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Mercury Theatre Concert with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir - April 2025
On 5th April 2025, we joined the esteemed London Welsh Male Voice Choir for a concert at Colchester's Mercury Theatre in aid of Lizzie's Fund and the Brain Tumour Charity. Chorus Iceni performed two sets and came back on stage with the men to sing an encore and the Welsh National Anthem. The evening was a great success, raising more than £50,000 for Lizzie's Fund! Thank you to all who joined us and for supporting this important cause. |
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Come & Sing Course - February 2025
And that’s a wrap!!! We held a fantastic 3-week 'come and sing' course, welcoming new singers to learn a new song with us -- ❄️ Let It Go ❄️from Frozen. We were joined by 25 visitors, and we hope to see them come back for more!! We love recruiting new voices to join our already 30 strong chorus. The song sounded amazing in four-part harmony! |
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Sing-out for Great Tey WI - November 2024
We had a really lovely evening singing for ladies of the Great Tey WI, followed by some amazing cakes! |
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LABBS Convention, Bournemouth - October 2024
Chorus Iceni had a great weekend at the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) annual convention in Bournemouth in October. We were so happy to be awarded 8th place nationally, our best yet! Congratulations and a huge THANK YOU to all our families, followers, friends, coaches, and fellow singers!
Chorus Iceni had a great weekend at the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers (LABBS) annual convention in Bournemouth in October. We were so happy to be awarded 8th place nationally, our best yet! Congratulations and a huge THANK YOU to all our families, followers, friends, coaches, and fellow singers!
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Chorus Workshop Day - September 2024
We had a second coaching day with the fabulous David Sangster, preparing our two songs for the LABBS convention in Bournemouth. It was so informative and enriching to spend the day with David! |
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Harmony Explosion Concert - July 2024
We had a fabulous evening signing alongside Stellar Acappella at the new Sudbury Arts Centre. We had over 50 voices singing in 4-part unaccompanied harmony, and it was fantastic! So hot we set off the fire alarm :) |
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Colchester Rotary Club's Charity Festival - July 2024
Chorus Iceni performed a set at the Rotary Club's second annual Charity Festival in Colchester's Castle Park on a beautiful summer's day. A great time was had by all! |
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Spring Concert at Aldham Church - April 2024
We sang at a beautiful night-time concert in support of Friends of Aldham Church, singing along with fellow Essex-based acapella choir, Resonate. Below is some feedback we received after the show. |
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- "We really enjoyed the concert last night. Many thanks for organising it and bringing such lovely singing to our community."
- "Thank you Chorus Iceni, we enjoyed the concert immensely. It is quite obvious that you all spent lots of time perfecting the songs as your harmonies were beautiful. Well done to all of you."
- "It was a joyous evening."
- "Great singing at such a high standard. All in all, a wonderful and well-attended evening. You must be very proud!"
- "We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The music and singing was great. Bring on the next show!!!"
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Chorus Workshop Day - April 2024
We had a fabulous coaching day with the amazing David Sangster. He came down from Edinburgh to help us on two particular songs. It sounded so good! |
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Chorus Iceni Winter Concert - November 2023
We performed to a sold out audience at Lion Walk Church in Colchester on Saturday, 27 November! It was a wonderful evening, including gorgeous songs from the chorus's own quartets, The Kitchen Quartet and Rococo, and some fabulous song and dance by the young stars of Starz Performing Arts Academy. The concert was hosted in support of the Tom Bowdidge Youth Cancer Foundation. It was the first performance for our new lead, Alice, and we celebrated the last performance of our wonderful bass member, Alex, who has been performing with Chorus Iceni for over 25 years! We will miss you Alex!! |
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Performance Coaching Day - September 2023
We had a fabulous time with the supremely talented Kirsty Williams giving us a fresh approach to performance. What a day!! Kirsty trained as an actor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and works as a director, musical director and acting coach for several companies and theatres. Kirsty is a performance judge for the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers. She works with performers to find an inner truth which can be developed to produce a natural-feeling, authentic and stage worthy performance. We were so lucky to have a full day with Kirsty and learned so much from her! |
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Bures Music Festival Choral Night - July 2023
Chorus Iceni jointly headlined the Bures Music Festival Choral Night on Wednesday 5th July with Stellar Acappella, Suffolk’s vibrant, all-female a cappella choir. Both groups are led by award-winning musical director, Gaynor Schofield, and performed a beautiful concert at St Mary’s Church, Bures. Some feedback from the audience:
If this sounds fun to you, come join us! Click here to learn more. |
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Vocal Coaching Day - June 2023
Chorus Iceni were joined by professional vocal teacher, Helen Wheatley, for a beautiful Saturday of singing. Helen introduced the chorus to six different vocal styles and then held 1-on-1 vocal coaching sessions for 17 members. The rest of the day was spent learning a new song and vowel techniques with musical director, Gaynor Schofield. It was a wonderful day! "What an outstanding day! Everything superbly taught, in a positive and easy to understand way -- I've learnt loads and loved every minute!"
