History and News

Ipswich Chamber Choir was founded in 1984 by Martyn Bagnall to fill a perceived gap in the musical scene in Suffolk at the time. Although there were several large choral societies, there were no quality chamber choirs for good singers to experience the wealth of repertoire available to smaller groups. The Choir quickly established a name for itself in terms of the music undertaken and the quality of the singing.

When after many years of successful concerts, Martyn left to move abroad, Tom Appleton, a professional bass soloist and conductor who sang with the Monteverdi Choir, took over as Music Director in 2008. The Choir enjoyed new repertoire and Tom’s rehearsals, which were serious about the music but a lot of fun.

He was followed in 2010 by Christopher Borrett, also a bass soloist who performed widely, including with the Monteverdi Choir and the Marian Consort.

Our last concert with Christopher took place in May 2018 at St Andrew's Church, Rushmere and was a celebration of eight years of wonderful music under his musical direction.  We are grateful for his musical interpretation, for introducing us to unfamiliar music and for helping us to improve our vocal technique.  We were pleased that we could keep in touch as he was continuing in his rôle as Music Director at St Mary-le-Tower.

We were delighted that John Brunning, composer and Classic FM presenter, was present to hear us perform the world première of his works Ubi Caritas, Ave Maria ii, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Prayer of St Francis.

Benedict Collins Rice was appointed as our Music Director in September 2018.

Our first concert with Benedict on 17th November, was titled Greater Love Hath No Man with Parry’s Songs of Farewell interspersed with moving WW1 poetry read by members of the Suffolk Poetry Society.

The 30th March saw a powerful performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor with The Geldart Ensemble and soloists Bethany Partridge, Guy James, Will Searle and Tom Herring.

On June 1st 2019 the choir had great fun singing All That Jazz at St Andrew’s Church, Rushmere, performing Bob Chicott’s A little Jazz Mass accompanied by the amazing Chris Ingham Trio, and many well-loved jazz standards, some arranged by our talented conductor Benedict Collins Rice.

Sadly we said goodbye to our Assistant Musical Director Emma Haggar after five years, but she left us with the thrill of hearing her play an arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. We wish her well in her new life within the church.

We welcomed William Baldry, organist at St Mary-le-Tower, as our Assistant Director of Music in September 2019.

The choir was delighted that Martin Baganll who founded the choir in 1984, agreed to be our Honorary President in November 2019. He attended a rehearsal and a drinks party to meet old and new friends.

The Choir’s Advent and Christmas concert on 7th December 2019 was a joyous evening with festive food and drinks in the candlelit church decorated with Christmas trees. We raised money from the royalties from purchasing music scores for Crisis, the national charity for the homeless and with generous donations from our audience, for our local charity The Ipswich Winter Night Shelter. It was a great way to start the Christmas season with wonderful music, a social atmosphere and the chance to help those less fortunate. It was enjoyed by audience and choir alike.

On 29th February 2020 we performed Tomas Luis de Victoria’s sublime Missa pro Defunctis a 4. As a complete contrast audience and choir alike were then swept away by the intense emotion of James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words From the Cross. We were joined by the amazing Façade Ensemble for this performance.

When the Covid 19 restrictions were put in place in March, like many other groups, Ipswich Chamber Choir, continued to hope that we might yet be able to perform our concert Sounds and Sweet Airs, music inspired by the traditional song of the British Isles, this summer.  We continued to rehearse individually at home every Tuesday night, under the guidance of our talented conductor, Benedict Collins Rice.  He sent us videos of musical directions and interpretation, accompaniment to sing to and even silent conducting for the a capella pieces to keep us on our toes.  Members sent in recordings of their parts which Benedict skilfully stitched together so we could eventually hear a full performance - quite a challenge when singing and recording without accompaniment!

