MazeMusic Partners
Saffron Walden Choral Society
Saffron Walden Choral Society is a friendly, energetic and highly accomplished choir with a reputation for innovative programming and polished performance. Under the directorship of Janet Wheeler the choir performs music in a wide range of styles including the works of living composers such as those of our patron, John Rutter. Janet Wheeler's own compositions, with their jazz inflected rhythms, are regularly included in our programmes and we very much look forward to giving the first performance of her cantata for MazeMusic, specially composed for this occasion and based on the history of Saffron Walden.
Recent performances at St Mary's Church in Saffron Walden have included Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, Mozart's Requiem and Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna. In 2010 we performed Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem in the final concert of the Thaxted Festival. Our 2011 Summer Prom comprised 'Alleluia' settings from early plainsong, through Tallis, Handel, Mozart and Tavener to twenty-first century improvisation, gospel and even salsa!
SWCS draws its membership of about 100 singers from a wide geographical area covering Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. It maintains close links with the local schools whose students join the choir for the annual Spirit of Christmas concerts. SWCS has spearheaded a number of musical partnerships with schools including Pathways in Time (2002), Singing on Track (2005) and, in conjunction with the RSPB, Wingbeats (2007) and is delighted to be a partner in MazeMusic.
