The Choir
Constanza Chorus is based in the heart of the City of London. The choir is a fun and sociable group whilst striving for the highest of standards.
We’ve had the privilege of performing a wide range of concerts with accompanists and professional musicians and orchestras. Just a few highlights include:
– Brahms Requiem with the London Mozart Players at Cadogan Hall in May 2015
– Mozart Requiem and Goddess Excellently Bright by Matthew Taylor – a piece specially written for Constanza Chorus – at Cadogan Hall in May 2017 with the London Mozart Players.
– In summer 2018, Constanza Chorus toured to Germany giving a memorable concert at Brandenburg Cathedral and singing in the morning service at Thomaskirche, Bach’s church.
– Our tenth anniversary concert of Bach B Minor Mass at Cadogan Hall in May 2019 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
– Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony as part of the RVW150 celebrations with the London Mozart Players at Cadogan Hall in May 2022
Constanza Chorus also fundraises for charity through their concerts and CD sales. Over the past thirteen years we have raised thousands of pounds for charities such as the Cystic Fybrosis Trust, Downs Syndrome Association, CLIC Sargent, Action on Hearing Loss, Help Musicians UK & Future Talent.
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The Conductor
Constanza Chorus is conducted by dynamic Director of Music Joanna Tomlinson.
Joanna founded Constanza Chorus, with Libby Tomlinson in January 2010.
Joanna Tomlinson is Music Director of Constanza Chorus and the Whitehall Choir, and Principal Conductor of the National Youth Girls’ Choir. In her role with the National Youth Choir she also works regularly with members across the organisation, including the ‘Fellows’ and ‘Young Composers’ young professional schemes, and she was Chorus Master in Brahms’ Requiem with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov at the BBC Proms 2022.
Joanna has worked as visiting conductor for some of the UK’s top amateur choirs, including the Joyful Company of Singers, Royal College of Music Chorus, BBC Symphony Chorus, Trinity Laban and RCM Junior College Choirs, the Epiphoni Consort and Wimbledon Choral Society.
Until the end of 2020 she was Artistic Director of Farnham Youth Choir, who won gold medals in the ‘Youth’ and ‘Sacred Music’ categories at the European Choir Games in Sweden in 2019 and appeared at the Sion Festival in Switzerland 2019 and as a backing choir for the X-Factor live final in 2018.
In 2019 she was Chorus Master for the Glyndebourne Youth Chorus and a women’s chorus in Eye to Eye by Howard Skempton and Sheila Hill as part of Brighton Festival at Brighton Dome.
Joanna is a tutor for the Association of British Choral Directors and teaches conducting privately. She is increasingly in demand as a workshop leader and workshops have included sessions for the Royal Opera House, ABCD, UK Choir Festival, Military Wives Choirs’ conductors, Helicon Arts and Lacock Holiday singing courses and Gabrieli Consort’s ‘Roar’ education scheme. She has studied conducting with Neil Ferris and Peter Hanke and at the Sherborne Summer School under George Hurst. She has been an adjudicator for the Leith Hill Choral Festival and Cheltenham Music Festival.
Joanna studied singing at the Royal College of Music, where she gained the post-graduate diploma in singing with distinction. In addition to solo oratorio engagements, she has worked with choirs such as the BBC Singers, London Voices, Philharmonia Voices, Britten Sinfonia Voices, Gabrieli Consort, Le Concert D’Astrée and Sonoro.
More details: www.joannatomlinson.co.uk
The Accompanist
Gavin Roberts enjoys a varied career as a pianist and organist.
He has partnered singers in recital at Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and the Royal Festival Hall and is Artistic Director of Song in the City. He has appeared at the Cheltenham Festival, Dartington International Festival, the Ludlow Weekend of English Song, the Ryedale Festival and the Oxford Lieder Festival. He works regularly with soprano Lucy Hall, with whom he won the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform, and actor Rosamund Shelley, with whom he performs her one-woman shows War Songs and Novello & Son.
He has played for the BBC Singers, the Joyful Company of Singers, Constanza Chorus, Kingston Choral Society, the Hanover Band and Tiffin Boys’ Choir, and has worked as a repetiteur for Sir Roger Norrington and the late Richard Hickox.
Gavin has appeared regularly on BBC Radio broadcasts as a soloist and accompanist, often giving premiere performances of new works. He has played on numerous recordings for the BBC, ASV, Guild and Priory Records. A recent project is the recording of London-themed song commissions for Song in the City.
Gavin studied piano with Andrew West and Eugene Asti at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he is now a Professor. He had previously read music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he also held the organ scholarship. Following this, Gavin gained a master’s degree from King’s College London. Gavin was Organist and Director of Music at
St Marylebone Parish Church from 2014–2022.
More details: www.gavinroberts.org; www.songinthecity.org
The Venue
We rehearse at St Mary-at-Hill church in the heart of the City of London on Monday evenings with a short break over Christmas and a longer holiday over the summer.
St Mary’s was very badly damaged by the Great Fire of 1666 – the fire started in Pudding Lane just two streets away – and is thought to be the first church rebuilt by Christopher Wren. The church has always had a strong musical tradition – composer Thomas Tallis was a choir boy here in the early 16th Century.