Led by Joe Bunker, The Collective is a London-based choir of actors, songwriters, musical directors, composers and singers founded in 2016, and its first public performance was with the PopUp Choir of Minneapolis, co-founded by choral conductor Heather Nelson. Nelson was appointed to Galway’s Cois Cladaigh choir earlier this year.
To mark ten years, The Collective is reuniting in Nelson’s adopted home of Galway, where she will become Artistic Director of Cois Cladaigh this autumn. Together with musicians from within The Collective, they will share leadership of a programme that reflects the choir’s artist-led approach, and depth of musical talent. Seven different conductors will lead the ensemble across the evening.
The Collective will sing a programme of uplifting music offering solace, strength and inspiration for challenging times. Drawing on musical theatre, pop, jazz standards, contemporary choral works and original compositions, the concert includes Bob Chilcott’s arrangement of The House of the Rising Sun, Cole Porter’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin, works by Jake Runestad, Elaine Hagenberg and Sarah Quartel, Brandi Carlile’s The Joke and Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday.
The programme also features ‘Silver Linings’, a profoundly moving anthem composed by choir member Robert McNicol, with words by Adey Grummet, composed during the Covid lockdowns.
Since its founding, The Collective has grown from a choir for choir directors and theatre professionals into a wider community of composers, lyricists, actors and singers from diverse backgrounds. Its performances have ranged from Renaissance polyphony and jazz standards to gospel, soul, Motown, pop and musical theatre, while its open-access workshops extend the group’s inclusive approach beyond the concert platform.
Tickets €15/€20 from https://thecollective.clr.events/event/140442:the-collective-in-concert
