And so a choir was founded…

When Angela Kay began Music for Everyone (under the name of the Nottingham Choral Trust) in 1983, her aim was to offer music making opportunities to people of all ages and abilities. The only criterion for participation was, and still is, enthusiasm.

Not for Angela the easier option of simple music. Her ambition was to enable singers of all kinds to enjoy together the breadth of the choral repertoire – those who could not read music alongside those who could; and those who had never sung in a choir before alongside those who rehearsed weekly.

The chorus’s first performance was of Verdi’s Requiem, no less. Angela decided that a permanent chamber choir might add to the confidence of the Choral Trust Chorus and enable even more challenging works to be sung.

In 1985 Angela formed an auditioned choir, the East of England Singers, originally intended to perform for part of each season with the East of England Orchestra – hence the name. The orchestra changed its name to Sinfonia Viva, and EOES, as we were affectionately called, eventually decided on a name that better reflected our nature and location – the Nottingham Chamber Singers.

The choir has always had a busy concert schedule – both with our own chamber concerts and performing as part the Festival Chorus. The aim is for a high standard but Angela’s humour and enthusiasm ensures we sing and laugh in equal measure! We are known for being a particularly friendly choir to belong to.

An assistant conductor joined Angela, our MD

In 2020 we were thrilled to welcome Rachel Parkes as assistant Artistic Director of Music for Everyone and Assistant Conductor of NCS. Rachel brings a complementary wealth of choral experience to us, including her years as a member of renowned vocal group Voces8. She is a great interpreter of the text and music of choral works and is adding to our knowledge of vocal technique and listening and blending well as a choir. Angela and Rachel form a superb team, and we consider ourselves fortunate to benefit from their combined expertise and vivacity.

The two conductors provide us with repertoire from plainsong to the 21st century, dynamic concert programming, creative presentation and performance, and an endless stream of inventive similes and images, all to encourage us to bring out the beauty and impact of each work we sing and to communicate these better to our concert audiences.

The music goes on!

The pandemic saw us confined to home but making great use of technology. A rivalry grew between the sections to see who could give the best rendition of a song from the musicals. Given their originality, the tenors (with a little help from former singers) were declared the winners.

They even wrote the lyrics!

As soon as we could sing far apart in a garden or a room, we did. Rehearsals endeavouring to combine in-person with online participants proved a technological challenge beyond the church’s wifi capacity. We froze through the winter with all that fresh air rushing through, but it was more than worth it. The resurgence of Covid led to the cancellation of our Christmas concert two years running! As with so many things from 2020-2022, cancellations were something that had never happened in the choir’s history.

And then we were back! Angela handed over the baton of running MfE at the start of the anniversary season 2022-2023, but Music for Everyone celebrated its fortieth birthday – and Angela’s vision and legacy – with great style.

Alex Robinson was appointed as Artistic Director from September 2023, but Angela continued to conducts NCS, alternating concerts with Rachel, which means they both have chance to sing, Angela usually with the altos and Rachel with the sopranos.

Life after 40!

Life begins at 40, they say, but for us it continues from 40! In 2025 we celebrated the completion of our fourth decade with a glorious sell-out concert (supported by the Bliss Trust and the Arts Council) and our own version of Desert Island Discs.

75 past and present singers sang their favourites, both a cappella items and others accompanied by Ange Foan or the group of string players that often plays for our concerts. Our ‘discs’ included an extract from Bach’s Singet dem Herrn, Pearsall’s Lay a Garland, Whitacre’s Sleep and Porter’s Let’s do it!

Here’s to discovering, learning and performing great choral music for many years to come! From September 2025, Rachel follows in Angela’s footsteps by becoming the Artistic Director of Music for Everyone while continuing as Assistant Conductor of NCS.

Quotes from our audience, 21 June 2025, 40th anniversary concert:

“A really great concert capturing the spirit of 40 years of the choir.”

“The standard of singing and playing is excellent. I always enjoy NCS concerts.”

“Beautiful from start to finish.”