The Rodolfus Choir's recent disc Choral Music by Herbert Howells received five stars in this review by Terry Blain, which first appeared in the September issue of BBC Music Magazine:

Eschew vibrato in a choir, and you risk the ignominy of uncovering all kinds of approximations in pitch, ensemble and inflection. While few groups can withstand such scrutiny, the Rodolfus ensemble can. It comprises recent ‘graduates’ of conductor Ralph Allwood’s famous Eton Choral Courses. Their expertise is obvious in the unaccompanied setting ‘The Summer is Coming’ which opens this recital: the purity and unanimity of the soprano monodies at the piece’s beginning are later matched by the posed articulacy of the other voices, nailing tight, adjacent intervals pin-perfectly while maintaining the type of relaxed vocal production that betokens true class and technical quality.

It’s not just technical quality that’s on offer here, however. The supple account of ‘A Spotless Rose’ is full of expressivity, as are the potentially mechanistic ululations of ‘Sing Lullaby’, where the shifting dynamic contours of the piece are traced in enviably organic fashion. Lots of work has been done on the weighting and sound quality on the consonants: the choir’s deftness in the area adds an extra frisson of communication to even as brief a setting as ‘God Be In My Head’. Put simply, this disc has quality stamped all over it, and it’s graced by Paul Andrew’s exemplary notes.

Verdict

Performance: ★★★★★
Recording: ★★★★★

• This CD is available to purchase on the Rodolfus Choir website »

Tickets are now available for the Rodolfus Choir's upcoming concert on 2 September, 7.30pm at St. Dunstan-in-the-West.

The concert will include some of the finest polyphonic works from Tallis, Palestrina, Allegri and others. The centrepiece of the concert is Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium, which will be performed as it was intended, sung in the round with eight choirs of five voices. (Full programme here.)

Buy tickets online from http://www.wegottickets.co.uk/event/86326
or phone the event information line on 07849 239615.

Stephen Pritchard writes in the Observer (16 May 2010):

You can measure a choir by how well it sings Herbert Howells's music. Does it make sense of those long vocal lines? Can it sustain them? How will it cope with those tricky intervals? But these are not problems to detain these youthful singers, who sing with the sensitivity and precision you would expect of the next generation of choral scholars. They give some lovely accounts in this interesting collection, particularly "One thing I desire" and the great canticle settings, those huge monuments in the landscape of 20th-century sacred music.

• Rodolfus's CD: Choral Music by Herbert Howells is available to purchase on their website »

2010 promises to be an exciting year for the Rodolfus Choir, with the release of two new recordings.

The first, to be released in July 2010, is a disc of choral works by the celebrated composer Herbert Howells. It includes well-known settings such as his Collegium Regale, and some other works less often performed, including Sweetest of Sweets and Walking in the Snow.

• You can pre-order this disc now online.

Also forthcoming, in October 2010, is a recording of Bach's B minor Mass. The Rodolfus Choir have won renown for their interpretation of Bach's works, and this disc promises to be a treat for any Bach lover. It was recorded in the chapel of Charterhouse School, following a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at the end of 2009.

• You can pre-order this disc now online.

We sang for two charity events before Christmas, one at the Guards Chapel for Macmillan Nurses and another at the House of Lords, on December 14th for the fund-raiser of a wonderful charity called Planting Promise.

After Christmas, through the great generosity of Richard and Victoria Sharp, we were able to fulfil one of my great ambitions, to record the B Minor Mass. Considering the number of other recordings that exist of this, it was a cheeky project. But I felt that, because:

• the Mass is so much a choir piece
• I have always felt that Rods were able to sing what I regard as the version with the definitive sound
• Kay Norrington assured me that the Southern Sinfonia would be able to field their "A" team
• we were fortunate enough to have been asked to perform two B minor masses last summer

So now was the time, if ever.

