Singing Returns! VOCES8 Launches ‘Live From London’
VOCES8 announces the first-ever global online vocal festival. Live from London was created by the VOCES8 Foundation and will feature some of the world’s finest vocal ensembles including VOCES8 and Chanticleer.
The festival will be broadcast every Saturday for ten weeks from the August 1 – October 3, 2020. It has been designed to raise money for artists, venues and promoters to cover their COVID-19 losses, and to reunite the world’s many singers, and audiences with much needed live concerts.
Broadcast in HD from the beautiful VOCES8 Centre (St Anne and St Agnes Church), in the heart of London, viewers will be able to pay for exclusive access to season or individual concert tickets to see award-winning artists including VOCES8, I Fagiolini, Stile Antico, The Swingles, The Sixteen (from Kings Place), The Gesualdo Six, Apollo5, Chanticleer (from San Francisco) and a special guest appearance by The Academy of Ancient Music.
The ensembles will be performing their favorite works, and pieces for which they’ve become renowned, singing repertoire from the Renaissance to contemporary A Cappella. View all of the programs.
Live from London is a heart-warming display of vocal ensembles helping each other in a time of crisis. These concerts will be some of the first performances by the ensembles since the start of the lock-down restrictions at the beginning of the year. A portion of all ticket sales will be put towards funding for grassroots music education, and to addressing topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in choral music. Concessions have been crafted for students and choirs across the world, as well as special deals for promoters and venues. Artists will share income from season ticket sales, as well as individual concert income. This approach goes beyond free streaming on social media, allowing a revenue channel for promoters, venues and artists. The concerts will be broadcast from a closed venue with singers and crew following the strict government guidelines regarding safety and social distancing.
The VOCES8 team continues to lead the charge in its forward-thinking, inclusive initiatives in the choral sector. Live from London follows the online work the VOCES8 Foundation has been doing over lock-down with its #liveathome series – more than 100 broadcasts of online performances, participation events and interactive sessions.
The series begins with a performance by VOCES8 on August 1, celebrating their 15th Anniversary album, After Silence, which was released on July 24. After Silence highlights the power of music to express the inexpressible. Music programmed ranges from Orlando Gibbons through to Claudio Monteverdi and the world premiere performance of Marten Jansson’s “Elemental Elegy.”
Continuing its founding principles of education, inclusivity and singing for all, The VOCES8 Foundation is launching a Digital Academy to go live this September. An online choral academy consisting of a wide array of world class, easy to use content, modules, live performances and live interaction with VOCES8 and members of the VOCES8 Foundation team.
Visit the foundation’s website for more information and tickets.