Press – for promoters and programmers

On 7 August, Epiphoni Consort appeared at the BBC Proms alongside the BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra — credited in their own right for the first time. The performance garnered 4- and 5-star reviews from The Times, Guardian and others – with the combined chorus highlighted.

It’s the clearest signal yet of where this choir sits: not amateur, but semi-professional with a reputation built over twelve years, delivering a professional standard at a fraction of professional cost.

Founded by Tim Reader in 2014 with a single mission — to be the best possible non-professional choir — Epiphoni won the Grand Prix at the Tallinn International Choir Festival in 2025 and competes in Tolosa, Spain later this year. “Literally the best choir in London,” was one conductor’s verdict after hearing them in April.

Epiphoni is up there with the best professional choirs like Tenebrae and Sonoro.

What sets Epiphoni apart from other groups at this level:

Staged, theatrical performance has been part of the choir’s identity since its first year — a commissioned play marking the centenary of the 1914 Christmas truce set the template early. Recent work has included a full Requiem performed from memory and staged, a level of ambition rarely attempted outside professional ensembles. Rather than a single fixed conductor, Epiphoni works with guest conductors project by project — Tim Reader stepped back from the principal conductor role at the choir’s ten-year mark specifically to bring in different interpretive approaches — and the choir runs conducting workshops that give emerging conductors a professional-standard ensemble to develop their craft with. Behind the scenes, Epiphoni operates with the infrastructure of a professional outfit: a dedicated brand and website, and a part-time paid manager — unusual for a chamber choir of this size.

The Proms link came through Neil Ferris, Chorus Master of the BBC Symphony Chorus, who has guest-conducted Epiphoni and has followed the choir’s rise for several years.

Background

Epiphoni’s twelve-year record includes wins at Tenebrae’s Locus Iste Competition, and finalist placings at the London International A Cappella Choir Competition (2015) and Derry International Choir Festival (2023). Three recordings for Delphian Records have drawn praise from Gramophone, Choir & Organ, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Music Magazine. On screen, the choir performed excerpts of the All-Night Vigil for BBC4’s “The Joy of Rachmaninov” and Tallis’s 40-part Spem in alium for BBC2’s “Terry Pratchett: Back in Black.”

The skillful semi-professional singers of Epiphoni give first-rate performances … bright, clean sound and robust, precise delivery

Large-scale works have been in the choir’s blood since its first collaboration with Kensington Symphony Orchestra performing Mahler 2 (the ‘Resurrection’ Symphony) at the Barbican in 2016. Recent performance include a staged and memorised performance of Fauré’s Requiem for the choir’s 10th anniversary, Duruflé’s Requiem, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius.

I rate my audience experiences based on whether it makes me want to be up there making music with the performers. I give you an emphatic yes

Tim Reader founded and conducted Epiphoni from 2014 to 2024, including its three Delphian recordings, two BBC television appearances, and international competition wins, before stepping back to focus on guest-conducting and the choir’s wider development. He remains a member of the professional church choir, and deputy conductor, at St John’s Wood Church.

Repertoire

• John Adams, Harmonium (June 2026)
• Fauré, Requiem (April 2026, August 2025, Nov 2024)
• Elgar, The Dream of Gerontius (May 2023)
• Walton, Belshazzar’s Feast (May 2022)
• Duruflé, Requiem (Nov 2021)
• Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé (Jan 2019)
• Mahler, Second Symphony
• Handel, Dixit Dominus
• Mozart, Requiem
• Vaughan Williams, Serenade to Music
• Tallis, Spem in alium
• Rachmaninov, All-Night Vigil (Vespers)
• Rossini, Stabat Mater

Future plans and capabilities

• 57th Tolosa Choral Competition, Chamber Choir category (October 2026)
• Tallis, Spem in Alium, Smith Square Hall (March 2027)
• Gloucester Cathedral and St David’s Cathedral residencies (2027)
• Joby Talbot, Path of Miracles (2028, tbc)
• Charity collaborations with Streetwise Opera and Home-Start

Recordings

Please find full information on our CD and digital recordings here.

Tallinn Choir Competition

In April 2025, twenty-four choirs converged on Tallinn for one of European choral music’s more punishing competitions: category rounds first, then a same-day Grand Prix final for whichever ensemble topped each group. Epiphoni Consort — a London choir made up entirely of people with full-time jobs elsewhere, in law, teaching, and freelance work of various kinds — won their category. Then, a few hours later, having only just learned they’d secured a place in the final round, they won the whole thing. 

