Short History of Bromley Philharmonic Choir

Audrey Langford led the Choir for 32 years, retiring in 1981 when she passed her baton to David Parry who was with ENO North (now Opera North) at the time and now conducts some of our major orchestras. His recordings of opera in English for Chandos, and of rare works of the nineteenth century on the Opera Rara label are receiving excellent reviews. He was followed by Mark Fitz-Gerald (with a brief ‘interregnum’ under Paul McGrath and Tomás Creagh-Fuller), but Mark left the Choir in 1997 when he was appointed Assistant Conductor to the Strasbourg Philharmonic and the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg. Since his return to England, apart from returning to conduct Kentish Opera, and many other orchestras including the Orchestra of Opera North and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he has begun recording works by Shostakovich for Naxos. Robyn Sevastos took over from Mark Fitz-Gerald; she had been working with him both at Bromley Philharmonic and at Kentish Opera, and she and the Choir have enjoyed a fruitful artistic partnership ever since.

The other great stalwart and supporter of the choir was Laurence Gerrish who was the Choir's accompanist from its inception until he finally retired at the end of 1994 - a period of some 45 years. Sadly, Laurence passed away in 1999, and the Choir gave a performance of Brahms Requiem in his memory on April 1st 2000. His was an extremely difficult act to follow but Robyn more than ably fulfilled this challenge before taking over as Music Director in 1997. She was replaced as accompanist by Diana Dunk, again a very able accompanist and long associated with the Choir, who has just retired from the post to become a ‘back-bench’ alto! Our new accompanist is Tracey Renwick, who also works with Robyn at Sevenoaks Philharmonic Choir.

In its early days the Choir had a number of well-known musicians as Vice-Presidents, including Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gerald Finzi and Edmund Rubbra. The joint Presidents for many years were Jack and Dorothy Marriott: Jack was also a local councillor and Mayor of Bromley. Our present President is Andy Field who has been associated with the choir since its inception — as Audrey's husband, as a regular soloist and as member of the Choir — and three Vice-Presidents, Sid Ellis and Pamela and Peter Morgan, long-standing members and supporters all, also serve.

The Choir over the years has covered a wide range of works which have included some world and UK premières including Finzi's Magnificat. The Choir now mainly performs locally but in earlier years performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southwark Cathedral, St. John's Smith Square and Fairfield Halls besides making several broadcasts. In 1951 the Choir qualified for the final of the Festival of Britain and performed at the new Festival Hall in front of the Queen (then Princess Elizabeth), achieving 4th place overall in the Ladies' Section and 7th overall in the Mixed section — an astonishing result for a chorus formed only two years earlier. A particularly successful venture more recently was the link-up with the Amici di Verdi Society of London to perform three early Verdi operas at Blackheath Concert Halls under the baton of the late Sir Edward Downes. Members of the Choir also visited Bromley's twin town, Neuwied in Germany, and performed with the local choir there. In return, the Niederbieberchor of Neuwied has twice visited Bromley to sing with the Bromley Philharmonic Choir. More recently, to celebrate the Choir's 60th Anniversary, a joint concert with Bromley Youth Music Trust Adult Choir and Bromley Youth Chamber Orchestra was held at St.Clement Danes Church in central London, to perform Bach's St.Matthew Passion.

Many well-known soloists have worked with the Choir over the years and these have included Josephine Veasey, Heddle Nash, Martyn Hill and Sir Geraint Evans to name but a few: a more extensive list appears here. In addition, many members of the Choir performed as professionals elsewhere, including the Royal Opera House and Sadler’s Wells/English National Opera.

Recently the choir has been expanding, with a regular membership of around 65; rehearsals are lively and the Choir works hard at an interesting and imaginative programme. There are normally four concerts a year at various venues throughout the Borough. The Spring and Autumn Concerts are the major events, often with an orchestra. In recent years the Choir has taken part in Borough events and led the Mayor's Gala Concert in 1997. It has also performed at the Penge Proms and worked with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Society in Croydon.