About
Cadenza was founded in 1992. Under its founding Musical Director, Graham Lovett, and his successor, Jenny Sumerling, it has come to be regarded as one of Edinburgh’s leading mixed-voice chamber choirs. Cadenza is now about 50-strong and performs music dating from the Renaissance to the present day, and in all styles – sacred, secular, folk and jazz. Giving several concerts a year, many in and around Edinburgh, the choir has achieved success and critical acclaim throughout Scotland and beyond.
Cadenza first hit the headlines in 1996, when it won the Scotland and North England title in the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition, a success repeated in 1998. In 1999, the choir was invited to perform in a star-studded concert at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in aid of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. In May 2001, Cadenza was awarded the Edinburgh Evening News Trophy and 2 Gold Certificates at the Edinburgh Competition Festival. In 2002, Cadenza was twice heard on BBC Radio 4, on the latter occasion representing Scotland in a prestigious Morning Service marking the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
The Cadenza calendar centres on two annual fixtures: our Edinburgh Festival Fringe Concert, every August, is the largest concert of the year and includes a major choral work, usually accompanied by an orchestra and professional soloists, in the magnificent Greyfriars Kirk. Our Christmas concert is generally a more light-hearted, festive event, with carols old and new, and an opportunity for some audience participation.
In addition, each year, usually in the spring or early summer, we give concerts in support of various charities, which have included ChildLine, CHAS, Waverley Care and Edinburgh’s Erskine Home for ex-service men and women.
Cadenza is keen to promote new music and, with the support of the Scottish Arts Council and Making Music, has been able to commission and perform a number of new works by contemporary Scottish composers. These include ‘Three Chorales of Struggle’ by Eddie McGuire (1998), a suite of three Scottish songs, and ‘O Columba’ by Ken Johnston (2003). Cadenza was also involved in the commissioning, through Making Music, of Peter Maxwell Davies’ ‘The Kestrel Road’ (2005).
You can find more information on our past and future concerts and repertoire, and on how to join us, elsewhere on this site.
Welcome!