Concert Programmes

 

The Fourth Choir has evolved a programming format which has enabled us to successfully promote five of our own concerts per year, with many concerts selling out and even our most ambitious concerts breaking even. A typical year includes the premiere of a Flagship Programme, one site-inspired concert, two music themed concerts, and one Christmas or festive concert. 

Click here to see a full list of our Repertoire ​

Flagship Programmes (4)

Our Flagship programmes feature themes that reflect our values, resonate with our audiences, and fit well with current events. We usually perform them several times in commercial venues after our initial performance. These concerts typically have spoken scripts and you can request to see samples of them. To conceive of the theme and write the script that goes with the music, the programming process involves collaboration with the Music Director, the Trustees and interested members of the choir. 

Powerful and Dangerous

A programme in praise of women who have made a difference. The choral works are interspersed with dramatisations of histories of women who changed our world – from Queen Elizabeth I to Lady Phyll, from Sappho to Marielle Franco, and from Nina Simone to Lyra McKee. With guitar and theorbo. The script can be provided upon request

​Includes our commission from composer Stuart Beach, a setting of a poem by Sofia Samatar called Girl Hours.
​
L’Amante Modesto - Barbara Strozzi 
Gemiler Giresun’a - Turkish Folk Song, arr. Ellis-Peckham/Swingles
Salve Regina - Francis Poulenc
Standing as I Do Before God - Music: Cecilia McDowall 
Carrickfergus - Irish Folk Song, arr. Dominic Peckham
Girl Hours - Stuart Beatch  (Commission)
Panda Chant II - Meredith Monk 
Unleash the beauty of your eyes - Alexander Campkin (Commission)
The Lady Oriana - John Wilbye 
Madre, la de Los Primores - Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 
La Bruja - Mexican Folk Song, arr. David Conte
She Who - Jessica Curry
The Runner - Bob Chilcott 

Performed:
Oct 2019 - The Charterhouse
​Oct 2019 - Omnibus Theatre in Clapham
Nov 2019 - Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe  - part of the winter season which revolved around She Wolves and Shrews

Stonewall Warriors

Also Called Love is Love
​
​A programme bringing hidden LGBT+ histories to life. The choral works are interspersed with a dramatisations about extraordinary, real-life stories – of a woman put on trial in 18th century Germany for marrying another woman, history’s most famous bisexual love triangle, a composer who liked to wear drag, and the story of Jonathan Blake, an early HIV survivor. Also includes a continuous multi-media projection.The script can be provided upon request

MEDIEVAL LOVE
    O Virtus Sapientae - Hildegard von Bingen, Arr: Cheryl Lynn Helm
    Heaven-Haven (A Nun Takes the Veil) - Samuel Barber
    Nigra Sum Sed Formosa - Tomás Luis de Victoria
THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE AND MICHELANGELO
    A Woman’s Face (Sonnet 20) - Rufus Wainwright, Arr. Ellis-Peckham
    Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day - Nils Lindberg
THE AGE OF OSCAR WILDE
    The Crown of Thorns - Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky
    Les Fleurs et Le Arbres - Camille Saint-Saëns
THE ROAD TO STONEWALL
    Hymn to St Cecilia - Benjamin Britten
    I Am Like Many - Stuart Beatch (Commission)
STONEWALL WARRIORS
    Panda Chant II - Meredith Monk
    Help Us O Lord - Aaron Copland
    This Marriage - Ed Rex; Text: Jalal ad-Din Rumi
    Take the A Train - Billy Strayhorn, Arr. Clare Wheeler

Performed:
Jun 2018 - Senate House - as part of their exhibition Queer Between the Covers
Apr 2019 - Sam Wanamaker Playhouse - as part of a season of LGBT theatre
Jun 2019 - Heaven - celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots
Aug 2019 - Antwerp Queer Arts Festival

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night 

A programme marking Armistice Day. Featuring Herbert Howells' Requiem with works by other English composers.

Requiem - Herbert Howells

Remember Not Lord Our Offences - Henry Purcell
No Longer Mourn For Me - Ralph Vaughan Williams
Miserere - Alexander Campkin
Do Not Go Gentle - Toby Young
When David Heard - Eric Whitacre 
A Child’s Prayer - James MacMillan

Performed:
Nov 2018 - Tower of London
​Nov 2018 - Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace to mark the centenary of the end of WW1

The Dark Lady & The Tender Churl

A programme celebrating Shakespeare and his 126 Sonnets written to a man called the 'Tender Churl'. The choral works are interspersed with readings of Sonnets. ​The script can be provided upon request

Includes the winning entries of a competition launched by the Fourth Choir for new choral settings of the Sonnets. 

