http://www.vasarisingers.org/ The Vasari Singers, under Jeremy Backhouse, is one of the UK's leading chamber choirs. Now in its 31st year, the choir performs a wide range of repertoire with passion and sensitivity to exacting standards and considerable press acclaim.
MusicWeb International's review of recording of Will Todd's Mass in Blue described Vasari as "one of the world's finest choirs".
Although based in London. the London Bulgarian Choir performs Bulgarian folk songs. Dessislava Stefanova, formerly of the Philip Koutev Ensemble, has led the choir since its formation in 2000. The London Bulgarian Choir have released one album, Alyana Galyana, and have contributed to film and television soundtracks including Troy and The Virgin Queen. The choir are BBC Radio 3's Open Choir of the Year, 2006-7.
Morten Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943 in Colfax, Washington) is an American composer with Danish roots. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Whitman College and the University of Southern California, where he studied advanced composition. He is a long-time professor and Chair of the Department of Composition at USC, and was also Composer in Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001.
The Madrigals are from London. They make music that is influenced by traditional English folk music but sounds more like indie-pop bands such as Belle & Sebastian and Saturday Looks Good To Me. They're really lovely.
Gimble are a four piece pop punk band from Reading.
Taking influences from the likes of blink-182 and NOFX.
Bridie Jackson & The Arbour are from Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK . They launched their début album, Bitter Lullabies, with a sold-out show at The Sage Gateshead in January 2012.
More information can be found at www.bridiejackson.com.
The album can be bought online at http://bridiejackson.bandcamp.com. Bridie started playing guitar at five years old. She comes from a musical family, and while travelling Europe with her father, she was introduced to many musical styles including the Portuguese Fado tradition, the influence of which can be heard in her work.
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble that has been producing music for more than thirty years. Although the members of the group have changed over time, the music of Sweet Honey in the Rock has consistently combined contemporary rhythms and narratives with a musical style rooted in the gospel music, spirituals and hymns of the Black church. Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by Bernice Johnson Reagon who formed the group out of the strongest singers from a vocal workshop she was teaching with the D.
Anonymous 4 is a female a cappella quartet, based in New York City. Their main performance genre is medieval music, although they have also premiered works by living composers such as John Tavener and Steve Reich. Anonymous 4 has performed in cities throughout North America, and have been regulars at major international festivals. They decided to make the 2003-2004 season their last as a full-time recording and touring ensemble, although special projects (such as their Gloryland CD and their "Long Time Traveling" Tour) continue to bring them together on occasion.
The Swingle Singers (1962-present) was a vocal group formed in Paris, France with Ward Swingle, Anne Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, and Jean Cussac. The group, directed primarily by the eponymous Ward Swingle and accompanied by bass and drums, produced complicated, technically impressive covers of anything from modern classics (The Beatles) to classical music (Tchaikovsky, Beethoven) to opera (Rossini). Their arrangements are often informed by jazz harmonies and stylings. Other influences included Nat King Cole, various smooth singers and pianists.
On November 1st 2009, Perpetuum Jazzile issued their 5th album called "Africa". Since 1983, after almost a quarter of a century of devotion to vocal jazz, Perpetuum Jazzile is still the only Slovenian jazz choir. The vocal ensemble, led by its conductor and art director Tomaž Kozlevčar (renowned also for his work as a music producer and singer at The New Swing Quartet), usually performs with a number of singers that ranges to up to 50 and it represents an attractive and unique blend of popular vocal jazz..