The story of the choir begins in the early 1950s, when David Aylett
organised an ad hoc group of singers, mainly from local churches,
to go carol-singing to raise money for the ‘Save the Children
Fund’. The next year being World Refugee Year, the group
organised a formal concert with full orchestra and the international
soprano Isobel Baillie as soloist, raising the equivalent of £1,000
for the fund. Following the success of this, the choir was permanently
founded in 1958 as the December Festival Choir, and began to give
formal performances of the standard choral repertoire of oratorios
and masses, as well as concert versions of operas and other lighter
works. The Choir was renamed the Aylesbury Festival Choir in January
2001 to reflect our close association with the town.
David
conducted the choir for 26 years. He was succeeded by Helen Blakeman
and, in 1995, by Piers Maxim, our first professional conductor
and now our President. Under Piers’ expert direction the
Choir continued to develop and flourish, expanding the repertoire
to include 20th Century works. Justin Doyle succeeded Piers in
May 2001, and was in turn succeeded by Madeleine Venner (Lovell)
in March 2006. Piers, Justin and Madeleine have all gone on to
illustrious roles in the music world.
For
our November 2008 concert, which showcased the première
of With Voice Divine, a major new work written by David
Aylett specially for the Choir’s Golden Anniversary, we
were very pleased to welcome back guest conductor William Carlsake,
who has led us less formally on many enjoyable occasions.
Since
January 2009, we have been delighted to welcome James Davey as
our new Musical Director. James, who is also conductor of Chantage,
the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year 2006, joined us with a wealth
of experience, training choirs of all ages, and has already made
his mark in putting us through our paces thoroughly but with his
wonderful quiet humour.
The
Choir continues to be supported by high calibre soloists and musicians.
That our concerts are known for their high standards of performance
and presentation is testament to the vision, commitment and enthusiasm
of many people whose varied talents, expertise and hard work behind
the scenes have enabled the Choir to flourish throughout its long
history.