The Fair Youth (Sonnet 104) - Stuart Beatch (Runner up)
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day  - Nils Lindberg
The Cloud-Capp’d Towers - Vaughan Williams
A Woman’s Face (Sonnet 20) - Rufus Wainwright, Arr. Ellis-Peckham
Sonnet 76 - Alfred Janson
Three Beauteous Springs (Sonnet 104) - Justin Rubin (Honourable Mention)
Over Hill, Over Dale - Vaughan Williams
Full Fathom Five  - Vaughan Williams 
It was a lover and his lass  - Ward Swingle
Lullaby  - Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Too Much I Once Lamented - Thomas Tomkins
Double double  - Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Weary with Toil (Sonnet 27) - Benjamin J. Cramer (Runner up)
Three Years (Sonnet 104) - Ian Lawson (First Place)
Full Fathom  - Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Come Away Death  - Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Magnificat - Tomás Luis de Victoria

Performed:
Apr 2016 - Middle Temple Hall - marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Aug 2016 - Antwerp Queer Arts Festival​
Jun 2017 - Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for Friends of Skakespeare's Globe

 

Site-inspired Programmes (5)

Our Site-inspired concerts take place in London’s architectural treasures, and the music chosen helps us make the experiences immersive and memorable. Venues are typically chosen after a long period of research and negotiation by one of our Trustees. These venues are often small and exclusive, and give us an opportunity to promote our Friends Scheme and increase its membership. 

Voyages

A programme on the theme of journeys, inspired by the Cutty Sark. We explore what the experience means to the gift-bearing of kings of Tarshish and Arabia, to the spiritual pilgrim, the global refugee, the traveller returning home, and for the short-lived flight of the butterfly.

Reges Tharsis - John Sheppard
Happy, Oh Happy He - John Wilbye
Pilgrim’s Hymn - Stephen Paulus
Shenandoah - trad USA, arr. Erb
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine - Eric Whitacre
Horizons - Péter Louis Van Dijk
Agnus Dei - Ola Gjeilo 
Trilo - arr. Ale Möller
The Road Home - Stephen Paulus
The Blooming Heather - trad Scottish, arr. Jacob Ewens
Home - Jessica Curry, poem by Warsan Shire
Butterfly - Mia Makaroff

Planned performance Mar 2020 - under the hull of the Cutty Sark. Postponed due to Covid-19

A Journey Through Time 

Music composed by British composers and inspired by St Bartholomew the Great, London's oldest surviving church. We start in the modern world, and move back to earlier generations of British composers until we arrive near the date when the church was founded in 1123.

O Nata Lux - Kerry Andrew
Agnus Dei - Charlotte Bray
Love Endureth - Roxanna Panufnik
Hymn To St Cecilia - Benjamin Britten                                                    
The Lamb - John Tavener                                                                                            
Requiem I : Salvator Mundi - Herbert Howells                                                         
Ceolos Ascendit Hodie - Charles Stanford  
The Long Day Closes - Arthur Sullivan
Hear My Prayer - Henry Purcell    
Sing Joyfully - William Byrd  
In ieiunio et fletu - Thomas Tallis
Weep O Mine Eyes - John Bennet  
In Manus Tuas - John Sheppard
Fair Phyllis - John Farmer 
Ah Robin - William Cornysh
St Nicholas - St Godric arr, McGlynn/Ellis-Peckham

Performed Jun 2018 - St Bartholomew the Great

Chiesa d'Oro - Songs from under the Venetian stars

Inspired by the gilded ceiling at Fitzrovia Chapel, we look to Venice, and the original "church of gold", the San Marco basilica Chiesa d’Oro. The first half is music written by composers who lived or studied in Venice when the Venetian Republic was at the height of its power and influence in the 16th and 17th centuries. The second half of the concert is on the theme of stars and features living composers.

Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes - Heinrich Schütz 
S’Al Discoprir - Giovanni Gabrieli
O vos insipientes mortales - Giovanni Legrenzi 
L’Amante Modesto - Barbara Strozzi 
Valle che de’ lamenti miei se piena - Giaches de Wert 
Adoramus Te - Claudio Monteverdi 
O Radiant Dawn - James Macmillan 
Sun Soul - Ben Parry 
Lux Aurumque - Eric Whitacre
Sun, Moon, Sea and Stars - Bob Chilcott 
Even When He is Silent - Kim André Arnesen 

Performed:
Nov 2017 - Fitzrovia Chapel 
Oct 2017 - St Botolph without Aldgate
Dec 2017 - The V&A - as part of the Opera: Passion, Power and Politics exhibition

The Age of Enlightenment

Inspired by the Thames Tunnel, we have music on the theme of rivers as well as music which has historical connections with the Tunnel - William Horsely's daughter married Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Tunnel’s engineer; and Mendelssohn was a family friend of the Horsleys. With cello.

