News
More Morse!
April 2013
As you can probably tell, we're still quite excited about featuring in Endeavour recently! This article is courtesy of the Broadway section of the Ham & High from 18th April.
North London Chorus on the small screen!
April 2013
If you were watching the first episode on Sunday of the new four-part series Endeavour (a prequel of the highly popular series Morse), broadcast by ITV (Endeavour Series 2 Episode 1, you would have seen the fruits of all the hard work put in by members of North London Chorus (looking quite unlike their normal selves) during filming for the series.
Viewers were treated to excerpts of Mozart as part of the opening credits as the camera panned around the choir, focusing mainly on our Musical Director Murray Hipkin, and on Shaun Evans as Endeavour Morse. While NLC's appearance was all to brief (in our opinion!), the stills shown here more accurately reflect the results of the day of filming (see Marian Bunzl's report below).
This episode is available on ITV Player (https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/) until 15 May 2013.
NLC looks forward to further appearances following this, our small screen début!
Jo Hulme
Inspector Morse Lives!!
North London Chorus take part in the first two episodes of ITV's' Endeavour', to be to be screened in the New Year
November 2012
In this 'prequel' series , set in 1964, of his life as a young DC, 'Endeavour Morse' (among other exploits) joins a small amateur choir, played by twenty assorted members of North London Chorus.
On Filming Day, we started off in the costume and makeup dept, ie several trailers in the Homebase car park on the North Circular Road (the glamour of TV!). We gathered for hot drinks in our ' hospitality suite,' as one by one we were called to be transformed into the 1960s. Tenors and basses had their hair cut and/or slicked down, and were provided with smart or tweedy suits. Sopranos and altos had theirs Carmen-rollered and backcombed and were dressed in short skirts, or dresses and cardigans, in subdued colours. Except for bright lipstick, makeup was discreet. (We were to be provincial, not Carnaby Street!)
We lined up in the car park for inspection, and, passed as suitably period, were invited to the lavish catering of film units: a large colourful cold buffet, two or three hot dishes, and a generous choice of dessert.
The actual filming, in the courtroom of a decommissioned town hall, looked like organised chaos: an army of technicians, a spaghetti of wires , microphones, screens, and a neat little railway track for the TV cameras, presided over by 'The Director' in a bright green T-shirt.
We were placed in front of a large back-lit stained-glass window, with a podium for our musical director Murray Hipkin and a piano for our accompanist Catherine Borner. Endeavour Morse (played by Shaun Evans) sang among us as we performed a short section of the Mozart C Minor Mass, over and over again for endless 'takes'. Every time 'The Director' said "Cut!" a flock of young women descended on us with powder puffs and lipstick brushes.
Thanks to our MD and accompanist we were able to sing with the same intensity each time, thus ensuring good continuity of 'take's.
It was fascinating, but exhausting, and we have a new respect for TV actors.
Marian Bunzl
Down but Not Out!
June 2012
NLC and Martin School Choir have been collaborating to perform “Ballads for a Living Planet” on Sunday 24th June at the East Finchley Festival. Unfortunately, the Living Planet has given us some rather terrible weather of late has left the venue, Cherry Tree Wood, in a waterlogged state, leading to the reluctant cancellation of the event.
However, all their hard work did not go to waste as the group performed to delighted parents and friends in Martin School last Thursday 21st June. ‘Ballads’ was commissioned to contribute to the repertoire of modern ‘green’ choral music commenting directly on our fragile human relationship with Planet Earth. It was designed to be a piece with sufficient musical challenges to be interesting, at the same time being readily accessible to most choirs of all ages and abilities, so the perfect vehicle for this collaboration.
Natalie Grant, Music Teacher at Martin School said, “It really was a great experience for the children and the parents were absolutely thrilled - I don't think I've seen them so happy after a performance! I hope we can do something similar in the future.”
NLC’s Vice-Chair, Shantini Cooray, who led and conducted the NLC contingent added, “We really enjoyed the experience of singing with them – not one we do very often – and we look forward to other similar chances in the future.”
Photo by Sheila Rock
A new patron for NLC
May 2012
NLC is very excited to announce the appointment of Handel expert Laurence Cummings as its new patron alongside our existing patron Janis Kelly. Avid followers of North London Chorus might wonder if this is indeed news as we highlighted this happy event in our last concert programme, but for the benefit of our on-line community we're reproducing an interview with Laurence which appeared in our programme.
Conductor, harpsichordist, Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of music, Laurence is so accomplished there simply isn't room to list everything in this short news item, so please do check out our interview with him, courtesy of choir member Nicki Lloyd, here.
For older articles of interest, please take a look at our Archives page.
