The Elgar Chorale
The Elgar Chorale of Worcester
The Elgar Chorale of Worcester
The Elgar Chorale is a mixed voice choir of up to 40 singers, many of whom are professional musicians. In January 2015, Piers Maxim was appointed Director of Music, only the second person to hold this post after Dr Donald Hunt OBE (1930-2018), who founded the choir in 1980. The choir quickly became noted for its interpretations of music by Sir Edward Elgar. Now established as one of the leading chamber choirs in the West Midlands, the choir continues its tradition of specialising in Elgar part-songs but is also becoming known for the variety of its performances. Its repertoire ranges from medieval to the modern day, from unaccompanied to with a small orchestra.
The choir has often performed in some of Worcestershire’s most prestigious music festivals, most memorably at Three Choirs in Worcester and at the Bromsgrove Festival. It has also toured at home and abroad, singing in France, Germany, South Africa and most recently Devon in 2016.
As well as holding its own busy programme each season, the Elgar Chorale is often invited to perform on behalf of charities. Over the years it has raised thousands of pounds for good causes. It is also asked to perform at weddings and on civic occasions. The choir looks forward to celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020.
Piers Maxim, Director of Music of the Elgar Chorale
Piers Maxim is Director of Music at Great Malvern Priory and conductor of EC4 Orchestra, based in London. Piers teaches singing, piano, organ and composition in schools around Worcestershire and Herefordshire, and regularly holds choral workshops. His musical career began as a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, followed by studies at Clare College, Cambridge and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Piers worked extensively in some of the major opera houses and theatres of Europe as conductor, assistant conductor and chorus master. After two years as Chorus Master of Scottish Opera, he was invited to become Chef des Choeurs at La Monnaie, Brussels. As Assistant Conductor to René Jacobs from 1996 to 2012, Piers worked on many operas and oratorios on stage, in concert and in recordings.
He conducted Der Zauberflöte in New York (2007), the first performance of a staged baroque opera in China (Handel’s Semele in the Beijing Music Festival 2010), and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Blow’s Venus and Adonis in Innsbruck (2013).
Piers has composed several notable pieces, including a commission for the Millennium Eve service of celebration at Southwark cathedral, in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II (And I said to the Man). For the RSCM, he co-edited and compiled All Glorious Above, an upper voices choral resource which includes many of his compositions.