​Includes our commission from composer Alexander Campkin of setting of a poem by Wilfred Owen The Ghost of Shadwell Stairs.

Vidi Speciosum - Tomás Luis de Victoria
Domine in auxilium meum - Alessandro Scarlatti
Super flumina Babylonis - Philippe de Monte
Slow fresh fount - William Horsley
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied - Johann Sebastian Bach
The Ghost of Shadwell Stair - Alexander Campkin (Commission)
V’amo di core - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Richte mich, Gott - Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Deep River (A Child of Our Time) - Michael Tippett
The Rivers of Babylon - arranged by Ken Burton

Performed twice in Jun 2017 - The Grand Entrance Hall of the Thames Tunnel

Companions of Angels 

A programme inspired by the Order of St John and its long history of nursing the sick and wounded. The programme starts with a choral masterpiece written by Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century just after the Order was founded, and finishes with Standing as I do before God by Cecilia McDowall, a setting of the words of Edith Cavell, the WWI nurse executed by the Germans despite having tended both German and British wounded. 

O Gloriosissimi Lux - Hildegard of Bingen
Ave Verum - William Byrd
Hosanna to the Son of David - Thomas Weelkes
Arise, Awake - Thomas Morley
Draw on, Sweet Night -  John Wilbye
Die mit Tränen säen - Heinrich Schütz
Lord, how long wilt thou be angry? - Henry Purcell
When David heard - Thomas Weelkes
Memorial Ground - David Lang
Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One - Healey Willan
O Rex Gentium - Matthew Martin
Standing as I do before God - Cecilia McDowall

Performed Oct 2016 - The Order of St John 

Spring Joyfully!

Inspired by the great art and natural collection at Two Temple Place, we offer a programme of choral songs about nature.

Sing Joyfully - William Byrd 
Springtime Mantleth Every Bough - Thomas Morley
The Banks O’Doon - arr. Hugh S Roberton
Dream Angus - arr. Hugh S Roberton
The Spring Time of the Year - arr. by R. Vaughan Williams
Ca’ The Yowes - arr. by R. Vaughan Williams
Three Shakespeare Songs - R. Vaughan Williams
Les Fleurs et les Arbres - Camille Saint-Saëns
Calme des Nuits - Camille Saint-Saëns
Flos Ut Rosa Floruit - William Hawley
La Rose Complète - Morten Lauridsen
Five Flower Songs -  Benjamin Britten
Effortlessly Love Flows - Aaron Jay Kernis
To the Mother’s of Brazil - Salve Regina - Lars Jansson​

Performed:
Mar 2015 - Two Temple Place - as part of The Bulldog Trust's annual art exhibition
Mar 2015 - Berwin Leighton Paisner
Mar 2015 - St Mary's Church in  Stoke Newington - Benefit Concert 

 

Music-themed Programmes (7)

Our purely music-themed concert formats give the choir a chance to explore a wide range of repertoire:  Larger, gala style music-themed concerts may include an orchestra or instrumentalists and are in a larger venue. More relaxed a Cappella concerts are allocated shorter time slots in the calendar year, are held in smaller venues, and might be just under an hour. 


A Red, Red Rose

Songs about love from the medieval chants to living composers.

O Dulcissime Amator - Hildegard Von Bingen
In ieiunio et fletu - Thomas Tallis 
This Have I Done for my True Love - Gustav Holst 
My Love Dwelt In A Northern Land - Edward Elgar
So Deep - James MacMillan 
Love Endureth - Roxanna Panufnik 
Take, O Take Those Lips - Håkan Parkman
Go Lovely Rose - Eric Whitacre
A Red, Red Rose - Cecilia McDowall 
And So It Goes - Billy Joel
Thou My Love Art Fair - Bob Chilcott
​
Performed Mar 2018 - Wheatsheaf Hall in Vauxhall 

Essential Ella Fitzgerald 

A big diversion from our usual musical fare - a programme that pays homage to Ella Fitzgerald, one of the most important voices in the history. Two sets of arrangements of Ella's greatest hits, with piano and bass, and solos by members of the choir.