"I thoroughly enjoyed today. Loved the mix of activities and all of the coaching. So much to digest now!" 
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Quartet Workshop Day - May 2023
Our fabulous musical director hosted a workshop day for Chorus Iceni members to have a try at quarteting -- with many of us singing in quartet for the very first time! There was lots learnt and much fun had by all. |
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Concert at St. Boltolphs - April 2023
On 22nd April, Chorus Iceni performed in concert in Colchester alongside the St Edmundsbury Male Voice Choir and world champion barbershop quartet One Foot in the Stave. It was a fabulous evening of song and merriment, and together we raised over £2,600 for the neo natal clinics at Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals and Next Chapter Domestic Violence -- two fantastic causes! We hope to see you at our next concert. |
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"Come and Sing Course" - March 2023
The chorus hosted a Come and Sing Course inviting guests to join for two weekly rehearsals as we learned ABBA's "Dancing Queen" in four-part harmony. These dancing queens had a blast! |
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Co-op Stores Colchester and Manningtree - December 2022
The chorus performed festive songs at the Co-op stores in Colchester and in Manningtree to help shoppers get into the festive spirit. |
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Christmas Parade, East Bergholt - December 2022
Chorus Iceni performed at the East Bergholt Christmas Parade - we sang festive songs in a giant teepee! |
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"Come and Sing Course" - November 2022
Chorus Iceni hosted a Come and Sing Course in November, inviting potential new members to join us for 3 Monday evenings to learn a Christmas song with us. We were joined by over a dozen new women who learned "Oh I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" in four-part, unaccompanied harmony in record time. We welcome any interested new singers to please get in touch! |
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WI Aldham - November 2022
The chorus performed a set of eight songs for the WI in Aldham at one of their monthly meetings and received rave reviews! |
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LABBS Annual Convention - October 2022
Chorus Iceni competed once again at the Ladies Association of British Barbershop Singers annual convention, held at the Bournemouth International Centre. 30 Chorus Iceni women travelled to Bournemouth for a weekend of song and colour with over 2000 singers from around the country. |
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Colne Engaine Festival - June 2022
Chorus Iceni's very own Kitchen Quartet wowed local crowds at the Colne Engaine Festival over the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend. |
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Sing Out at Castle Park - May 2022
On Saturday 21st May, we joined other choirs to celebrate The Colchester Rotary club’s 100 year anniversary. We sang in the newly painted band stand on a beautiful sunny day. Well done to Liz, Anna, Val and Caroline for whom it was their first sing out with us!
On Saturday 21st May, we joined other choirs to celebrate The Colchester Rotary club’s 100 year anniversary. We sang in the newly painted band stand on a beautiful sunny day. Well done to Liz, Anna, Val and Caroline for whom it was their first sing out with us!
The Teddy Bears' Picnic - October 2021
We had a lot of fun creating another video - this was first shown at LABBS Unconventional Convention 31 October 2021.
Why are we wearing Teddy Bear ears? Watch to find out!
View the video on YouTube
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Opera in the Park - August 2021
Chorus Iceni sang at Opera in the Park at Wherstead Park near Ipswich. This was our first sing-out in nearly two years, so we were somewhat excited about it! See below for a video of Chorus Iceni warming up the main act - the wonderful Christina Johnson. View the video on YouTube |
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Sweet Caroline - March 2021
Last March, we created another video, but this time we invited local guests to join us and learn the song with us. We were delighted that several women joined us for this video creation and some had so much fun they are still with us.
View the video on YouTube
Laughter in the Rain - May 2020
During the Covid lockdown, we still kept busy! We met on Zoom every week and continued to improve our skills – masterclasses with professionals from musical theatre and opera, musical arrangers and even mindfulness. We continued to improve vocal and performance skills and even created some virtual performances. This is what we did.
View the video on YouTube
During the Covid lockdown, we still kept busy! We met on Zoom every week and continued to improve our skills – masterclasses with professionals from musical theatre and opera, musical arrangers and even mindfulness. We continued to improve vocal and performance skills and even created some virtual performances. This is what we did.
View the video on YouTube