There are around 30 members in the choir. We are not linked to any organisation or religious group. Our members range from those in their 20s to those in their 50s (although most of us are in the middle of that range). But there is no age limit to be a member.
Our Musical Director is Sarah Stroh. Sarah began her musical studies at Hull University, where she obtained a first class honours degree. She then went on to specialize in singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating in 1998 and winning a number of prizes for performances of Early Music. Sarah has performed as soprano soloist in the UK and abroad, including London’s Royal Albert Hall. She works as a freelance voice trainer and choral conductor and has been Musical Director of Jubilate! since 1999.
Trevor Hughes has worked with the choir for decades - first as an accompanist, then as our Musical Director. He decided to step down from the role when the weekly journey from Hitchin to rehearsals in Brent proved too demanding. We were sorry to lose him, but are delighted that he has remained as a valued accompanist for many of our concerts. Trevor is so musical that he has been known to simply direct the choir by waggling his head!
Influences
The current Jubilate! programme includes classical, eg Be Joyful, Ave Verum Corpus, Panis Angelicus, Hymn to Vena; songs from the shows, eg Rhythm of Life, Les Miserables, Godspell; folk and traditional, eg I once Loved a Lad, The Wedding Ring, Hungarian folk songs; gospel, eg Swing Low Sweet Chariot, My Lord, What a Mornin’; African, eg Asikha Thali, Siyaweh; jazz standards, eg Blue Moon, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Mr Sandman, A Little Jazz Mass; pop, eg Annie’s song, Killing me softly, Close to you, California Dreamin’; international songs, in Finnish, German, African, Japanese, French, Spanish, and contemporary British composers, eg Karl Jenkins, John Rutter, Andrew Carter, Edward Gregson
Sounds Like
At Jubilate!, variety is the spice of life. Our repertoire includes both traditional and contemporary music – from gospel to Glen Miller, a capella to African chant, psalms to pop.
Whilst the main repertoire consists of arrangements for the whole choir, we also like to experiment with different styles of singing or by asking for volunteers for duets, solos and small groups
Jubilate means ‘celebration’ in Latin. And that's our approach to singing. We perform for pleasure - both ours, and other people's!
There are around 30 members in the choir. We are not linked to any organisation or religious group. Our members range from those in their 20s to those in their 50s (although most of us are in the middle of that range). But there is no age limit to be a member.
We do around three or four concerts a year. Recent performances include concerts for Amnesty International and St Luke's Hospice, Harrow.
We also enter competitions such as the Cheltenham Music Festival (we are winners of its Ethel Salisbury cup), and local music festivals (we've recently gained first place in the Ruislip and Northwood, Slough and Watford festivals).
And then there are the appearances we can't refuse. We've recorded several CDs of hymns for Readers Digest’s music division, entertained Christmas shoppers at Dickens and Jones in Regent Street with carols, and several times have appeared on stage at Wembley Arena as Barry Manilow's backing singers!
Jubilate rehearses on Tuesday evenings from 8pm to 10pm during term times at Pinner Methodist Church in Pinner, Middlesex. And at the end of every term we all go out to celebrate.