I Couldn’t Love You More - John Martyn, arr. Swingle Singers
Someone to Watch Over Me - George Gershwin, arr. Althouse
Dream A Little Dream of Me - Andre/Schwandt/Kahn, arr. Isaacs
They can't take that away from me - George Gershwin, arr. Hayes
My Funny Valentine - Richard Rodgers, arr. Chin
It Don’t Mean A Thing if it Ain’t got that Swing - Duke Ellington
Summertime - George Gershwin, arr. Williams
Crazy - Willie Nelson, arr. Wier
I Only Have Eyes for You - Harry Warren 
I’ve Got You Under My Skin - Cole Porter, arr. Bussey 
What a Wonderful World - Louis Thiele, arr. Lloyd

Performed:
Jan 2017 - Jazz Cafe in Camden
​Jan 2018 - Jazz Cafe in Camden

Awakenings

A concert to mark the start of spring from Renaissance polyphony to the twenty-first century.

Surgens Jesus - Orlando de Lasso 
Surge, Illuminare, Jerusalem - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 
In Youth Is Pleasure - Herbert Howells 
Richte Mich Gott - Felix Mendelssohn
Hope, Faith, Life, Love - Eric Whitacre 
O Nata Lux - Kerry Andrew 
Rise Up My Love - Howard Skempton 
Ave Verum Corpus (re-imagined) - Roderick Williams 
She Walks In Beauty - Paul Mealor 
The Runner - Bob Chilcott ​

Performed Mar 2017 - St George's Bloomsbury

Love Letters

More songs about love. This time by British composers contrasted with choral arrangements of songs by Prince, Cole Porter and Ward Swingle. 
 
The music is interspersed with readings of love letters from famous same-sex couples of the past – Oscar Wilde in triumph and despair; Vita Sackville-West’s disarming declaration of love to Virginia Woolf; and Tchaikovsky having a wild night out in Paris. 

I Loved You First - Stuart Beatch 
Heart’s Music - Ralph Vaughan Williams
I Love My Love - Gustav Holst
Adoro Te - Pierre Villette
Song (I Gaze Upon You) - Gabriel Jackson
The Drowned Lovers - Judith Bingham
The Bluebird - Charles Villiers Stanford 
Thou, my love, art fair - Bob Chilcott 
I Couldn’t Love You More - John Martyn, arr. The Swingle Singers
I Love U But I Don’t Trust U Anymore - Prince 
Dream a Little Dream of Me - Fabian Andre 
I Only Have Eyes for You - Harry Warren 
I’ve Got You Under My Skin - Cole Porter 
What a Wonderful World - Bob Thiele ​

Performed Feb 2017 - Hoxton Hall

Had I Not Seen The Sun

A celebration music by Slavic, Scandinavian, and Celtic composers. The namesake is a poem by Emily Dickinson Had I Not Seen The Sun

Ascendit Deus - Peter Philips
Too much I once lamented - Thomas Tomkins
Phoenix - Ola Gjeilo
Otche Nash (The Lord’s Prayer) - Nikolai Kedrov
Ave Verum - Philip Stopford
Three Shakespeare Songs - R. Vaughan Williams
Unleash the Beauty of Your Eyes - Alexander Campkin
The Singing Heart - Bob Chilcott
An Oíche (Night) - Michael McGlynn
Two Poems by Emily Dickinson - Tarik O’Regan
Sonnet 76 - Alfred Janson
Come Away Death - Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day - Nils Lindberg

Performed Feb 2016 - St Sepulchre-without-Newgate

A Partsong and a Pint 

A short 'rush hour' concert with partsongs by Byrd, Lobo, Gibbons, Bennet and Wilbye, paired with contemporary songs by MacMillan, Villette, and Esenvalds.

Laudibus in Sanctis - William Byrd
The Silver Swan - Orlando Gibbons
Weep, O Mine Eyes - John Bennet
Flora Gave Me Fairest Flowers - John Wilbye 
Versa Est in Luctum - Alonso Lobo
Trilo - arr Ale Möller
Christus Vincit - James MacMillan
Hymne a la Vierge - Pierre Villette
Only in Sleep - Eriks Ešenvalds33)

Performed Oct 2015 - St George's Bloomsbury

Baroque Summer Solstice

An evening of Baroque music, featuring Vivaldi's Gloria. In the second half, a highlight is Apparuit Deus Moysi, a jazzy double choir piece by Antonio Maria Abbatini (1597-1672) which was hidden in the Vatican archives for 350 years, until discovered by Giuseppe Pecce, one our members, whilst carrying out research in the Vatican library. 

Also includes our commission from Alexander Campkin of The First Kiss, a poignant and daring Epigram by Greek philosopher Strato, which was written to be paired with Baroque music and uses a Baroque orchestra.

