click photo to enlarge
London Symphony Chorus

biography
go to top of page
Joseph Cullen, Chorus Director

The London Symphony Chorus was formed in 1966 as a choral partner for the London Symphony Orchestra, and since then has grown from strength to strength under the direction of such eminent musicians as John Alldis, Arthur Oldham, Richard Hickox, Stephen Westrop and, since September 2001, Joseph Cullen.

CONTACT MANAGER
Liz Baines Administrator

At the heart of the Chorus’s repertoire lie the great 19th and 20th century choral classics, including works by Elgar, Walton, Mahler, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Orff, as well as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and the Brahms and Verdi Requiems. In contrast to these classic works, the Chorus has shown great aptitude for contemporary music over the years, with the success of Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ with the LSO and Kent Nagano in 1998 leading to an invitation to repeat the work with Nagano and the Orchestre de Paris in 2000. A thirst for new challenges of repertoire has inspired the Chorus to commission a number of new works: Sir John Tavener’s The Myrrh Bearer, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Three Kings and Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year, which received its world premiere in London in March 2000. The Chorus has also participated in a wide range of operatic performances including La Boheme, Carmen, Otello, The Rake’s Progress and Samson et Dalila.

RELATED LINKS
Newsletter/Spring 2001:
Orchestral Touring Highlights

Newsletter/Spring 2000:
London Symphony Chorus in Berlioz Odyssey

Newsletter/Autumn 1999:
London Symphony Chorus and City of London Sinfonia - exclusively with Intermusica

The Chorus tours extensively and has visited Russia, Norway, France, Belgium, Israel, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia and the Far East. Last season the Chorus made its debut in New York which included a performance of Janácek’s Glagolitic Mass and Dvorak’s Te Deum with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, and two a cappella concerts conducted by Stephen Westrop.

The Chorus made its first recording in 1966 (Mahler’s Second Symphony with the LSO and Sir Georg Solti), and now has an extensive discography including collaborations with Davis, Boulez, Previn, Bernstein, Stokowski, Tippett, Britten, Giulini, Abbado and Rostropovich. Its partnership with Richard Hickox has produced many recordings, including Britten’s Peter Grimes, which received a Grammy Award, and Billy Budd. The Chorus’s latest recording is Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the LSO and Antonio Pappano, which has received outstanding reviews across Europe.

The Chorus maintains special links with the London Symphony Orchestra, but has also partnered many other international orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, European Union Youth Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In London they also sing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. The Chorus regularly performs at the BBC Proms and this season sings with the National Youth Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Adès, and once again with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Richard Hickox.

In 2001, the centenary of Verdi’s death, the Chorus performed Verdi Requiem with both the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniele Gatti at Flanders Festival in Belgium, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Mark Elder. Forthcoming performances in London include concerts with the LSO and conductors Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, and with Sir Andrew Davis as part of the City of London Festival. Future international performances are planned in the USA.

JOSEPH CULLEN, Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus, was born in Glasgow, where he studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. His innovative approach to choral training has established him as one of the foremost choral conductors in the UK. He has been Chorus Master of the Huddersfield Choral Society since August 1999, and has also held the positions of Chorus Director of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and Director of the Britten-Pears Chamber Choir in Snape. He has appeared as a guest chorus master and conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, Philharmonia Chorus and BBC Singers.

Recent work includes a concert with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields featuring music by Copland, Stravinsky and Bruckner and a performance of Fauré Requiem with the Huddersfield Choral Society and the BBC Concert Orchestra broadcast on Good Friday on BBC Radio 2. Joseph Cullen is preparing choral works for conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Richard Hickox, Riccardo Chailly and Martyn Brabbins for BBC Proms concerts this season.

