The Orphic Singers were
formed in 1987, and took their name from a poem which described the joyous
singing of birds at dawn as ‘the orphic choir.’
This is a small chamber choir of around 18 voices, aged 10-19, and the members are drawn from the singing students of soprano Ann Oakes. Ann sees the choir as an invaluable part of their vocal training. The musicality of the choir is greatly helped by the fact that all the girls take instrumental lessons, and many take A-level music .Over the years there has been a steady flow of Orphics to Conservatoire to study singing, and to University to read music. There have been 3 national Choirboy/girl of the Year finalists, 6 commercial recordings, and many concert appearances.
The Orphics have
appeared in many music festivals, and have been much praised by such choral
luminaries as John Bertalot.
The choir generally sing
in two part harmony (soprano and alto), but have a small corps of experienced
adult tenors and basses who sing with them at Christmas, when they are much in
demand.
The Orphics owe a great
debt of gratitude to their distinguished accompanist Angela Thompson.