Choirmaster Jonathan Pease is throwing the church doors open with champagne this spring bank holiday weekend for the public debut of the East London Evensong Choir he has set up on the Isle of Dogs.
The bubbly goes with the free concert and the challenge he set himself with Sunday’s Choral Evensong in Christ Church at Cubitt Town.
“Evensong is normally performed in cathedrals,” he says. “It’s difficult to get it right in small parish churches because of the sheer number of singers you need—two full choirs facing each other with 30 minutes of solid singing.
“More churches have decided this isn’t feasible anymore, but we could buck the trend on the Isle of Dogs.”
Jonathan comes with a choral reputation, having worked with Royal Opera House and Garsington Opera. He also composed and conducted a children’s musical on the Isle of Dogs at St Luke’s primary school in Cubitt Town last year.
Jonathan expected people to join from around London’s East End when he set up the choir. But his reputation drew choristers from all over the Home Counties and as far away as Wiltshire and Nottingham.
Sunday’s Evensong at the church in Manchester Road starts at 6.30pm. He is also taking the choir to perform at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square later this summer.
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