Andrew Clements, The Guardian, November 2007

Now in its seventeenth season, Canticum has established itself as one of the leading chamber choirs in Britain. As well as performing major works, the choir has gained a reputation for exploring new areas of repertoire, both commissioning new works and performing many world premieres.

Canticum has performed Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at St John’s, Smith Square, Mozart’s Requiem with OAE at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the première of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Step by Circle, dedicated to Mark Forkgen and the choir, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Haydn’s Little Organ Mass with the City of London Sinfonia.

Recent highlights include the critically acclaimed world premiere of Hugh Wood’s Tenabrae with Kokoro, a performance in Chichester Cathedral complimenting the Pallant House Gallery’s exhibition ‘Eye-Music’, performances of Stravinsky’s Les Noces with Kokoro and Arvo Pärt’s Passio in Bournemouth and London. Canticum have also performed the semi-chorus in Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony with London Concert Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, Rachmaninov’s Vespers at the Temple Church, as well as taking part in the ‘Festival of Britten’ with Kokoro at The Lighthouse in Poole.

Canticum has toured in Italy, performing in St Peter’s and Santa Maria del Populo, Rome, and performing Dido and Aeneas and Handel’s Messiah in Siena and Bolsena with the Orchestra da Camera di Orvieto. Canticum opened the 2004 Viterbo ‘Early Music Festival’ with a sell-out performance of Handel’s Israel and Eygpt. In August 2007 it toured northern France with performances in Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Coutances, the American Cemetery in Normandy and l’Abbaye Cerisy-la-Forêt.

Highlights of the 2007/8 season include the BBC Radio 4 Christmas Morning Service, performances of Bernstein’s Choruses from West Side Story, Copland’s In the Beginning and Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert in the ‘American Day’ at The Lighthouse in Poole, Howell’s Requiem and Bach’s Mass in B Minor at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. The choir will also be performing Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother at this year’s Chelsea Festival.

Canticum has recorded two highly acclaimed solo CDs for the Meridian label: A Hymn to the Virgin featuring works by Victoria, Poulenc and Panufnik; and A Christmas Carol in aid of the Samaritans. Canticum’s latest release on Craft Music features music by Colin Riley, Fraser Trainer and Keith Roberts. The live recording of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Step by Circle and Two Latin Motets is now available on MaxOpus.