Extracts from a review by Shelagh Godwin which first appeared in the Surrey Advertiser in January 2010:

The Rodolfus Choir … graced Holy Trinity, Guildford, on New Year's Eve, with their performance of the Mass in B Minor, a work, which, unlike the Passion, was never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime.

Its quality was evident from the outset: the big bold opening to the Kyrie followed by a fugue of remarkable complexity.

Here, accompanied by the skilled strings and woodwind of the Southern Sinfonia, they rose to a magnificent climax, echoed in subsequent movements, such as the fugal Gracias agimus with its radiant trumpet parts ringing out, as they would have done in Bach's day, on natural trumpets.

Don’t miss the Rodolfus Choir at the Macmillian Cancer Support’s Carol concert on Tuesday 8th December in the Guards Chapel, Central London at 7pm.

Special guests include Rowan Atkinson and Derek Jacobi as celebrity readers and Ian Bostridge and Nicola Benedetti as the star performers. The evening includes a mixture of performances, reading and carols as well as a post-concert reception at Wellington Barracks. More info can be found on the Macmillan website. Tickets can be purchased from the Macmillan online shop.

The Rodolfus Choir are also singing in a festive recital for the Planting Promise Charity Event on Monday 14th December in The House of Lords, Central London at 6pm. This very special event will be feast of carols performed to a high-profile audience by Candlelight. To find out more about the work of Planting Promise, visit their website.

This New Year the Rodolfus Choir are heading back to Bach, performing and recording his Mass in B Minor with the Signum record label. This New Year they will be taking up residence in Guildford and will perform this spectacular work in Holy Trinity Church at 4pm on 31st December with former Rodolfus member Clint van der Linde singing the Alto solos alongside Ben Johnson and Colin Campbell as the tenor and bass soloists. Rodolfus are excited to be joined by the Southern Sinfonia for this concert, which looks to be a spectacular event and a brilliant one to welcome in the New Year.

Tickets can be reserved to pay for on the door priced at £20/£15 concessions by contacting our ticket line.

Following this concert the choir will spend 4 days in the New Year recording the CD in Charterhouse Chapel. Keep following the Rodolfus Choir for news of the release.

Rodolfus Choir & Alex Stobbs on Channel 4 and More4 on Thursday 8 October at 9pm and 10pm.

In April 2009 the Rodolfus Choir performed to a full house at London's Cadogan Hall in a very special project: a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion conducted by Alex Stobbs (featured in the 2008 documentary A Boy Called Alex). Walker George Films made a documentary, Alex: A Passion for Life (watch online here), following Alex in the run-up to this fantastic performance, and the effect of his cystic fibrosis on his day-to-day life over this period, which will be shown on Channel 4 on Thursday 8 October at 9pm.

The documentary is followed immediately at 10pm by an hour of musical highlights from the concert on More4 (available via freeview) in A Boy Called Alex: The Concert (watch online here). This provides a fantastic opportunity for those who missed the concert to share the choir's acclaimed performance, and an equally exciting chance for those who were there to re-live the electric atmosphere of this unique event.

For more clips, visit the documentary filmmaker's website.

This summer the Rodolfus choir were invited to sing Bach's B minor Mass in two celebrated festivals: the Three Choirs Festival of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford and the Ripon International Festival.

The first concert was so popular it sold out shortly after booking opened. On Monday 10 August the Rodolfus Choir performed at Tewkesbury Abbey as part of the Three Choirs Festival. The choir of 40 members started rehearsal at Dean Close School on the previous Friday in high spirits ready to tackle this challenging but very rewarding piece. For the concert the choir were joined by the Corelli Consort and four esteemed soloists, Elizabeth Weisberg, Polly May, Ben Johnson and at the last minute, standing in for James Oldfield, Robert Rice. The concert received great praise; Roger Jones of the Gloucester Echo wrote, “...in Bach's great Mass it is the choir which plays the leading role, and the Rodolfus Choir's well-rounded and faultless performance made this a truly inspiring event”.