Welcome to FORTISMERE PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE
Fortismere MUSIC Centre
Join in with Choir
Fortismere Community Choir started in 2009 and is based in Muswell Hill, north London. It is an ambitious unauditioned choir which comprises singers of all abilities – whether you are accomplished and able to read music or whether you simply enjoy singing but cannot read music, a warm welcome awaits you.
Over the past 12 years, the choir has gone from strength to strength, performing works such as the Requiem Masses by Mozart, Duruflé and Fauré, Haydn's epic oratorio The Seasons, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Bach's Magnificat.
If you are interested in joining us (even if you are unsure which voice you are) you are welcome to attend one or two rehearsals without obligation. We are particularly looking for tenors and basses. As a regular member, we ask you to pay a termly subscription (£75 per adult, reduced to £50 for students) per term.
The choir meets at Fortismere School every Saturday in the Music Concert Hall in North Wing, from 10.30am to 1.00pm during school terms. Access is through either North Wing (Creighton Avenue) or South Wing (Tetherdown). There is also a very important coffee and cake break incorporated into the rehearsal time!
The choir performs at least twice a year (usually in St Andrew’s Church on Alexandra Park Road) with the Fortismere Community Symphony Orchestra and some wonderful professional soloists.
The choir is incredibly lucky to have access to professional musicians – a great musical director, accompanist, resident orchestra and soloists all of whom further enhance the experience.
If you are interested in joining, please email fmcinfo@fortismere.org.uk to arrange to attend a rehearsal on a trial basis.
We are currently rehearsing for our next concert on 27th April 2024.
Cathal Garvey
Interim Musical Director
Cathal Garvey began his career as chorus master for most of Ireland’s major opera companies, including Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company, Anna Olivia Opera Festival, Lyric Opera, and Opera South, working on over fifty productions.
In Dublin, he regularly conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Orchestra of St Cecilia, Dublin Symphony Orchestra, and the Dublin Baroque Players. Between 2001 and 2009 he was Principal Conductor of the Dublin Orchestral Players and Dun Laoghaire Choral Society.
He moved to the UK in 2009 to take up the position of Chorus Master with Grange Park Opera. Since then, he has conducted London International Orchestra, Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, Southern Sinfonia, Charivari Agréable, London Repertoire Orchestra, Leicester Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Reform, Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra, Winchester Symphony Orchestra, I Maestri, BYMT Staff Orchestra, London Medical Orchestra, and Morley College Choir, as well as successively holding the post of Musical Director of Newbury, Billingshurst, and Wokingham Choral Societies.
Cathal teaches orchestral conducting to postgraduates at the Royal Academy of Music. He was appointed Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon ARAM) in 2019.
John Eady
Répétiteur & Accompanist
John studied music at King's College London, the Royal Academy of Music and cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2002 he started to learn the organ at the St Giles International Organ School and in 2006 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He is a freelance cellist and organist, manages his string quartet named Four Strings Attached, and is organist at St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge.
We all know we've got exceptional cooks in our midst. Who can forget the myriad of salads, divine Jansson's Temptation, or green-orange spinach-lentil roulade at Christmas parties? As for cake - well, that's what we come for on a Saturday morning!
So in 2018 we created a Cakes & Party Food recipe book. Jane Dorner (soprano) worked really hard to collate, illustrate, and design the book, and arrange production. Choir member and artist Sarah McMenemy produced a wonderful cover for it. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
Cakes & Party Food is available at our concerts and rehearsals for £5.00.
