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Morning	10am Peter Hall	Art Talk by Nicholas Eastwood
Afternoon	12 noon Temple Church	Roger Fordham, piano
Evening	7.30pm St. Peter's Church	The London Adventist Chorale

Saturday 24 July
St Peter's Church 7.30pm

The London Adventist Chorale

 

The London Adventist Chorale is a group of young musicians and vocalists dedicated to art of Spirituals, Choral, Classical and Contemporary sacred music. They are perhaps best known for winning Sainsbury Choir of the year in 1994 and being invited to take part in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's June 1 jubilee concert. The internationally known choir sang two gospel songs--one especially composed for the event--before an audience of more than 12,000 invited guests at Buckingham Palace, London, and 40,000 more that gathered outside, and syndicated to more than 50 countries worldwide. Under the direction of Principal Conductor Ken Burton their performances have seen them performing internationally.

The London Adventist Chorale was formed in 1981, as a church based choir with choral excellence presenting its unique tradition to a broader audience.  Under the helm of Ken Burton, Principal Conductor, the choir was awarded the prestigious title Sainsbury Choir of the Year 1994 – 1995.

Since this accolade the Chorale has taken their own brand of spirituals, classical part - songs, traditional and contemporary gospel to many concert houses and countries. These include Australia (Sydney Opera House), USA, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Holland and France to name a few.  Festivals have included The Proms (Royal Albert Hall), Snape Maltings, Three Choirs Festival, and the most recently the UK tour of ‘All Rise” with the world renowned Classical and Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.  

The Chorale has featured in many national and international radio and television broadcasts and have recorded on major labels such as EMI Classics.

The Chorale was invited to participate in the Prom at the Palace for Queen Elizabeth II’s 50th Year Jubilee Anniversary concerts at Buckingham Palace.  During the 2005 season, The Chorale was presented with the Best Choir award at the BBC Gem Awards.  

Since that time, the Chorale has undertaken a programme of European and UK performances which has left audiences spell-bound. From 2005 they have also been regular performers at the Kijaani Music Festival in Kenya.

 

Ken Burton's musical activities are experienced world-wide through performances, broadcasts, his books and recordings.
  His music brings together the formal training, the lifelong experience in free and improvised music,
and musical skills which include extemporisation, complex harmonisation, and perfect pitch. Underpinning this is his faith.

Ken Burton is principal conductor of award winning London Adventist Chorale (BBC/Sainsbury Choir Of The Year 1995, BBC UK Gospel Choir Of The Year 1996, GEM award winners 2005).

Ken Burton is musical director and conductor of the Croydon SDA Gospel Choir, whose album 'The Very Best Of Gospel' and appearances on BBC 'Eastenders', 'Flashmob Opera', have received wide acclaim.

Ken Burton founded and directs and radio session ensemble, AVE (Adventist Vocal Ensemble)
In addition , Ken has organised and performed with session ensembles for programmes including ITV's 'X-Factor','Ant And Dec','This Morning',BBC 'Songs Of Praise', and 'Mike Doyle Show'

Reviews:

The enthusiasm of the choir and of their conductor Ken Burton (who had arranged many of the spirituals performed at the concert) was infectious.
  
     This is a dedicated and exactingly drilled choir who sang everything except the Kilby without scores and promoted their own soloists. Their music was exquisitely pulled off and it was clear that they had more than justified their position as winners of the 1995 Sainsbury Choir of the Year award.

ADVENTIST CHOIR FEATURED IN BRITAIN'S ROYAL CELEBRATION
June 4, 2002 London, Britain .... [Bettina Krause/ANN]

The London Adventist Chorale was part of a star line-up of performers invited to take part in Queen Elizabeth II's June 1 jubilee concert. The nationally known choir sang two gospel songs--one especially composed for the event--before an audience of more than 12,000 invited guests at Buckingham Palace, London, and 40,000 more who gathered outside the gates to watch on giant video screens. The two-hour concert was part of a four-day celebration of the monarch's 50-year reign, and was broadcast live to more than 50 countries.
     Chorale conductor Ken Burton told the BBC after the performance that the choir felt "humbled, yet honored to be a part of this great occasion--we're so happy to bring our brand of music to the world at large."
     As they came on stage the members of the choir "were full of enthusiasm and full of joy," said Burton. He told the interviewer that they had tried not to think about the millions of viewers, but to concentrate instead on letting the message of the songs shine through. "We're singing about messages we 100 percent believe in and live by every day," said Burton.
     When asked what that message was, Burton replied that the songs were about "better days to come."
     "We believe very much in the Bible," he said. "We believe very much in the return of Christ, and the songs spoke about the resurrection and heaven."
     The London Adventist Chorale, formed in 1982, was one of 10 guests invited by the Queen to participate in the event, which was billed as a celebration of popular classical music. Others included the BBC Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and 13-year-old clarinetist Julian Bliss. Eighteen members of Britain's royal family were in the audience at Buckingham Palace, including the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Charles.

GOSPEL VOICES - London Adventist Chorale and Black Voices
Chichester Cathedral 9 Jul 2004 

Well-known most recently for their stunning performance at the Prom at the Palace for the Queen's Golden Jubilee the London Adventist Chorale share the concert with Black Voices, the powerful five-piece a cappella women's group, born and raised in the black church and thoroughly grounded in the music of an international black community. Each group brings its own brand of spirituals, gospel, blues, traditional hymn arrangement and classical masterpieces to the Festivities.
    London Adventist Chorale stole the show with gospel fervour. Their conductor, Ken Burton, was clearly the coolest man in the postal district and probably the planet Evening Standard

'ALL RISE', by WYNTON MARSALIS - reviewed by MALCOLM MILLER
Royal Albert Hall, London

The singing of the London Adventist Chorale was riveting throughout, gradually increasing in presence from a short introductory movement to the solemn movements of the second main group. In 'Save us' a sprechgesang alto soloist shouts 'Comfort me' against a wall of groaning slithering chromatically in dizzy curves, creating haunting colours enhanced by Marsalis's solo; it is followed by the fiercer 'Cried Shouter Then Sung', with screaming trumpet solos. Here Marsalis's use of the 'New Orleans Funeral Cadence' (an almost prophetic choice in the wake of the recent devastation of Hurricane Katrina) added to the 'affect' of the music punctuated also by unusual tuba solos, while the choir shone in the final brilliant pair of movements to close this section, 'Look Beyond', with its upbeat Hosannas and a spiritual song 'come back home' in which five soloists of the choir (Tina Brooks, alto, Bobby Carr, tenor, Ken Burton, baritone, the choir's Artistic Director, and Alaffia Maxwell, bass) displayed wonderful zest and style, the last an unbelievably high soprano solo (Jennifer Phillips), the inner intensity of which drew to a conclusion with spiritual passion and eloquence that affirmed the work's underlying seriousness of purpose. Indeed the whole work, with its unpredictable phrase lengths and effects, rich and unusual harmonies, nuances of orchestration and dynamics seemed to channel the qualities of light musicality into a most engaging and profound artistic confluence of serious and popular idioms.
    The third and final section (retained for the second half of the evening) featured dance movements including a slinky slow 'Saturday Night Slow Drag' and faster dances like the bossa nova, before the thrilling final tutti chorus 'All Rise'. The movement begins with a soloist repeating 'all rise', with ensuing lively choral textures leading to an uplifting gospel song 'Listen up and hear my song'

*

Roger Fordham

Lunchtime piano recital

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