May 2002

short bio


For further publicity information on this chorus, please click here

printer friendly version
go to last page-go to top of page














selected discography
go to top of page
Beethoven Symphony 9
with London Symphony Orchestra / Stokowski
Heather Harper / Helen Watts / Alexander Young / Douglas McIntyre
London / Polygram
Berlioz The Damnation of Faust LSO Live
with London Symphony Orchestra / Davis
Enkelejda Shkosa / Giuseppe Sabbatini / Michele Pertusi /David Wilson-Johnson
LSO Live
Berlioz Beatrice & Benedict
with London Symphony Orchestra / Davis
Susan Gritton / Laurent Naouri / Enkelejda Shkosa / Kenneth Tarver / Sara Mingardo
LSO Live
Bernstein Candide (complete)
with London Symphony Orchestra / Bernstein
June Anderson / Della Jones / Neil Jenkins/ Adolf Green / Nicolai Gedda / John Treleaven / Kurt Ollmann / Clive Bayley / Richard Suart / Lindsay Benson
DG
Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem
with London Symphony Orchestra / Davis
Harolyn Blackwell / David Wilson-Johnson
LSO Live
Britten Peter Grimes
with City of London Sinfonia / Hickox
Philip Langridge / Janice Watson / Alan Opie / Ameral Gunson / John Graham Hall / John Connell / Anne Collins / John Fryatt / Roderick Williams / Matthew Best / Yvonne Barclay /Pamela Helen Stephen
Chandos
Britten War Requiem
Britten Ballad of Heroes
with London Symphony Orchestra / Hickox
Heather Harper / Philip Langridge / Martyn Hill / John Shirley-Quirk /
St Paul’s Cathedral Boys’ Choir
Chandos
Elgar Dream of Gerontius
with London Symphony Orchestra / Britten
Yvonne Minton / Peter Pears / John Shirley-Quirk/
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Decca
Mahler Symphony no.2
with London Symphony Orchestra / Solti
Heather Harper / Helen Watts
Decca
Saint-Saens Samson et Dalila (complete)
with London Symphony Orchestra / Davis
Jose Cura / Olga Borodina / Jean-Philippe Lafont / Robert Lloyd / Egils Silins
Erato
Walton Belshazzar’s Feast
with London Symphony Orchestra / Hickox
David Wilson-Johnson

EMI
printer friendly version
go to last page-go to top of page














reviews
go to top of page
"the chorus sang beautifully and evocatively…"
Allan Kozinn, New York Times on Janácek Glagolitic Mass and Dvorák Te Deum

"(…) the LSC showed an expressive range of sounds making their instruments truly worthy of being called largesse whether they were attempting pianissmo sounds right up to the fortissimo requirements. The entire structure of winter awakening to the rapid excitement of summer was beautifully expressed by the LSC."
Wilson Henry, The Malay Mail on Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year

"The excellent [London Symphony] Chorus, who have much to contribute and do it beautifully …."
John Warrack, International Record Review on Berlioz Béatrice et Bénédict

"The first thing to be said about the Barbican concert-performances of Berlioz’s opera Les Troyens (…) with Sir Colin Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (…) is that they were magnificent."
David Murray on Berlioz The Trojans

"(…) The Trojans so splendidly performed (…), with no doubtful link in the cast, and the LSO Chorus and Orchestra in spanking form. The chorus and orchestra carry the whole thing, creating a fluid, shifting series of tableaux (…), both colossal and pittoresque."
Adrian Jack in ‘The Independent’, on Berlioz The Trojans

"(…) the London Symphony Chorus, in glorious voice, was unencumbered by the need to clamber and pose around a stage, and instead played the crowd scenes by a power, energy, confidence and accuracy one would not think possible from amateurs."
Stephen Pettitt, on Berlioz The Trojans

"(…) the Ladies of the London Symphony Chorus effected a clean and musicianly interpretation."
Robert Cowan in The Independent, on the LSO Mahler Festival in the Barbican

"And when the BBC Symphony and London Symphony choruses finally stood up, no errant acoustic could stop them sounding forth, warm and comforting, leading us up beyond the cathedral’s suspended Crucifix towards heaven itself."
Geoff Brown in The Times, 30/9/1999, on BBCSO/Davis Concert in Westminster Cathedral

"The London Symphony Chorus sings superbly – notes, light and shade are there."
Classical Express Newsletter, Richard Hickox’s recording of Peter Grimes.

printer friendly version
go to last page-go to top of page

Home | Artists | Tours & Projects | Promotions | Newsletters | About Us | Contacts

go to top of page

Copyright © 2003 Intermusica. All Rights Reserved.