Media Vita by Kerensa Briggs from the Grand Prix radio broadcast:

Epiphoni’s members aren’t professional singers, but the choir operates with a professional’s discipline: eight pieces memorised inside out, music inhabited in readiness for competition. 

Those we’d left behind at home were equally bought into our success and recognised – in a way much more than we did ourselves – what an achievement it was to win

(Rose Dixon, Epiphoni Consort)

The choir had competed once before, in Derry, where they finished agonisingly close — half a point off first place. Rather than treat that as a near-miss to shrug off, they took it as reason to try again, somewhere harder. Tallinn had been on the radar for years: a colleague of music director Tim Reader’s had conducted the last UK choir to win it, back in 2003, and Estonia’s reputation as a “land of song” — a competition field dominated by Eastern European and Baltic choirs with a vocal tradition audibly different from the UK’s — made it the obvious next test.

The programme reflected Epiphoni’s characteristic ambition. Alongside Rheinberger’s Gloria, from his Mass for double choir, and Kristopher Fulton’s Prometheus — fast, rhythmically driven, built for a competition room — the choir sang Tippett’s “Dance, Clarion Air” and Sean Doherty’s Stars, a hushed, close-harmonied piece originally learned for Derry. 

Epiphoni Consort member and competition participant Rose Dixon reflects on the impact the Tallinn competition had on her personally: 

Competing with Epiphoni in Tallinn was the type of experience I thought I would never have as a “proper grown up”. As a student, I sang a lot, went on choir tours, and was part of various competitions, but this was all in the context of having plenty of time and – beyond my degree – few significant commitments. Whereas now – with a demanding full-time job and an energetic nine-year-old to look after – being able to go away even just for a few days is a juggle of holiday requests, putting together a jigsaw of babysitters, and finishing off the last-minute report I hadn’t written on the plane on the way over. 

However, the experience of being away with the choir, working towards an ambitious shared goal, being 100% focused on the music, and competing in an international competition was even more special. I was totally thrilled when we won the competition

Those we’d left behind at home were equally bought into our success and recognised – in a way much more than we did ourselves – what an achievement it was to win. My boss – herself a huge supporter of music and the arts – completely caught me off guard by congratulating me on the results during an all-staff call, and then a month later sharing our success in her report to our board of trustees! It was great to feel so supported by everyone at home.

Reviews of Epiphoni’s Proms debut

Guardian – “The BBC Symphony Chorus, bolstered by London’s semi-professional Epiphoni Consort, went with [conductor Nil Venditti] cheek by jowl in a robust and disciplined performance, their crisp consonants landing with pinpoint precision.”

The Times – “…pleasingly avuncular in dialogue with the amassed forces of the BBC Symphony Chorus and Epiphoni Consort whose elegant articulation and conspiratorial tones I especially admired.”

BachTrack – “…the evening belonged to the BBC Symphony Chorus and Epiphoni Consort who, together, created an unforgettable impression that will be treasured long after the event. “

Other Reviews

Gramophone — Malcolm Riley: “A sparkling recording … brimful with a wide variety of mood and texture … a superb job.”

The Arts Desk (The Christmas Truce, 2018) — “Epiphoni is up there with the best professional choirs such as Tenebrae and Sonoro.” 

Also: “the upper voices are very good, the lower ones sensational,” and the performance “rightly earned a standing ovation.”

AllMusic — James Manheim: “There is a real X factor here that makes this one of the most satisfying choral releases of 2022.”

The Arts Desk (Precious Things) — “The Epiphoni Consort occupy a rung near the top of the choral ladder, and are well directed by Tim Reader.”

Choir & Organ — Clare Stevens, four stars: “The skillful semi-professional singers of Epiphoni give first-rate performances … bright, clean sound and robust, precise delivery.” Also on the Owain Park recording: “Park’s skill in writing for voices is admirably demonstrated by the excellent Epiphoni Consort.”

Planet Hugill — “Near ideal … terrific attention to the words. Not only is there clarity of diction, but the words actually mean something.”

The Scotsman — “Engagingly sung … simple and sublime … from quiet luxuriance to seductive exuberance.”

Contacts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epiphoni/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Epiphoni/

Email: liz@epiphoni.org.uk