Canticum is one of the most musically versatile chamber choirs in the country. Now in its 22nd season, it is praised for accomplished performances of major works and for exploring contemporary repertoire. The choir has also commissioned new writing and gives regular first performances.

To celebrate its 21st anniversary season in 2010-11, the choir completed a dazzling programme centred on the complete series of Bach motets, taking in works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Strauss, Mahler and Schönberg on the way.  There was also a critically acclaimed first performance of Geoffrey Burgon's Songs Between the Soul and the Bridegroom and a première of Simon Speare's Songs of Belonging, winner of a BBC award.

In 2010, Canticum took part in Britten's War Requiem in the Barbican and Salisbury Cathedral and an acclaimed concert of choral music from Eastern Europe with Kokoro featuring the UK premiere of Concertino by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin. July saw a special invitation to perform in the American Music Festival at St-Martin-in-The-Fields on Trafalgar Square, which was followed later in the year by the first performance of Simon Speare’s Songs of Belonging and Rachmaninov’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Canticum performed the Monteverdi Vespers at St Martin’s in 2009 and closed the Chichester Festival with Haydn’s Creation. Other highlights include BBC Radio 4’s Christmas Morning Service, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment at St John’s, Smith Square and the première of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Step by Circle, dedicated to Mark Forkgen. By way of contrast, the choir opened the 2008 Chelsea Festival, providing choral voices for Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother alongside soloist David Gilmour.

The choir stages regular trips abroad, with Italy a favourite destination. Canticum has toured with works including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, a performance which opened the Viterbo Early Music Festival to a packed audience.

Recording, too, has an important place in Canticum's schedule. The existing catalogue includes 'A Hymn to the Virgin', with works by Victoria, Poulenc and Panufnik, and 'A Christmas Carol', recorded in aid of the Samaritans. Both are on the Meridian label. 'In the Gloom of Whiteness' with Craft Music features work 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 available on MaxOpus. Canticum’s most recent recording, ‘The Christmas Story’, was released in December 2010 by the Classical Recording Company.

Canticum is a registered charity, number 1014780.

Mark Forkgen has been Music Director of Canticum since 1995. He is also Music Director of London Concert Choir and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of Kokoro (the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary music group).

He has worked with many leading orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the English Northern Philharmonia and the Composers' Ensemble, appearing at all the major venues including the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall.

A specialist in the field of choral and contemporary music, he has given first performances of over one hundred works. These include stage works with the Trestle Theatre Company and Britten Sinfonia, and contemporary opera with the Unicorn Theatre Company and an ensemble from the Philharmonia, at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Covent Garden.

Mark has been Conductor and Artistic Advisor for highly acclaimed festivals including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's 70th Birthday, Stravinsky, the Composers of the South-West, A Festival of Britten, Music of the Americas, Britain after Britten and most recently East meets West. His wide range of conducting also includes performances with Deep Purple leading a project for the Chelsea Festival based on Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother”.

Mark’s recordings with Canticum and Kokoro have been highly recommended by BBC Radio 3 and in both musical and national press. Outside the UK he has given performances of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring in Denmark, Handel’s Messiah in Siena and Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the Viterbo Early Music Festival in Italy. Other recent highlights include Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice at the Cadogan Hall, and concerts linking contemporary music and visual arts with Kokoro.

Mark is a champion of Youth Music. He was the Conductor of the Scottish Schools’ Orchestra for ten years and Music Director of the Ealing Youth Orchestra for eight years. He is currently Conductor of Dorset Youth Orchestra and Director of Music at Tonbridge School.