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The Choir: Sing While You Work, BBC Two David was asked by Gareth Malone to take rehearsals for the Bristol Royal Mail postal workers choir featured on the episode of Gareth Malone’s new series on Thursday 27 September. David worked with the singers who were selected for choir especially for the programme, teaching them a number of songs featured on the programme and working on their choral technique http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01n2xgz/?t=19m12s

Saturday 10th November 2012, 7.30pm at Colston Hall, Bristol

David conducts the 140 voices of City of Bristol Choir and Exultate Singers together Grammy award-winning bass Jonathan Lemalu to perform William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. Full of drama, despair and triumph, the piece is a fast-paced tale of the Babylonian king Belshazzar, and the liberation from exile of the Jewish people.

Herbert Howells’ masterpiece Hymnus Paradisi receives its first Bristol performance in this concert. Written in the 1930s after the death of Howells’ young son, it was first performed in 1950. It is an extraordinary work of remembrance and passion, with an ecstatic conclusion looking towards the promise of eternal life.

Tickets £15 – £30 from Colston Hall box office on 0117 922 3686 and www.colstonhall.org

Sunday 7th October, 3pm at St James Priory, Bristol

A decade after it sang its first notes in the medieaval church of St James Priory, Bristol’s accomplished chamber choir Exultate Singers returns to mark its birthday with a celebratory concert of the choir’s favourite pieces including music by Palestrina, Parry, J.S. Bach, Purcell, Harris, Whitacre and Stanford. Come and enjoy a slice of birthday cake and an afternoon of beautiful choral music!

Tickets £8 (£7 concessions, £4 students, £2 under 18s) from Providence Music Shop on 0117 927 6536 and online at www.exultatesingers.org

Thursday 23rd – Friday 24th August 2012 

Come and enjoy two concerts of music from the 16th century to the present day, sung by the fresh and vibrant young voices of the RSCM Millennium Youth Choir, conducted by David Ogden and accompanied by professional organist Daniel Moult.

The first is an hour-long concert in the church of St Mary Virgin, the oldest covered building on Holy Island, reputed to stand on the site of the original monastery founded by Aidan in 635AD. Entry to the concert is free, and there will be retiring collection to be divided between the choir and the parish church.

The second concert will be given on Friday 24th August at 7.30pm in Elvet Methodist Church in Durham, during which the choir will sing a programme of music showcasing its wide repertoire and versatility, from 16th century Italian Renaissance music to pieces written in the last 12 months. Tickets will be available on the door, priced at £5 for adults, £4 concessions, £1 for under 18s.

During the week, the singers can also be heard singing Evensong at Durham Cathedral (daily at 5.15pm from Monday 20th to Saturday 25th August, except Thursday), and Sunday services at 10am (Matins), 11.15am (Sung Eucharist) and 3.30pm Evensong.

“The emergence of the Exultate Singers, founded in 2002 by David Ogden, adds to the growing list of stellar British mixed choirs capable of producing topnotch performances of some of the most dauntingly challenging choral literature.” AllMusic

“This imaginatively programmed disc marks the Exultate Singers out as a choir to be reckoned with.” BBC Music Magazine

“Sung with requisite purity by the Exultate Singers under David Ogden… the most powerful tracks are John Tavener’s exotic Syvati and Henryk Górecki’s Totus tuus, a work that encourages pure contemplation.” Financial Times

“Exultate’s style of singing stands apart from the mainstream major British choral groups, the warm quality generated by thirty-eight voices, and being much larger than their famous counterparts, the tone is not stressed. Very good sound from the popular UK recording location in St. George’s, Bristol.” David Denton, Naxos.com

Tuesday 26th June at 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol
conducted by David Ogden
with The Dorian Chamber Orchestra

The hugely talented singers of the Bristol Schools Chamber Choir, accompanied by orchestra, perform one of the most celebrated works in the choral repertoire, Mozart’s Requiem.

With thrillingly dramatic and fiery choral writing combined with moments of great tenderness, beauty and passion, the Requiem is one of the most deeply moving pieces to hear live in concert.

The beautiful young voices then explore the lighter side of the choral repertoire with a delightful mix of folk songs, spirituals and jazz arrangements, alongside classical songs and arias.

Tickets £11(£10); £9(£8); £7(£6); £6(£5); £3 under 18s from St George’s box office www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk or by telephone on 0845 40 24 001.

Exultate Singers’ new CD was released on the Naxos label on 1st May 2012. The title track is All Shall Be Well by Roxanna Panufnik, the work that Exultate Singers commissioned in 2009 for concert marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The CD includes other music for choir and cello, performed with the cellist Richard May: John Tavener’s Svyati and Knut Nystedt’s Stabat Mater, alongside choral works ranging from Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst to Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. CDs are available to purchase on the Exultate Singers’ website, Providence Music shop, Amazon, HMV, etc, and to download from iTunes or Amazon or to stream on Spotify

BBC One, Sunday 1st April at 4.40pm David conducts Songs of Praise on Palm Sunday with seasonal music from the congregation at All Saints Church, Cheltenham in a programme presented by Sally Magnusson. The story of Jesus’s last week is told with Bible readings by Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Saturday 19th May at 7.30pm – St Pancras Church, Euston Road, London

David conducts Exultate Singers as it makes its London concert debut at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. The choir will give the UK premiere of a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis which it has co-commissioned from Roxanna Panufnik, along with the London debut of her work All Shall Be Well. The concert also includes a performance of Francis Grier’s moving work for choir, organ and cello, Sword in the Soul. Tickets are £15 (£10 concessions) available online from the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music box office or Exultate Singers’ shop or by phone from 020 7388 1461.