It became clear the choir would not be able to meet for some time yet, so when concert day arrived on May 16th, we were determined to celebrate the delightful music by Wheeler, Barber and others, including a fun arrangement of The Miller of Dee by Benedict.  We held a "virtual concert" by Zoom so everyone could enjoy seeing smiling familiar faces and have a sing and  a chat.  We had a laugh with some tongue twisting warm ups and all felt uplifted as the music was quite poignant given the circumstances, taking in our country walks, the spring flowers blooming, hearing the larks, and generally feeling very British!  It has given us the confidence and will to plan for our concert of German masterpieces on December 5th in the hope that we will all be singing together again by then, but meanwhile we will keep the choir singing and support each other.

At the end of May Penny Spindler, our librarian and Christine Westren, the committee member responsible for publicity and refreshments, retired from the committee. To show our gratitude for their valuale contribution to the running of the choir over many years, Shirley Ingham made and delivered beatiful bouquets.

The nation had hoped that Covid -19 would be a thing of the past by the autumn of 2020, but as it continued to disrupt daily life to say nothing of rehearsals and concerts, ICC were determined to do something… and what a something it turned out to be! On 18th October we performed a socially distanced live streamed concert from St Mary-le-Tower. This being a new experience for all concerned, it was with some trepidation that we held Covid secure rehearsals with back up online videoes, and engaged the services professional recording experts Encore SFX and TM Services who produced an excellent YouTube video for us. We are very grateful to them.

Benedict Collins Rice inspired the choir to sing a moving performance of JS Bach’s Cantata 48 and as a complete contrast in style, his own composition A Suffolk Song which won the hearts of all who heard it.

Soloists in the Bach Tom Lilburn, Alto and Toby Ward, Tenor were superb and our old friends The Geldart Ensemble provided their usual wonderful accompaniment.

Conductor, Choir and Committee were elated by the success of the concert in this very different format and and by the very positive feedback from the online audience. Click here to read a review.

In December we were still rehearsing online or when able to meet in person for only 2 rehearsals, with strict Covid measures in place. On the 14th we performed a short Covid secure concert of Christmas music including Ave Rex by William Mathias and a new work written for the choir by Benedict Collins Rice, A winter rose shall flower. The concert was recorded by Chris Stephens so those who were unable to be there were able to join us for some Christmas cheer.

Hopes for a concert in the spring of 2021 were dashed, but determined to keep singing we rehearsed on line and in the fresh air of members’ gardens, before giving a performance of Hanel’s Coronation Anthems for a few family members in a beautiful garden in Stutton on 12th June.

Some relaxation of Covid restrictions allowed us the joy of performing Music for Evensong for a small audience on 24th July in St Mary-le-Tower. We sang Handel’s Coronation Anthems 1, 3 and 4, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, Psalm 119 and Preces and Responses set by Benedict Collins Rice.

On Sunday morning 25th July a group of members sang excerpts from Mozart’s Missa Brevis in C, KV220 and Handel’s My heart is inditing in the Eucharist service.

What a joy to sing at last to a full audience and celebrate Christmas with William Searle, tenor and The Facade Ensemble in a programme called The Wonderful Gifts on 4th December 2021 at St Margaret’s Church, Ipswich. The audience enjoyed the fun of St Nicolas by Britten, masterfully staged by Benedict Collins Rice, with young singers from Ipswich School and St Mary-le-Tower Church taking the parts of the boy Nicolas and the Pickled Boys. The exciting story telling enhanced by William Baldry playing percussion and moving hymn tunes were followed by the sublime Tribus miraculis by Palestrina and the festive Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Vaughan Williams.

The first Passion of the four year JS Bach Passion Cycle took place on 2nd April in St Mary-le-Tower, when we performed the St Mark with The Geldart Ensemble and Amici Voices. In spite of the absence of quite a few singers due to Covid, our audience was full of praise saying it was a “triumph” and greatly enjoyed by all. We look forward to the next three years of the Passion Cycle!

A sunny day was perfect for our Sounds and Sweet Airs concert at Rushmere St Andrew on 11th June, with a programme of traditional song of the British Isles followed by the choir’s renowned high tea.

