New music
We are active exponents of C20/C21 music, and have forged relationships with a number of contemporary composers, including Bob Chilcott, James MacMillan, Tarik O’Regan, Howard Skempton, Philip Stopford and John Woolrich. We have regularly premiered and commissioned new works, including five in 2016 alone, Exile Lamentations by the Australian composer Paul Stanhope, which we co-commissioned in 2009, andTimepieces, a commission from Ian Stephens in 2011, the third movement of which we premiered on Radio 3. All six works on our 2014 CD Timepieces were premiered by the choir.
The choir has won awards from the PRS Foundation for New Music, Making Music and from The Holst Foundation for outstanding enterprise in choral music. It has some thirty First Recordings to its name, as well as numerous premieres, which are listed below (B first broadcast performance, C Elysian Singers’ commission, E Winning Elysian Singers Psalmfest composition competition entry, I Irish premiere, J joint commission, L London premiere, R first SATB recording, S Spanish/Basque premiere, U UK premiere, W World premiere). Selected sound tracks are available at the foot of the page.
| Julian Allwood | Mettimi come un sigillo L |
| Tom Armstrong | Brontë Antiphons W |
| Colin Attard | The Lord is my Shepherd W |
| Bertie Baigent | Noli claudere aures tuas W |
| Richard Baker | Huiusmodi sunt omnia R |
| Stuart Beatch | Psalm 53 E |
| Gavin Bryars | On Photography L |
| Geoffrey Burgon | The First World L Five love songs L |
| Diana Burrell | Come Holy Ghost L Creator of the stars of night L |
| Julian Butcher | Come, everyone that thirsteth W |
| Bob Chilcott | Four carols by Kevin Crossley-Holland W Our Father W |
| Danyal Dhondy | Still the Sirens W (Video here) |
| Antonin Dvořák | Dmitrij (concert performance) L |
| Aidan Fisher | Allu Mari C |
| Mark Fleming | Keep thou not silence W |
| Philip Glass | Three Songs (1984) U |
| Michael Zev Gordon | There we sat down R |
| Henryk Górecki | Miserere, Op. 44 BL Songs of Rodziny Katynskie U Three Kurpian Songs, Op. 75 L Three Lullabies, Op. 47 BL |
| John Habron | Salve Regina W |
| Bernard Hughes | Psalm 56 E |
| Andrew Hugill | Les Origines Humaines C (more details on Andrew Hugill’s website) |
| Alexis Kirke | Open Outcry W (trailer on YouTube) |
| Erich Korngold | Die Tote Stadt (concert performance) U |
| David Lancaster | Bliss W |
| David Lancaster | Feathers W |
| Owen Leech | If you are Fire W |
| Jeffrey Lewis | Recordatio W |
| David Lumsdaine | Five travelling songs WR |
| James MacMillan | Invocation L Tenebrae Responsories L |
| Peter Maxwell Davies | Corpus Christi with cat and mouse L O verbum patris L |
| Philippe Mazé | Trois motets pour un temps de pénitence U |
| John McCabe | Amen/Alleluia U |
| Michael McHale | Cross Road Blues W |
| Per Nørgård | D’Monstrantz Vöögeli U Halleluja – vor Gud er forrykt! U |
| Chris O’Hara | Be merciful unto me, O God E |
| Tarik O’Regan | Ave Maria IL Bring rest, sweet dreaming child CR Dorchester Canticles L Surrexit Christus ILS |
| Michael Parsons | Farthest North W |
| David Power | The Transfiguration W |
| David Power | Two Emily Bronte settings W |
| Daniel Rollison | Adiuva nos, Deus salutaris noster W |
| Malcolm Singer | Songs of Ascent C |
| Howard Skempton | The Flight of Song L Roundels of the Year C Song at the year’s turning L |
| Paul Stanhope | Exile Lamentations JR |
| Ian Stephens | The Ecchoing Green B Funeral Blues B Timepieces CR |
| Philip Stopford | Ave regina caelorum W |
| John Tavener | Many Years W Monument for Beethoven W |
| James Whitbourn | Magnificat and Nunc dimittis L |
| John Woolrich | Over the sea C |
A selection of tracks from the choir’s archive of concert recordings
(year of composition in parenthesis):
Ian Stephens (2011): Funeral Blues (excerpt)
Ian Stephens (2011): Our Bias (conclusion)
Paul Stanhope (2009): Eykhah (excerpt)
Paul Stanhope (2009): Deserts of exile (excerpt)
Paul Stanhope (2009): Lament (conclusion)
Stuart Beatch (2016): Psalm 53 (conclusion) Sound Engineer: Calum Bell
Bernard Hughes (2016): Psalm 56 (conclusion) Sound Engineer: Calum Bell
Chris O’Hara (2016): Be merciful unto me, O God (excerpt) Sound Engineer: Calum Bell
John Duggan (2009) Returning, we hear the larks
Philip Stopford (2011): Ave Regina Caelorum (excerpt)
Judith Weir (2005): Vertue
Judith Weir (2005): Prayer
Judith Weir (2003): A blue true dream of sky (excerpt)
Tarik O’Regan (2002): Surrexit Christus (excerpt)
Gabriel Jackson (2007): A prayer of King Henry VI
Bob Chilcott (2009): The Heart-in-Waiting (conclusion)
David Lumsdaine (2012): Roman Wall Blues
James Macmillan (2006): Tenebrae factae sunt (excerpt)
James Macmillan (2006): Tradiderunt me (conclusion)
James Whitbourn (2005): Nunc dimittis