International Concert Series 2024-25

The Southern Chorale is the premiere choral ensemble at University of Southern Mississippi, and have become a national leader in choral music excellence in the US. As part of their UK Tour, we welcome them to Royal Holloway for a special side-by-side concert with our very own Choir of Royal Holloway. 

This event is presented as part of the International Concert Series 2024-25 at Royal Holloway.

Event programme

To include:
Richard Buchard: Excerpts from Et Lux In Tenebris Lucet: A Requiem for the Forgotten
Ross Bernhardt: Prayer of St. Patrick
Selections of American Spirituals and Popular Song

About the performers

The premier choral ensemble at Southern Miss, the Southern Chorale, has a long history of excellence. It is comprised primarily of upper-division voice majors and graduate students studying conducting, vocal performance, and music education, but does include outstanding singers from other campus disciplines. he group has appeared numerous times at ACDA conferences, including national conventions in Chicago and Los Angeles. The ensemble maintains an active tour schedule both nationally and internationally. Most recently, The Southern Chorale completed an extensive tour of the West Indies and Jamaica. Other significant endeavors have included a residency in the Loire Valley of France, a featured performance in Carnegie Hall for Katrina relief and one for the partial premiere of An American Requiem by Edwin Penhorwood, and recording projects on Handel’sDixit Dominus, the Messe Pour Double Choeur, and the Sacred Music of resident composer Luigi Zaninelli. The group is currently working on a recording project that will feature the music of Laurel, Mississippi native, James Quitman Mulholland. The Chorale performs the complete spectrum of significant choral literature for a cappella and accompanied chorus. Read more.

The Choir of Royal Holloway is unique in the UK as the only collegiate choir with a weekly programme of services and concerts and is considered to be one of the finest mixed-voice collegiate choirs in Britain. The choir gives 50-plus concerts a year with a particular specialism in collaborating with living composers. Read more. 

Rupert Gough has been director of Choral Music and College Organist at Royal Holloway, University of London since 2005. He is also Organist and Director of Music at London’s oldest surviving church, Saint Bartholomew the Great, which maintains a professional choir. At Royal Holloway Rupert has developed the choral programme to include weekly choral recitals, choral conducting courses for undergraduates, many new choral commissions and transformed the Chapel Choir into an elite group of 24 choral scholars. Read more.