Introduction
Forthcoming Events
Contact Info
The Choir
This Site
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Welcome to the Sarum Voices Website!
IntroductionSarum Voices is a choir of young singers based in and around Salisbury. They sing a variety of music, ranging from choral classics and new compositions, to arrangements, by their leader Ben Lamb, of popular hits. The choir performs at engagements of all kinds, including weddings, concerts and tours.
They first met under their motto Vox Fossae Postremae when another choir that was due to sing in Salisbury Cathedral found, at the last minute, that they had double-booked. The success of this first weekend led to more regular meetings, such as the Song & Verse concerts in Salisbury's Medieval Hall, and Carols by Candlelight in Britford Church, as well as professional bookings for weddings and other events. It was at the first Song & Verse evening in August of 1999 that the choir first expanded its repertoire beyond that found in the cloistered world of religious choral music. This concert also featured the first appearance of "Clean Cut" - a male voice close harmony quartet drawn from the choir - and the start of a collaboration with the writer, Jonathan Lamb, whose witty poetry punctuates the evening. The combination of secular and sacred music offered in this concert proved very popular with the audience, and so we decided to release an album which would complement Through Vaults of Time (the recording of church music made in 1999) with a recording which demonstrated the lighter side of our repertoire - hence our second disc, Since You Went Away (2000). In 2003, we released the 5th Anniversary Celebration Song & Verse CD (2001 & 2003), which showcases the full spectrum of the eponymous concert. Two sister albums followed: the Christmas disc Wolcum Yole (2002), and its Passiontide counterpart Juxta Crucem (2003). Wolcum Yole includes Britten's Ceremony of Carols and this recording was first choice of the female voices recordings on Radio 3's Building a Library. Juxta Crucem also featured on this show, being rated as the best choral recording of Scarlatti's Stabat Mater. In 2004 they cut the sequel to our first album in the double-disc Through Vaults of Time, volume II, offering a further selection of the English Cathedral repertoire including Walton's The Twelve and many other works. Most recently they have recorded Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Janacek's Otce Nas and Missae Brevi by Benjamin Britten and choir director Ben Lamb on a disc entitled Adonai.
Many of the choir were choristers at Salisbury Cathedral, and we take care to nurture this connection, meaning that there is nearly always some fresh input into the choir each time we meet. The most important requisites of being a choir member are enthusiasm and love for the music; these engender a working environment that can be really relaxed and friendly - we are sure that you will be able to tell this from listening to our music.
Tickets for Handel's Messiah on Saturday 19th April at St Martin's Church, Salisbury will be available shortly from Salisbury Playhouse Box Office on 01722 320333 - book early to avoid disappointment!
The Choir will also be singing at many weddings across the South of England over the coming months.
Public events include the following:
For all enquiries concerning Sarum Voices or the Clean Cut barbershop quartet, get in touch with Ben Lamb:
- Tel: 01543 262446
- email: info@sarumvoices.co.uk
- Snailmail: 1 The Close, Lichfield, WS13 7LD
- If you would like to join the Friends of Sarum Voices, and be kept informed of forthcoming events via email, please click here to fill in the registration form.
This marvellous web site was created by Mr Richard Hooper, starting some time in May 2001, and up and running at the beginning of July. If you've got any comments about it, he'd love to hear them, perhaps on webmaster@sarumvoices.co.uk.
- Last updated 18/1/08