Ambrosian Singers

The Ambrosian Singers are one of the best-known London choral groups, particularly appreciated for its great variety of recorded repertory.

They were founded after World War II in England. One of their co-founders was Denis Stevens (1922-2004), a British musicologist and viola player who joined the BBC Music Department in 1949 and developed programs of Renaissance and early Baroque music. The other was John McCarthy (1919-2009), a professional tenor soloist.

They organized and created the Ambrosian Singers as a small professional chorus in 1951. Ambrosian Singers has participated in numerous Christmas albums, appeared in albums with such pop and rock artists as Neil Diamond, Grace Jones, Julie Andrews, etc.

They have participated in various film soundtrack scores such as Brainstorm, Krull, Chariots of Fire, and The Secret of NIMH, and in some albums of Italian films: Film Scores of Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota (conducted by Henry Mancini, collections of Miklos Rozsa scores, and original scores from MGM Classic Musicals. They did the intro vocals for the song "Inside" by Stiltskin in 1994.

Involvement in opera

Ambrosian Singers is also called as Ambrosian Opera Chorus (or Ambrosian Chorus or Ambrosian Choir). The ensemble has made numerous recordings of full length operas under various noted conductors including Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, Nello Santi, Julius Rudel, Georges Prêtre and many more. From 1961 to 1966, when McCarthy was a choral director of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Ambrosian Singers was known as the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus^[1].

Under various names (Ambrosian Singers, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Ambrosian Chorus, Ambrosian Choir or London Symphony Orchestra Chorus), the ensemble has appeared in various type of recording albums with many renowned operatic singers such as recording recitals, sacred music, selected arias and complete operas with Montserrat Caballé, Joan Sutherland, Kiri Te Kanawa, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and many more.

Selected operatic discography

Note: "Cat:" is short for catalogue number by the label company.

Notes

References

• Bach-Cantatas.com page on the Ambrosian Singers
• Joseph Stevenson, "Ambrosian Singers". Classical Artist Biographies. All Media Guide, 2008.