Magpie Choir is the Isle of Man’s only contemporary choir and they’re currently recruiting new members.
If you love music? That’s all they ask.
The choir was set up in July 2011 with open membership, which means that anyone can join without an audition. They use sheet music in rehearsals but also learn by ear so even inexperienced singers are able to join in from the start. At present the choir is mostly female voices split into soprano, mezzo and alto but men are welcome to join too.
Magpie Choir was set up to create entirely live and unique performances. Since many of the island’s choirs already sing classical or “easy listening” music they’ve gone in a different direction and focused on songs by contemporary rock, pop and indie groups. The pieces are arranged by musical director Louisa Thomas and are tailored to the singers in the choir at any given time. This gives the, the chance to produce distinctive performances.
Their last show at The Crescent for Halloween night’s All Hallows Gig included a haunting acapella arrangement of Muse’s Muscle Museum, a dynamic performance of Florence & The Machine’s Drumming Song with live drumming on stage and Radiohead’s beautifully dischordant Fade Out accompanied by piano. The choir also sang backing vocals on original tracks with singer/songwriter Clara Barker and local band Only Just.
As they take a pretty wide view of “choral music” they’re currently looking not only for singers but musicians for accompaniment or solos, tap dancers for a rhythm section and any other performers who would like to get involved. This is a great chance to work with a contemporary music group and if you have any unusual ideas about your potential performance they’d love to hear them!
Magpie Choir rehearses every Wednesday in St Matthew’s hall on North Quay, Douglas. Warm-ups start at 5.45pm, the rehearsal runs until 7pm and we ask all our members to pay ?2 per rehearsal to help cover the running costs.
You can find out more about what songs they’ve performed so far and what they’ll be doing in future by checking their website www.MagpieChoir.wordpress.com or joining their Facebook page www.facebook.com/MagpieChoir. Alternatively you can email Louisa direct on magpie@another.com with any questions.
