Stoke Newington Contemporary Music Festival

The second annual contemporary music festival in Stoke Newington will take place in Old St. Mary's Church from the 1st to the 3rd of November, 2013.

Ishirini will be performing an afternoon concert on the 3rd of November, and will be featuring several of the pieces we have commissioned for previous tours.

More details coming soon. 

Ishirini in Walton-on-Thames

Ishirini will be performing in Walton-on-Thames on the 14th of April. For full details of our programme and how to buy tickets, please see the concert page. 

August festival with Palestinian choirs

Ishirini is delighted to be joining the Palestinian Choral Festival in August. Organised by the Choir of London, who have extensive experience in the region, the week-long festival will feature a number of visiting and local choirs, ending with a gala joint performance. 

More details coming soon...

Choir and Organ On Tour

Ishirini is featured in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Choir and Organ as part of a new series 'On Tour'.

Getting in to rural areas away from the usual tourist routes and forging relationships with local choirs is central to the Ishirini ethos.

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Tour report from Jordan

Our recent trip to Jordan was hugely enjoyable. We joined forces with choirs from Syria, Jordan and UAE working together to produce a sold-out concert in Amman on the final night which featured music from each individual choir as well as pieces that we had learnt together in various workshops around Jordan under the direction of Professor Andre de Quadros and Shireen Abu-Khader.

The number of different locations we sang in was striking - they included workshops under canvas in Wadi Rum:

in the desert against the 'wall of sound':

and some spontaneous singing by Ishirini in the South Theatre in Jerash: 

We look forward to renewing the friendships made on the tour in future collaborations with the choirs who joined Aswatuna, as well as to returning to the fabulous country of Jordan. We'll add more photos to a new Jordan gallery soon. (Photos from top © Tom White, Aswatuna, Jo Willmott, Chris Maddock, Nicola Goldberg).

Jordan Times Preview

The Aswatuna Festival is previewed in the Jordan Times:

At a time when people in the Arab world are trying to make their voices heard, we have chosen to express ourselves the way we know best—in song.

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Aswatuna preview

This video gives an explanation behind the Aswatuna: Arab Sing concert that Ishirini will join in just a few days time. 

£800 raised for Cancer Research

We are delighted that proceeds from ticket sales and donations after our concert in Stanford-in-the-Vale raised £800 for Cancer Research. Many thanks to Joyce and Philippa Gardner for all their work in making that possible. 

Birthday celebration for Joyce

Our concert in Stanford-in-the-Vale reviewed in the Stanford News.

There was a large audience to appreciate their performance.

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Extremely warm welcome from Strzyżówski choir

We have just returned from a short trip to Poland, organised by our partner choir from Strzyżów. The two choirs joined forces for two concerts in Rzeszów and Kraków where we sang some of our own repertoire as well as some joint pieces including the new commission written specially for the tour by choir-member Owen Leech.

We are very grateful for all the help given to us by the members of Strzyżówski Choir, and were very impressed by how quickly they adapted to singing with us. We were also very impressed by the warmth of their reception and their encyclopaedic knowledge of songs which made the post-concert parties go with a swing! 

The choir very much enjoyed our brief visit to Poland, taking in the salt-mines at Bochnia, the splendour of the Mariacki church in Kraków and the cafés on the beautiful town square in Rzeszów as well as singing in two concerts and a service in just 4 days. 

New commission for Poland

Owen Leech is currently writing our latest commission, to be performed on our forthcoming tour to Poland. 

The piece will set a poem by E. E. Cummings in English and Polish, using the translation by Polish poet Julia Hartwig. 

Music of two Elizabeths for Diamond Jubilee

The concert programme at Madingley on June 3rd will celebrate the Diamond Jubilee with music from the ages of both Elizabeths including a new commission by Madingley's musician in residence, Tim Watts.

Tour to Poland, August 2012

In August we will continue our tradition of international choral exchange, linking up with Polish choir Strzyzowski Chor Kameralny for a week of concerts in Rzeszow and Krakow. More details coming soon. 

Jubilee concert in Madingley Hall

Our concert in Elizabethan Madingley Hall on the Diamond Jubilee weekend will celebrate the two ages of Elizabeth. We will be singing music by Byrd, Sheppard, Mealor and Weir as well as a piece specially commissioned for the occasion by Tim Watts, Madingley Hall’s musician in residence. 

Concert in Madingley Hall on June 3rd

Our next concert will be in Madingley Hall, Cambridge on June 3rd as part of their new music concert series. More details coming soon.

Sound clips from Jubilate Deo

Sound clips from our performance of Jubilate Deo in San Salvador in October are now available here. One of the best acoustics we've sung in as a choir. 

Jubilate Deo thanks

Thanks to everyone who came to our concert on Saturday. It was a wonderful church to sing in, and the pairing of the Monteverdi and Byrd pieces really brought out their differences. With so many concerts going on in Venice we were delighted to see so many people in the audience. We had a great weekend in the warmth of the October sun and are very grateful for everyone in the church who helped us to put it on. 

Programme for Venice finalised

See the events page for details of our next concert, Jubilate Deo. Our two-day stay in Venice (on the 29th and 30th of October) will include a concert in San Salvador church on Saturday night, and a service in St. Mark's on the Sunday morning.

Next concert in Venice

Ishirini will be singing in San Salvador church in Venice on 30th October. Further details coming soon.

Ishirini open Tagore Festival

We were very honoured to be singing in the very first concert of this prestigious festival, a meeting of some of the finest experts on Tagore in the world, which celebrated Tagore's long connection with Dartington in this year of Tagore's anniversary. After a fantastic opening ceremony we sang some of the highlights of the music we had taken to India for our tour in April, including the piece we had specially commissioned. The atmosphere was really special - for many of us it was our first visit to Dartington Hall - and it was particularly rewarding to have such a knowledgeable audience listening to the pieces.