The concert of Latin American Baroque music that we performed at the end of September was a huge success! We had a large and very appreciative audience, many of whom immediately requested that we perform the concert again soon. The editions prepared by our Artistic Director for a small instrumental ensemble and voices worked perfectly, and many comments were made about the use of space in the church building (antiphonal effects, 3 separate choirs, processional and recessional music, etc). A triumph that we are sure to repeat another time!

David McKee, our Assistant Director, and Sarah Hughes were married over the summer at a beautiful ceremony in Norwich Cathedral - where David is currently a layclerk. Despite a firealarm being set off in the speeches (!), the day was a memorable event - from the service itself, to the reception in the cloisters and splendid cathedral refectory. The weather was perfect, and we send them every blessing as they start this new life together!

Kit Perona-Wright, The Serlo Consort’s Artistic Director, is currently working at producing editions for the vast majority of the Latin American programme that the choir is performing on September 29th. Some of the music is already available via the catalogue on this website, but more will be added in due course over the next month - so look out for it or enquire for further details.

The new Directors and Trustees met for the first time on June 13th to discuss the future of The Serlo Consort. It was a very positive evening, with input from the Artistic Director, choir representatives, trustees and our reporting accountant. Sub-groups were formed to focus on the on-going work of the choir, and everyone left ‘fired up’ going into this new stage in the life of the group. Our thanks go to all concerned for the hard work and time that goes into the management and over-sight of the choir.

As part of the choir’s current plans to apply for charitable status, expand its activities and get a firm structure of governance in place, we are pleased to announce the first Patrons of the choir are: -

• The Very Revd. Neil Collings Dean of St. Edmundsbury Cathedral
• Mr Stephen Farr Organist & Master of the Choristers, Guildford Cathedral
• Mr Andrew Nethsingha Director of Music, Gloucester Cathedral (soon to be Director of Music at St. John’s College, Cambridge)
• Mr Andrew Millington Director of Music, Exeter Cathedral

We are very grateful for their support, and look forward to receiving assistance and advice from them in the future. We will update this list as soon as more Patrons are appointed.

The Serlo Consort is a registered company, but as part of it’s application for charitable status has had to appoint a board of trustees. These are not members of the choir, but other individuals that have been carefully selected and invited to offer their help and support to the choir in this way.

They will be responsible for the smooth running and the future vision of the group, and these matters will be discussed at regular board meetings. The trustees bring a wide variety of skills and experience to the group, and have varied professional employment ranging from a Professor of Music, to a FTSE 100 Company Secretary, to a Senior Manager of Air Canada!

We are delighted that they have agreed to be a part of the future of The Serlo Consort in this way, and we know that the choir will continue to flourish with them at the helm.

The Serlo Consort was honoured to have the composer Geraint Lewis in attendance at last Saturday’s At the Foot of the Cross concert in South London.

The choir’s performance of Lewis’s The Souls of the Righteous — written for the memorial service of William Mathias — was made all the more poignant by his being there.

Other works by Lewis are available through Serlo Publications and the choir plans to record a selection of his music in the near future.

With the composer’s permission, a copy of Saturday’s recording of The Souls of the Righteous will be available here shortly.

In August 2006, we were asked to provide the choral backing for Robin Gibb’s forthcoming Christmas Carol ‘Favourites’ album. The Serlo Consort’s Artistic Director, Kit Perona-Wright, spent several days with the album producer, Kwesi Graves, arranging the tracks for voices, and then a small group of singers from the Consort spent two days putting down the tracks in the studio.

The album ‘My Favourite Carols’, enjoyed a worldwide release in November 2006 on the Koch Record label and is available to order from Amazon.

An extract from the CD is available at the bottom of this post (below the photos).

In mid-December 2006, a small group of singers from The Serlo Consort spent half a day filming a Christmas Special for the hit prime-time entertainment show ‘The Friday Night Project’ with Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr which was broadcast on 24 December.

We were selected from a large number of possible choirs for the occasion, and took the place of what would normally be the show’s ‘House Band’ during the show – providing music for the start and end of the show, and coming in and out of the advert breaks.

A great time was had by all, and as you can see from the correspondence we had from the production team afterwards – we went down a storm!

I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for the choir yesterday. They were brilliant and everyone here was genuinely really impressed by how talented and professional they were. Justin (Lee Collins) and Alan (Carr) loved them! Thanks again, and if we ever need a choir in the future – I know who to call!

Helen, from Channel 4’s “The Friday Night Project