Testimonials

The Kanneh-Masons, Sinfonia Viva and Nottingham Harmonic Choir
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
10 January 2026

Section relating to the Choir:

"The Nottingham Harmonic Choir was on fine form too, performing Brahms' Song of Destiny and Vaughan Williams' Toward the Unknown Region, both scrupulously attentive to detail and producing rich, carefully balanced sound throughout. The Brahms opens with a mood of otherworldly tranquillity, the choir entering softly, their lines floating with a seamlessness that mirrors blessed beings walking in divine light. This isn't easy for a large choir to achieve but the Harmonic managed it impressively. They were equally splendid in the Vaughan Williams where they had to navigate shifting harmonies and the sort of dense choral textures which evoke struggle and disorientation. The final few bars are a setting of the words 'float in time and space' and ask the singers to sound ethereal and weightless, to create a luminous texture which seems to dissolve into light itself. Their Music Director, Richard Laing, had clearly done a splendid job in preparing them and Sinfonia Viva's conductor Jonathan Bloxham created with them and his orchestra a mystical, intensely visionary musical narrative. Their performance ended a memorable evening."

- William Ruff

Messiah 2025

Under the expert leadership of the outstanding Richard Laing, the choir gave an utterly enthralling and captivating performance of Messiah on Saturday.
It was a wonderfully operatic portrayal of this enduring masterpiece, with vivid and compelling storytelling, combined with powerful expressions of contrasting emotions, ranging from anger, scorn, joy, awe and wonder!
The world class reputation of the choir was on full display with technical excellence in execution of many of the challenging and intricate runs & the balance and blend of vocal parts.
Throughout the entire performance, there were many examples of sublimely soaring, sweetly angelic sopranos, balanced with richness, depth and powerfully intensity of the lower voices.
I found it a spine tingling and deeply moving performance'!!

- Sue Spencer (ex choir member)

Rütti Requiem & Vivaldi Gloria
Sat, 25 May 2024

What an extraordinary night we had! Beautiful singing and so emotional. We loved the Vivaldi, and the Rütti was absolutely incredible. The choir was brilliant and so were the orchestra and the soloists. Thank you for a stunning evening and congratulations to the choir. It was a really impressive performance and I was choking back the tears in the Rütti.

- Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason

Spring Fantasia - March 2023
Nottingham Albert Hall

Planning a concert with several contrasting pieces is not easy; do you look for a consistent theme, or a progression? If the latter, should it be chronological or move from one mood to another – a popular choice being from darkness into light? The Harmonic Choir's Spring Concert chose a different pattern, beginning with the mostly calm mood of Cecilia McDowall's Ave Maris Stella and culminating with the affirmation of Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs.

But this is not to do justice to the nuances of any of the works played: McDowall's work has a tempestuous central section which sets Psalm 106's evocation of the dangers faced by “they that go down to the sea in ships” and there are many contemplative moments in Vaughan Williams' settings of George Herbert's poems. Between these came Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass for double choir with its music portraying a spiritual journey from Heaven to Earth and Holst's Hymn of Jesus whose complex dance inspired rhythms were recognised as a completely new approach to liturgical music at its first performance, just over a hundred years ago.

To capture all this and yet make sense of the range of styles and moods in a single concert was a formidable challenge, yet one that the Choir met with great assurance. Hushed, meditative moments were delivered with exemplary breath control and meticulous phrasing (and there was the significant bonus of Eleanor Shaw's bright tones and pin-point accuracy in the McDowall) while the more complex rhythms and textures of the Holst were tackled with almost complete assurance. It's a fiendishly difficult piece - even professional choirs have come to grief in it - and the acoustics of the Albert Hall, with the organ splitting the choir in two, adds to its problems, but Richard Laing's characteristically clear and enthusiastic conducting averted the dangers of one or two potentially rocky moments.

James Oldfield was the bass-baritone soloist in the Five Mystical Songs. He captured the rapt, lyrical tones of the quieter songs beautifully, “Love” being a particular highlight. The strings of the Orchestra da Camera supplied the accompaniment; like the choir they were adept at conveying the range of feeling with a warmth of tone that suggested a larger group in the more extrovert numbers. In the second half of the concert, they were supplemented by a piano which supplied the missing brass and wind parts; while it was a pity not to have the original orchestrations, this in no way detracted from the impact of a very satisfying concert – one that was fully appreciated by the audience, whose enthusiasm went a long way towards compensating for their relatively small numbers.

- David Dunford

Mozart Requiem Concert with Sinfonia Viva & Frank Zielhorst.
Orchestral finesse combines with choral precision 2 Nov 2019

No one could accuse Sinfonia Viva of lacking range or ambition. On Friday night they started by taking their audience into a strange, dark landscape (with no map, no compass, no satnav) but ended by soaring out of this world altogether, revealing to them the radiant brightness of Heaven itself.
...
Dark colours also abounded in Mozart's Requiem for which the orchestra was joined by the Nottingham Harmonic Choir and soloists Elizabeth Karani, Claire Barnett-Jones, Konu Kim and David Ireland. It was clear from the outset that the choir had been outstandingly prepared by their Director Richard Laing. Much of the music reminds us of Mozart the opera composer, so it needs narrative urgency, crisp diction and attention to the minutest instructions in the score. The fact that the Harmonic Choir managed all this accounts for the thrillingly dramatic effects they achieved. Such was the fierceness of their ‘Dies Irae' and ‘Confutatis maledictis' that even the most enthusiastic sinners amongst the audience must surely have considered repentance.
There was much to enjoy from the soloists, although there were moments when ensemble wasn't perfect and when it would have been good to see them free themselves more often from their scores.

Symphony and Requiem shed both light (and darkness) on each other, creating a programme that was far more than the sum of its parts. There was a blend of power, gravitas and close attention to detail as Sinfonia Viva's stylistic finesse joined forces with the Harmonic Choir's passion and precision. It all made for a compelling experience.

- William Ruff

Carmina Burana with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, recorded for BBC Radio 3.

Review from Nottingham University Impact Magazine - please copy and paste the link below into your browser

http://www.impactnottingham.com/2016/03/bbc-symphony-orchestra-royal-concert-hall/