Eternal Light
8pm, Friday 9 May 2025
St George’s Bloomsbury, WC1A 2SA
Performers
The Elysian Singers of London
Susan Young Soprano
Thomas Gray Electric Guitar
Sam Laughton Direction
Programme
- God so Loved the WorldWill Todd
- RequiemWill Todd
- Vidi speciosamWill Todd
Superb London chamber choir The Elysian Singers performs music of Will Todd, featuring the composer’s haunting Requiem for soprano solo, choir, and electric guitar.
The Elysian Singers of London
The Elysian Singers of London is one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs. Founded in 1986, the group quickly developed an interest in contemporary music, giving world premieres by a number of composers including John Tavener, who was the choir’s Patron until his death in 2013. World premieres include a performance of Tavener’s Monument to Beethoven at the Royal Festival Hall (2014), Ian Stephens’ Timepieces (2011), John Habron’s Salve Regina (2008), and Exile Lamentations (2009) by Paul Stanhope. The group’s first CD of James MacMillan’s music, Cantos Sagrados, received a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine. TV and radio highlights include the first broadcast performances of Górecki’s Miserere and Three Lullabies on BBC Radio 3, and live performances on Radio 3’s “In Tune” programme.
In 2015 the upper voices of the choir made their debut performance at the BBC Proms, providing the offstage chorus for Holst’s The Planets with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and in 2017 the lower voices were delighted to make their debut with the renowned violist Lawrence Power at the West Wycombe Chamber Music Festival.
The Elysian Singers are now privileged to have Sir James MacMillan as the choir’s patron. In 2019 the group released its second CD of his music, One Equal Music, receiving a five-star rating in Choir and Organ and the accolade of “first among equals” in Gramophone. The CD was launched at a concert conducted by James MacMillan, and several tracks broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
The choir’s latest disc on Signum Records, Beauty for Ashes, is due for release in 2025, and features a wide variety of music by the best contemporary British female and male composers.
Susan Young
A versatile, accomplished singer, Susan Young has developed a growing reputation in the field of contemporary opera and as a champion of neglected works, relishing the musical and dramatic challenges.
For English National Opera she created the role of Wife in the world premiere of Tansy Davies’ Between Worlds. Also for ENO, Susan has worked on The Passenger (Weinberg), as heard on BBC Radio 3’s “Private Passions”, and Duchess in Powder Her Face (Adès). Other notable roles include Micaëla in Carmen and the title role in Kát’a Kabanová. She has garnered critical praise for her strong dramatic sense, rich, warm sound, and poised lyricism.
Susan was an integral part of the group of musicians who founded the now internationally-renowned Oxford International Song Festival. She has an extensive song repertoire. Her numerous concert appearances include Britten’s War Requiem, Dvorak’s Te Deum, Elgar’s Spirit of England, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem, Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.
Alongside her performing career, Susan runs an MA in Vocal Studies for the University of York, is Programme Manager for Vocal Studies at Morley College, and manages a successful and varied private teaching studio.
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray is a self-taught electric and acoustic guitarist, singer, and composer. He studied music at King’s College London, receiving choral training from organist Ernie Warrell, and West London Institute where he studied composition with Francis Pott. Thomas’s guitar obsession had been kept separate from his “serious” studies, but Francis encouraged him to compose for the instrument and thus the two worlds were brought together. This helped pave the way for Thomas to collaborate with Will Todd on his Requiem, a unique and challenging sacred work that explores the sonic possibilities of the guitar and its associated electronica.
Thomas’s diverse musical life has taken him from international rock stages to the orchestral concert platform via the jazz club (including venues such as the Ahoy Stadium, the Royal Albert Hall, and Ronnie Scott’s) and the UK’s theatre circuit, along with many cathedrals, chapels, and churches. He has collaborated with many notable artists and ensembles including Brian May, Rod Argent, the BBC Concert, Ulster and Rambert orchestras, and St Martin’s Ensemble. For several years he was a “Live Music Now!” performer, which led to community outreach work with Streetwise Opera, the Lost Chord Project, the Teenage Cancer Trust, and the Royal Albert Hall.
As a composer, songwriter, audio producer, and musical director, Thomas has worked extensively in the worlds of theatre, soundtracks, and studios, collaborating with notable directors and producers including David Pountney, Keith Warner, Laurie Sansom, David Richards, and Damien Korner. He is a member of the Royal Albert Hall’s in-house “Albert’s Band” and resident composer, sound designer, and musical director of Khayaal Theatre Company. He also turns his hand to New Orleans jazz in the Alvar Tree Frogs, a London-based band that has just released its first album.
Sam Laughton
Sam Laughton was organ scholar of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he read music. He now juggles busy careers as both a barrister and a musician. He is musical director of The Elysian Singers, The Trinity Camerata, Aylesbury Opera, and The Craswall Players, as well as chair of trustees for two musical charities. He is in demand as a guest conductor, working with such orchestras as The Oxford Sinfonia, Kensington Chamber Orchestra, The Kew Sinfonia, The Orchestra of the City, The Crendon Chamber Orchestra, and The Royal Orchestral Society. He has also worked with groups as varied as Oxford Philomusica, The Joyful Company of Singers, ENO Baylis, and Garsington Opera.
