The Choir
Constanza Chorus is based in the heart of the City of London. The choir is a fun and sociable group whilst striving for the highest of standards.
We’ve had the privilege of performing a wide range of concerts with accompanists and professional musicians and orchestras. Just a few highlights include:
– Brahms Requiem with the London Mozart Players at Cadogan Hall in May 2015
– Mozart Requiem and Goddess Excellently Bright by Matthew Taylor – a piece specially written for Constanza Chorus – at Cadogan Hall in May 2017 with the London Mozart Players.
– In summer 2018, Constanza Chorus toured to Germany giving a memorable concert at Brandenburg Cathedral and singing in the morning service at Thomaskirche, Bach’s church.
– Our tenth anniversary concert of Bach B Minor Mass at Cadogan Hall in May 2019 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
– Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony as part of the RVW150 celebrations with the London Mozart Players at Cadogan Hall in May 2022
Constanza Chorus also fundraises for charity through their concerts and CD sales. In the past few years we have raised thousands of pounds for charities such as the Cystic Fybrosis Trust, Downs Syndrome Association, CLIC Sargent Action on Hearing Loss and Help Musicians UK.
Do you want to stay updated on all things Constanza? Then sign up to join our Friends of Constanza mailing list to get the latest information on concerts and ways to support us.
The Conductor
Constanza Chorus is conducted by dynamic Director of Music Joanna Tomlinson.
Joanna founded Constanza Chorus, with Libby Tomlinson in January 2010.
In addition to her role with Constanza Chorus, Joanna is the Principal Conductor of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain Girls’ Choir, and Music Director of the Whitehall Choir. She has recently stepped down as Artistic Director of Farnham Youth Choir, with whom she won two gold medals at the European Choir Games in 2019. She is also on the tutor panel for the Association of British Choral Directors. With Constanza Chorus she has conducted the London Mozart Players and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Cadogan Hall.
In demand as a workshop leader, workshops have included sessions for UK Choir Festival, ABCD, London Choral Conducting Masterclasses, and the Gabrieli Consort “Roar” and Philharmonia Orchestra education schemes. She was chorus-master for the Glyndebourne Youth Chorus and a woman’s chorus in Eye to Eye by Howard Skempton and Sheila Hill as part of Brighton Festival 2019.
Joanna has studied conducting with Neil Ferris and Peter Hanke, and at the Sherborne Summer School under George Hurst. She studied singing at the Royal College of Music, where she gained the post-graduate diploma in singing with Distinction. She has appeared as soprano soloist in much of the core oratorio repertoire. As a choral singer, Joanna has worked with BBC Singers, Philharmonia Voices, Britten Sinfonia Voices, London Voices, Gabrieli Consort and Sonoro.
Joanna teaches singing and conducting. She has taught at Trinity Laban Junior Department and Royal College of Music Junior Department and worked as vocal coach to choirs including Epiphoni Choir and the Polish National Youth Choir. She has worked as an adjudicator, including for the Leith Hill Festival.
The Accompanist
Gavin Roberts enjoys a varied career as a piano accompanist. He has partnered singers in recital at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, and is Artistic Director of the recital series Song in the City. Engagements have include appearances at The Ludlow Weekend of English Song, The Cheltenham Festival, The Ryedale Festival (as a duo partner to the late clarinettist Alan Hacker), Brahms’ Liebesliederwaltzer as a duet partner to Graham Johnson, The Young Songmakers’ Almanac, The and A Soldier and a Maker directed by Iain Burnside – a play about the life of Ivor Gurney staged in the Barbican Pit Theatre. Alongside soprano Lucy Hall, he was the winner of the 2012 Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform.
He has played for The BBC Singers, The Joyful Company of Singers, The Hanover Band, Orpheus Britannicus, Tiffin Boys’ Choir and The Guildford Chamber Choir, and as a repetiteur for Sir Roger Norrington and the late Richard Hickox. Gavin has appeared regularly on BBC Radio broadcasts as a soloist and accompanist, often giving premiere performances of new works. He has played on numerous recordings for the BBC, ASV, Guild and Priory Records. His most recent project is a recording of Gurney songs with baritone Philip Lancaster.
Gavin studied Piano with Andrew West and Eugene Asti at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he is now a Staff Accompanist and a Tutor of Academic Studies. He has also received tuition from Graham Johnson, Sarah Walker, Iain Burnside, Julius Drake, Malcolm Martineau and Martin Katz. He previously read Music at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he also held the organ scholarship. Following this, Gavin gained a Master’s degree from King’s College London. Gavin is Organist and Director of Music at St Marylebone Parish Church. More details: www.gavinroberts.org & www.songinthecity.org
The Venue
We rehearse at St Mary-at-Hill church in the heart of the City of London.
St Mary’s was very badly damaged by the Great Fire of 1666 – the fire started in Pudding Lane just two streets away – and is thought to be the first church rebuilt by Christopher Wren. The church has always had a strong musical tradition – composer Thomas Tallis was a choir boy here in the early 16th Century.