Gloria - Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Exsultate Deo - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
If Ye Love Me - Thomas Tallis
Selig sind die Toten - Heinrich Schütz
Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden -  Johann Sebastian Bach
Apparuit Deus Moysi - Antonio Maria Abbatini
The First Kiss - Alexander Campkin (Commission)​

Performed Jun 2015 - St Peter's Eaton Square

Circle Songs on Midsummer's Eve 

A night of choral soundscapes sung in the round - ancient songs combined with contemporary works and improvisation. Including our commission from composer Alexander Campkin of Unleash the beauty of your eyes, a setting of a love poem by the 7th century BC Greek lyric poet Sappho.

St Nicholas - St Godric, arr. Michael McGlynn
Cantate Domino - Johann Crüger
Crux Fidelis - King John IV of Portugal 
O Magnum Mysterium - Tomas Luis de Victoria 
Versa Est in Luctum - Alonso Lobo 
Tourdion - Anonymous
Mit Fried und Freund fahr ich dahin - Adam Gumpelzhaimer
Subvenite Sancti Dei - Antonio Musch 
Ah Robin - William Cornysh
Calmes des Nuits - Camille Saint-Saëns 
Unleash the beauty of your eyes - Alexander Campkin (Commission)
Circle Songs - Bobby McFerrin, arr. Ellis-Peckham
Nunc Dimittis - Paweł Łukaszewski
Ubi Caritas and Tota Pulchra es - Maurice Duruflé 
Till Österland - Swedish hymn, arr. Håkan Parkman 
She Moved Through the Fair - Trad, arr. Ellis-Peckham
That Lonesome Road -  James Taylor,  arr. by Simon Carrington​

Performed Jun 2014 - King’s College London Chapel 

 

Christmas Programmes (3)

Finally, we have our regular festive concert which happens at St Clement Danes on a Saturday in December. 

In the Stillness 

A Christmas programme featuring compositions by women. With a ground-breaking setting by Ēriks Ešenvalds of Stars a poem by Sara Teasdale, which includes choir members playing tuned crystal glasses.

Alleluya - Peter Wishart
In The Stillness - Sally Beamish, Text: Katrina Shephard
Jesus Christ The Apple Tree - Elizabeth Poston
A Babe Is Born - Richard Allain
Wither’s Rocking Hymn - Ralph Vaughan Williams, arr. Baldwin
Venite Gaudete - Adrian Peacock
There Is No Rose - Elizabeth Maconchy
Nova! Nova! Ave fit ex Eva – James MacMillan
Stars - Ēriks Ešenvalds, Text: Sara Teasdale
Of A Rose - Cecilia McDowall
Comes The Light - Ann Burgess
With Us - Clare Wheeler (wrote for the Swingles Singers)
Silent Night - Franz Gruber, arr. Jonathan Rathbone
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas -  arr. Peter Gritton
Plus readings and audience carols
​
Performed Dec 2019 - St Clement Danes in the Strand

Joyeux Noël

An evening of traditional Christmas music - including a choral adaption of the unique Les Douze Noëls by baroque master Louis-Claude Daquin.

​​Les Douze Noëls  - Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772) arr. by Simon Wright

All This Time - William Walton 
Away In A Manger - arr. Reginald Jacques 
Ríu Ríu Chíu - Mateo Flecha the Elder 
The Night - Toby Young 
Gabriel’s Message - arr. Edgar Pettman
Ding, Dong! Merrily on High - arr. Charles Wood 
Silent Night - Franz Gruber, arr. Wolfgang Lindner 
Plus readings and audience carols

Performed Dec 2017 - St Clement Danes in the Strand

Christmas at Versailles (in London) 

Festive music with a French twist. The first half of the concert is Messe de Minuit pour Noël by Charpentier.The second half is more traditional fare.

Messe de Minuit pour Noël - Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-704)

The Truth From Above - Ralph Vaughan Williams
O Oriens - Cecilia McDowall 
Nowell, Sing We - Anonymous
Allons Pasteurs - Louis-Claude Daquin, arr. by Simon Wright
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly - arr. by David Willcocks 
Ríu Ríu Chíu - Mateo Flecha the Elder 
Sir Christémas - Willaim Matthias 
Sing Lullabye - Herbert Howells
Thy Perfect Love - John Rutter 
Away In A Manger - arr. by Reginald Jacques
O Little One Sweet - arr.  J.S. Bach
Plus readings and audience carols

Performed Dec 2016 - St Clement Danes in the Strand