The Choir spent the last weekend in July in residence at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, a new venture for ICC which was successful and enjoyable. Members sang for the Saturday and Sunday services and performed a lunchtime recital of music from our June concert programme of the folk tradition.

Happy singers at our Come and Sing on 10th September at Museume Street Methodist Church singing extracts from Bach’s St John Passion, Martin’s Mass for Double Choir and Whitacre’s Alleluia, inspiringly led by Benedict Collins Rice.

26th November 2022 saw us perform a beautiful, moving, but challenging and contrasting a cappella programme of Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir, Duruflé’s Four Motets and Whitacre’s Sainte-Chapelle and Alleluia.

We celebrated the festive season on 13th December with a relaxed, sociable evening of Christmas Crackers from The Messiah, carols for the choir and their guests, mince pies and mulled wine.

Our Bach Passion Cycle continued with the second concert on 25th March 2023 when we performed the St John with the The Geldart Ensemble and Amici Voices. We were thrilled with the audience feedback and all the singers and players agreed it was a wonderful evening.

On 10th June 2023, a glorious sunny day, we sang Songs of the Sea in Rushmere St Andrew Church. Choruses from John Adams’ astonishing and challenging opera the Death of Klinghoffer were interspersed with lighter more familiar opera choruses by Mozart and Wagner and the less well known The Wreckers by Dame Ethel Smyth. We celebrateded with fizz and the now famous ICC tea with sumptious cakes.

After four years we were sorry to say goodbye to Will Baldry our Assistant Music Director whose skilful accompaniment will be missed. We wish him well and hope to invite him back to play in a future concert.

On 18th November 2023 we performed an a cappella concert of music by Rheinberger, including his Mass in Eb, Nine Advent Motets, Heimveh, Abendlied, Zum Neuen Jahr, Morgenstern der finstern Nacht and Abendfriede. Singing a whole concert unaccompanied is demanding, but we were thrilled with the results of our hard work and the audience feedback was enthusiastic.

The Raedwald Brass Ensemble joined the Choir in a celebration of Christmas with carols, Mathias’ Ave Rex, Rheinberger Motets and mulled wine in St Peters on the Waterfront on 12 December.

On 16 March we performed the St Luke Passion after a fascinating talk by Bach scholar Professor Bettina Varwig who explained the mystery surrounding the work. Did JS Bach write it and if not, who did? Nobody knows!

As for the previous Passions we were joined by the wonderful Geldart Ensemble who also illustrated the talk with excerpts displaying the emotion of the music, and very talented soloists of Amici Voices. Although this is a rarely performed work so unknown to most of the audience, it was received with enthusiastic applause and many complimentary commments. Next year, the last of our 4 year Passion Cycle -the mighty St Matthew Passion!

Our 40 th Anniversry Year began with a jazz concert at St Andrew’s Church Rushmere. It was music to dance to - even the Mass by Steve Dobrogosz - and the audience loved Benedict’s arrangements of well known standards like s’Wonderful and Alnost like being in love.

Chrisine Westren displayed 40 years of ICC history in concert programmes and photos, with recollections by members, current and retired.

We held a very successful workshop on 12 October 2024, exploring the Who? How? What? Where? questions posed in the Bach St Matthew Passion and working on the first and last choruses in preparation for the concert at Snape next year on 05 April.

On 14th December as part of our 40th Anniversary celebration, we joined Ipswich Choral Society for their 200th Anniversary Concert performing Handel’s Messiah in The Ipswich Corn Exchange. Their President Cem Mansur conducted a stirring rendition with soloists from the Royal Academy of Music and the ICS Festival Orchestra.

We were delighted to welcome The Raedwald Brass Ensemble to join the Choir again this year at our Christmas Crackers celebration of Christmas with carols, some with hearty audience particiption, movements from Messiah, rousing brass playing and mulled wine and mince pies in St Peters on the Waterfront on 17 December.