Chameleon Arts Chorus

Singers for Procol Harum & Gary Brooker Ensemble

This resumé comes from the programme for Procol Harum's 1996 Barbican recital

The Chameleon Arts Chorus is a choir of sixty voices which has been making a name for itself over the last few years in the recording studio and on the concert platform.

The Chorus comprises a combination of the two Chamber Choirs directed by chorus master Andrew Phillips. These are The Thames Singers, based in London, and Voci Cantanti, based in Hampshire. Each choir promotes an annual season of approximately a dozen concerts in and around the south east.

Voci Cantanti was formed in 1982 by a group of friends living both in and near Farnborough. The choir numbers 35 singers and performs music of all kinds for the pleasure of its many and varied audiences. The Thames Singers, of similar size, was also formed in 1982 and rehearses each week in central London.

The work of both choirs encompasses innovative enterprises in the field of contemporary music (including commissioning new compositions) as well as fund-raising concerts promoted by local and national charities. Although the choirs are purely secular organisations, they take great pleasure in performing music from the sacred repertoire and assisting in the worship of all denominations.

It is under the administrative umbrella of Chameleon Arts Management, a music agency run by Andrew Phillips, that the Chorus has been assembled for the purpose of recording larger scale works for commercial release and for major film releases, as well as performing live in concert. With the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chameleon Arts Chorus recorded a new work by Richard Adler commissioned for the bicentenary of the University of North Carolina and also appears on several tracks of the CD release The Long Goodbye, a new symphonic version of Procol Harum's finest hit songs, released on the BMG label. Recent film recordings include The Young Americans, released in 1994, Stargate, which opened to great critical acclaim in January 1995, Lawnmower Man II and Mary of Nazareth, a French film which is due for release later this year.  

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