The Linklaters Choir, established in 2013, is an inclusive, non auditioned choir which everybody is welcome to join, there are no restrictions on membership on the basis of singing, musical ability or choir experience.
The key things our members need are enthusiasm, a willingness to learn and to not take themselves too seriously! We are very fortunate to be led by Jeremy Haneman, who is also conductor and director of the Royal Opera House’s Community Chorus. Jeremy is also musical director to Mixed Up Chorus, the choir of our chosen charity for the Legal Harmony competition, The Three Faiths Forum, which works to build better relations between people of different cultures, faiths and beliefs. We have performed with their choir before and are delighted to be able to support the valuable work they do.
Even though we have only been established for a relatively short period of time, we have had the opportunity to perform in public on a number of occasions. In June 2013 we performed to 2000 colleagues, allowing us to show off our style and vocal dexterity at Linklaters’ prestigious 175th anniversary celebration. We were lucky enough to be accompanied by Rupert Egerton Smith, an award-winning concert pianist who also happens to be a senior business manager at Linklaters.
The choir had its West End debut in October 2013 at the Young Vic, performing in David Greig’s play “The Events”, where a different community choir took the stage each night.
One of our most memorable performances was at the SingingWorks Competition in April 2014 at Cadogan Hall; it was our second ever competition entry against 19 other office choirs. We reworked a few pieces from Les Misérables to come up with a humorous composition based on a day at the office. The piece was good fun and we loved performing it but we were absolutely delighted when we won.
We meet once a week on a Wednesday lunchtime in the Linklaters basement below our Silk Street reception. We regularly get positive comments from clients on the rapturous welcome that they receive on entering the building when we are rehearsing! It’s also an opportunity for Linklaters people to meet colleagues from around the business, sing their hearts out and take a break from the day to day stresses of work in addition to improving and developing their singing skills.
We have a range of experience, from people who have never really sung before such as Jason Milner, an IT engineer, who claims to be a “lapsed pianist and occasional singer in the shower” to those with a more professional background like Selina Lowen, our soloist for the competition, who trained as a singer and dancer at a performing arts college and then worked abroad as an entertainer. After a career change to something with more stability, Selina joined the finance team at Linklaters. ”It’s great to have the choir here as it is something extra to look forward to each week and it also gives the opportunity to continue performing,” she says. ”I was hesitant to join the choir at first as I didn’t think I would fit in with the group or enjoy the repertoire, but I’m so glad I did as there are many talented people who I enjoy working with and we cover a wide range of genres which I absolutely love!”
The choir is so important to us all, for a range of reasons. “Going to choir is an hour when I can put the week on hold and do something completely different to my dayjob,” says Amy Moore, a disputes resolution associate. “I always leave rehearsals feeling relaxed and recharged, and ready to take on whatever the rest of the day has to throw at me.”
Mark Winters, an information advisor, has been amazed at how quickly he picked things up. “It is now the pivot of my working week and one of those marvellous and mythical things in a workplace, a genuinely morale building and feel-good experience,” he reveals. ”They don’t grow on trees. Previous choirs I’d attended had played a little false on the ‘no need for musical knowledge’ claim and felt a little exclusive but the Linklaters Choir really does embrace the whole firm and the mix of members makes it a wonderful group to be a part of. It has introduced me to a lot of beautiful choral music I’d otherwise have missed.”
We sing a hugely diverse range of music from show tunes and film music such as Joyful Joyful from ‘Sister Act 2’ to complex classical pieces like Fauré’s Requiem and Haydn’s Agnus Dei and almost everything in between.
Faye Horsman sums it up well: “Our choir is everything that you would hope it to be, uplifting, challenging but most of all fun.”
With still one competition to go Legal Harmony has already raised just under £11,000 for charity this year. Ten choirs have taken part in two Legal Harmony competitions with Berwin Leighton Paisner and Higgs & Sons winning their respective competitions. In July HSBC celebrated their win in the augural Fiscal Harmony competition for the financial sector, where choirs from UBS, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse as well as HSBC took part. The competition on 8th October sees the Bar being represented at last. Choirs from 9 -12 Bell Yard, Essex Court Chambers, KWM, Linklaters, Taylor Wessing, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and FFW will be singing to raise money for their respective charities.
