News

We are so pleased to have been able to perform our first concert in two years on Thursday night. Thank you to the Eric Morecambe Centre for hosting us and our lovely audience for their unwavering support.

Between the MerriLea Digital Advent Calendar and raffle sales at the concert we have raised over £1000 for the vital work of the Harpenden Trust. Thank you for your generosity.

We are now looking forward to our next concert in St. Albans Cathedral in March - Rachmaninov Vespers.

Last year's video Advent Calendar was such a success that we are doing it again this year. We are grateful to St. Lawrence Church, Bovingdon and Our Lady of Lourdes, Harpenden for allowing us to use their beautiful buildings to make the recordings which are now being edited and prepared.

We are supporting an outstanding local charity this year, the Harpenden Trust. All our profits will go towards funding their amazing work in our local area.

So if you would like a little bit of pre-Christmas joy to drop into your inbox every morning 1-25 December, head over here to sign up.

"a performance of music by one or more musicians or singers"

Sounds good?

We kick off at St. Nicholas Church, Harpenden in November with Brahms Requiem. We also have the absolute pleasure of performing at the brand new Eric Morecambe Centre for our Christmas Concert on 23 December. And we will (finally) be celebrating our 60th anniversary in the lovely, lovely setting of St Albans Cathedral next March.

For those of you unable to join us this year (sadly, it hasn't gone away), we will also be producing another video Advent Calendar and knowing our supporters' unfailing generosity - thank you - raising plenty of money for charity.

Unfortunately, due to the ongoing restrictions applying specifically to amateur choral singing, we are unable to go ahead with our planned services at St. Albans Cathedral this weekend.

As Covid restrictions are gradually lifting, we have started rehearsing again - initially by video call, but all being well, in person from 17 May. We are delighted that St. Albans Cathedral is able to allow us to sing some services in late May.

We are also hoping to put on an outdoor performance in the Harpenden area on Sunday 4 July. Nothing confirmed yet, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Thank you so much to everyone who subscribed to our MerriLea digital advent calendar. We were delighted by the lovely messages of thanks you sent to us and were glad we could put a smile on so many faces. We have also raised over £4,000 for our chosen charities. Thank you on behalf of all the organisations that will benefit from this amazing generosity.

Hopefully in 2021 we will be able to perform to you in person. We have a concert at Katherine Warington School in the diary, and a weekend of services at St. Albans Cathedral. Obviously with the current Covid-19 situation, we have no idea if we will be able to meet to rehearse or perform, but do make a note of the dates - we will be thinking creatively of ways to continue bringing you lovely music.

This year, we aren't able to deliver our usual Christmas concert, but that isn't going to stop us from putting together something special. We have created an advent calendar filled with 25 digital doses of Christmas cheer, including carols from the whole choir, chamber ensemble pieces and fun weekend treats from Leas & Friends. Each day belongs to a different Lea Singer, and each has chosen a different charity.

More information

The ongoing situation means we have sadly had to postpone November's Rachmaninov Vespers concert and cancel this year's FestiveLea Christmas Concert. We are working on a virtual Christmas treat to bring you some socially-distanced Lea cheer in December - watch this space.

Looking further ahead, we are hoping that we will be able to go ahead with the Vivaldi Gloria concert at St. Nicholas Church in March 2021 and a summer concert with Katharine Warington School in June 2021.

In the light of the current situation with Coronavirus and government advice, the Lea Singers have decided to cancel our forthcoming concert, A Feast of Folk Music, due to take place on 20 June. We have also cancelled our Garden Party Fundraiser on 11 July.

We hope very much that we will be able to open our celebrations for our 60th Anniversary season with Rachmaninov Vespers in St Albans Cathedral in November, but at this stage it is impossible to know if this will be able to go ahead.

Thank you all for your understanding and support.