Glass Ensemble is an amateur, upper-voice chamber choir based in Berkshire. We are made up of around 20 singers and focus on exploring a varied and innovative repertoire for higher voices.

We are passionate about singing and all that it brings to the audience and to the individual performer alike. We strive for the highest possible standards, focusing on developing tone quality, intonation, balance and blend, as well as placing high importance on the emotional benefits and rewards gained in our weekly rehearsals together. Singing helps us all to feel positive, uplifted and motivated; it releases anxiety and stress, as well as building a wonderful sense of community. All of these aspects of singing we enjoy each week in our rehearsals and endeavour to share these experiences with our concert audiences.  

We give approximately three concerts a year in the local area. Some of our regular venues include South Hill Park, Bracknell and Douai Abbey, Berkshire. We have also enjoyed several visits to London to take part in the annual Brandenburg Choral Festival, performing in various venues in the city.

We always aim for varied programmes to broaden our repertoire and to provide our regular audience members with new, interesting and thought-provoking music to enjoy. We enjoy singing music from the 16th century right up to the present day, including pieces by new composers such as Kerry Andrew as well as favourites from the upper voice repertoire. Previous concerts have included Renaissance motets, folk songs from around the world, British folk music, female artists of the last 60 years, and the UK premier of David Lang’s Love Fail.

As well as singing a cappella and working both with and without a conductor, we also enjoy performing alongside a wide range of other musicians. Recent collaborations including harpist Valeria Kurbatova, folk singer Maz O’Connor, and the professional vocal ensemble Echo. We have also joined forces with the Henley Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Holst’s Planets, at the Hexagon, Reading, in which Glass Ensemble performed the semi chorus in the final movement.

We show our involvement with the local community by inviting our audience to contribute to our retiring collection at all of our concerts. We have supported Reading Family Aid, Berkshire Women’s Aid, ReadiFood, and Me2 Club, among others. We have also enjoyed taking part in Henley Living Advent Calendar as well as Christmas carolling outside at the Marlow Christmas Lights event!

2020 saw challenges that none of us had ever imagined, and Glass Ensemble was no exception. Like other musical organisations, after much trial and error, we found a way of continuing to enjoy and develop our singing remotely, as well as deepening our bonds and sense of togetherness during a very difficult time. This new format opened up new opportunities for us to get to know each other and our sessions included recounting humorous, historical and poignant personal stories, fun quizzes, as well as sharing our Desert Island Discs! A sense of humour was essential to navigate the challenges of singing as a choir in front of our computer screens. But, with much perseverance, we were pleased to share with our family, friends and followers our lockdown recording of In monte Oliveti by Charpentier. As restrictions lifted, we found creative ways of singing together whilst keeping to ‘the rule of six,’ and so, the ‘Garden Sessions’ began. Thankfully, this was as Spring turned into Summer and we all enjoyed singing together in person again, accompanied by acoustic guitar, in the beautiful gardens of some of our members. As restrictions lifted further, we bravely returned to our rehearsal venue, sometimes singing as a group outside and other times with new socially distanced seating inside and of course with masks! Maybe the most exciting moment during 2021 was finally being able to perform as a choir once again to our family and friends; to complete our lockdown journey, and in honour of our garden sessions, this concert took place in another beautiful garden of one of our members. See photos of our Garden Sessions here.

We are delighted to be rehearsing as normal again; but we also reflect upon, appreciate and learn from the lockdown journey on which we have been. Shared stories, personal struggles, and lots of fun, have all served to strengthen our bonds as a community and as a result, has made us even better as a choir and as performers.