
What we’re about
**PLEASE NOTE**: There are LOTS of people who attend this, so don't worry if no-one from Meetup has signed up - there will always be a crowd at every rehearsal, and we usually have several new people every session.
We are a fun, NON-AUDITION community choir meeting from 6:30-8pm in Soho on Mondays, the City of London on Wednesdays and Waterloo on Thursdays. We also run online rehearsals on Tuesdays at 7pm. The aim is to give people a place to sing their hearts out one or more evenings a week after work. LCV aims to bring people together to have some fun and make a great sound.
Have a look at our website, Facebook page, and Twitter for more information.
We try to hold at least two concerts a year, and lots of other events. Our concerts have been at such prestigious venues as the Royal College of Surgeons, the Grand Connaught Rooms and Troxy. During the first lockdown in 2020 we raised over £100K for Women's Aid with this video, and we also collaborated with Annie Lennox in this video.
The main repertoire is drawn from contemporary pop and folk/traditional tunes. Some examples of what we sing:
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen)
"Mr Blue Sky" (Electric Light Orchestra)
80s Pop Medley
80s Dance Medley
"Runaway" (The Corrs)
"Kiss From A Rose" (Seal)
"Birdhouse In Your Soul" (They Might Be Giants)
Nineties Mashup
"Toxic" (Britney Spears)
Disco Mashup
"Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" (Modjo)
"Ghost Town" (The Specials)
Musicals mashup
"Black Velvet" (Alannah Myles)
"You've Got a Friend" (Carole King)
"Nobody Does it Better" (Carly Simon)
"Go Your Own Way" (Fleetwood Mac)
"A Little Respect" (Erasure)
"Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis)
“One Day Like This” (Elbow)
You can book a free taster session by registering on www.londoncityvoices.co.uk. After that, if you decide you'd like to join us we have a variety of membership options. Payment is by Direct Debit which you can, of course, cancel at any time. Annual Membership is £350 per year and represents the best value for money. Monthly Membership is £35 per month and is the most popular option. Both Annual and Monthly memberships entitle you to attend all weekly rehearsals as many times as you like, both in-person and online. We also offer an Out-Of-Town Membership for people who live a long way away and are unlikely to attend many live events or in-person rehearsals. The Out-Of-Town Membership scheme is £15 per month, billed by Direct Debit, and allows you to attend all online rehearsals, as well as four in-person rehearsals each term for £5 each time, with any further sessions you attend being charged at £15 each. Our fourth membership option is Pay-As-You-Go, which requires a monthly Direct Debit payment of £5 PLUS a payment of £15 by cash or card for every rehearsal you attend. There are normally 13-14 sessions in a term plus a concert.
LCV has been running since the end of 2011, and for the first year it consisted of about 12 people meeting every week. In January 2013 we suddenly had 27 members, and since then it hasn't dropped below that - we now regularly have about 100 people at a City rehearsal. Our City membership is predominantly but not exclusively made up of people who work locally to Monument Station, and we always go to a pub after the rehearsal, where there is usually more singing (generally aided by the consumption of some Merlot). The Soho branch usually has around 70-80 attendees, again, we always go for a drink and a sing afterwards in a pub in Soho. Waterloo generally has around 60 in attendance and, once again, there is always a trip to the pub for drinks, chats and lots more singing.
It doesn't matter whether you are an experienced singer or you have never sung before - there are no auditions and you don't have to read music (although we do make the sheet music available for everyone). We usually record the parts and upload them to the website so that people can listen to them during the week. About 50% of the members can't read music but this is not a drawback. Occasionally if you are having trouble pitching, Richard may offer you a little help, perhaps before the rehearsal or at a mutually convenient time. We are firm believers that no one is "tone-deaf" - some people just haven't learnt how to pitch accurately yet.
We have had five weddings so far between people who met in the choir. Some very firm friendships (and indeed, many long-term relationships) have emerged from LCV.
You can find out more about the choir by going to our London City Voices website. Hope to see you at LCV soon. Do feel free to ask questions here or email us at info@londoncityvoices.co.uk.