About Us

***Stop press*** The Songmen, having successfully won awards in the sacred and profane categories at the Tolosa International Choral Contest 2011, are now delighted to be able to call themselves an international multi-award winning a cappella ensemble.

PLEASE NOTE: This About Us page is not intended for concert promoters to copy and use. A downloadable group biography can be found in the Promoters and Agents Area here.

Quickly gaining an enviable reputation as one of the UK’s finest and most versatile a cappella groups, The Songmen possess a wealth of experience from the worlds of classical, sacred and popular music and balance their love for the old renaissance masters with a passion for exciting contemporary composers through commissioning and performing their own original material.

Regardless of what they sing, the universal principles of perfect tonal blend, colour and precise intonation are fiercely strived for and shine through in every performance.

This Season

This season has seen The Songmen win awards in the sacred and profane competitions at the Tolosa International Choral Contet in Spain. Becoming an international mutli-award winning a cappella ensemble will be the beginning of some exciting times for for the group.

These accolades have topped off a fantastically busy and rewarding few months in which The Songmen premiered 6 new contemporary commissions, toured throughout the UK and Europe and recorded two albums - firstly a disc of sacred masterpieces entitled A Sacred Place and in contrast a studio album of hot jazz, soul, and pop songs called Midnight. Both of these discs will be available in the early part of 2012. Keep an eye on our website and facebook pages for more information.

Last Season's Highlights

The Songmen had a busy 2010 singing across the UK and Europe. They made their highly acclaimed London debut at The 100 Club Oxford Street at Limelight, gave concerts at Merton College Oxford and Tewkesbury Abbey and headlined seasons for Macclesfield, Southend, Hinckley and Redditch Music Societies. They performed at engagements for the Salvation Army and The Royal British Legion and sang concerts for Ikon Arts Management and Voces Cantabiles Music. The climax of last season saw the group tour Germany where they headlined the Neustadter Musik Sommer Festival.

Recordings

The group will be releasing two exciting discs early in 2012. Firstly a sacred classical disc called A Sacred Place which is being produced by ex-King’s Singer, Grammy Award producer/performer winner, and director of London’s Podium Music, Robin Tyson.

The second is a studio album of jazz and pop classics called Midnight and features original arrangements, entirely conceived by members of the group, ranging from Lambert, Hendricks & Ross’s ‘Gimme That Wine’ to Sade’s ‘Smooth Operator’. The post recording programme has already seen the group travel to San Francisco to work with the Grammy Award winning engineer and a cappella producer (yes another Grammy Award winner!) Bill Hare on the final mixes.

Education

Working with other singers is one of the group’s favourite activities and this is done through their already established Education Outreach Programme where they lead masterclasses at schools, run workshops for choral societies and judge competitions.

Building on last season’s work with the a cappella groups at Oundle School and the Junior choirs at Bedford Modern Junior School, the group will be leading masterclasses and workshops at Tewkesbury School and Dean Close School in Gloucestershire.