provoking compositions by the likes of Howells, Poulenc, Duruflé and Lauridsen.

Viva has planned four concerts in 2023 and a residential weekend at Ripon Cathedral.

The choir performs a variety of sacred and secular pieces, most of them a cappella.

A vacancy has appeared for a tenor, and the choir has encouraged interested singers to visit the website to listen to recent recordings and for more information on the audition process.

For more information, visit the website here.

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