VOCES8

Whether performing Christmas carols, classical arias or George Gershwin show tunes, vocal ensemble Voces8 have their own contemporary take on traditional English choral singing and have been filling concert halls around the world with huge, heavenly harmonies since forming in 2005.

Some of the members of the group had been singing together since they were ten-year-olds and all of the founding members were part of the Millennium Youth Choir in their teens, but it was brothers Barnaby and Paul Smith who originally organised the friends during college holidays to perform at events and compete in competitions. Acclaimed performances at the prestigious Venezia Musica International Choir Festival helped their profile grow, and after turning professional in 2007 they released their debut album 'Evensong' and went on to work closely with the arranger Jim Clements.

Based at the Gresham Centre next to St Paul's Cathedral in London, they covered Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys and Bond theme songs on 2010 album 'Aces High' and teamed up with French orchestra Les Inventions for their album 'Purcell Collection', which paid tribute to the English composer and won the BBC Magazine Choral and Song Choice Award in 2013. This diverse approach to a capella music has also seen them work with contemporary composers such as Roxanna Panufnik and Ben Parry, collaborate with Baroque violinist Rachel Podger and record psalms written by 18th century Italian Benedetto Marcello. At any Voces8 show you may hear their interpretations of Massive Attack songs, ancient Gregorian chants or swinging jazz standards. The group are also involved in running a number of educational programmes, workshops and masterclasses and work regularly with the British Arts Council. In 2018 they released their 12th album 'Equinox' which was inspired by the seasonal changes and featured new soprano Eleonore Cockerham for the first time.