About Us
Founded in 1993, Laudamus Chamber Choir have enjoyed thirty years of musical success. The choir, originally an off-shoot of the parish choir of St Paul's, Addlestone, started with just eight singers, but over the past three decades has grown to it's current compliment of twenty-five. Its membership is no longer limited to those of the parish, but is now drawn from across Surrey and beyond. The choir still retains its close association with St Paul's Addlestone, rehearsing and holding their annual Come and Sing event in the church.
Performing regularly throughout Surrey, Laudamus has also given concerts in Sussex, Dorset, Hampshire, North Wales, South Wales, and in Holland. They had their London debut in December 2007, performing a Carol Concert at St Peter's Church, Eaton Square to raise funds for the Commonwealth Countries League. The choir returned to London in May 2008 performing at St John's Church, Waterloo where their programme included the world premier of The Dove composed by Reading-based composer David Breeze. Subsequently, Laudamus were invited to sing at the 'Mission to Seafarers' annual Christmas concert at St Michael Paternoster Royal, in the presence of HRH Princess Royal where the event raised £13,000.
Over the years, Laudamus Chamber Choir has undertaken a number of collaborative ventures, combining forces with Mosaic Chamber Choir, Woking; the Boys' Choir of St Paul's School, Addlestone; the Choir of Sir William Perkins School, Chertsey; and Walton and Oatlands Choral Society (now known as Walton Voices) amongst others. On several occasions the choir have worked with the Ashford Baroque Ensemble for performances of works such as Bach's St John Passion. Many of the choirs concerts support charities—local, national, and international.
António first started conducting when asked in 2018 to direct his own piece he had written for the choir in the monastery of St. Lambrecht in Austria. Having grown up in Portugal, he studied and lived in Austria for nine years before coming to London. His work is multi-faceted, as conductor, countertenor and composer, most often fusing the different roles into one for his projects.
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like 100 Frankensteins, by Darren Sng. His work as a composer and countertenor goes hand-in-hand ever since working with the choreographer Clara Andermatt on the music+dance performance ‘Suspensão’. Other collaborative composition works include ‘Invisible Cities’, an adaptation of Italo Calvino’s same titled novel for radio with music throughout; ‘Portrait of a Wrestler’ created with wrestler, dancer and choreographer Claire Heafford and ‘a⸱nother voice’ with visual artist Judith Deschamps revolving around the voice of Farinelli and in collaboration with ircam in creation of an installation that has been showed internationally.
António holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Composition and Orchestra Conducting from the Kunstuniversität Graz Austria, where he studied with Beat Furrer and Martin Siegahrt, respectively. He also holds a Master in Composition (Hons) from the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Jonathan Cole.
António currently lives in London, from where he works internationally on his projects.
credit: Jorge Carmona (2018)
António is the co-founder and artistic director of the Cat’s Cradle Collective (CCC), a flexible chamber ensemble dedicated to creating cross-artistic collaborative performances of music from all ages and genres. António conducts the ensemble and also joins by singing and playing the violin. He also leads the community choir Union Chapel Singers, and the female barbershop Thameside Harmony Chorus. As a countertenor, Antonio is currently singing scholar in St. James Piccadilly and was choral scholar in St. John’s Notting Hill. He sings with Mosaic Voices and has premiered multiple works for solo voice as well as voice and ensemble
Mike Briggs—Accompanist
As a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra, Mike has performed and recorded with many vocal artists and choirs including Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones, Kylie Minogue, Cliff Richards, BBC Singers, Philharmonia Chorus, and Basil Brush. Mike has worked on various West End and touring shows including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Miss Saigon, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, and Les Miserables. He is a regular organist at St Mary’s, Worplesdon and lives in Guildford with his partner, two daughters and border terrier, Dudamel.
Charities we've fundraised for
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St Mary's Church, Worplesdon
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Woking & Sam Beare Hospices
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Hames Homeless Project
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Commonwealth Countries League
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Stephanie Marks Appeal
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Asian Tsunami Appeal
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Mission to Seafarers
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The Manny Society
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White Lodge Centre
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Rotary International
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Voices for Hospices
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Mission to Seafarers
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Turning Point Trust
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Rotary International
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Quest
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Cruse
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Eyes Right
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Cystic Fibrosis
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Survive Miva
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Voices for Hospices
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The Children's Society