ABOUT
The Choir
West London Chamber Choir (formerly Music Makers of London) is based in South West London. We are a mixed voice choir with particular emphasis on a cappella music. Our repertoire embraces seven centuries, from Byrd to Britten, Tallis to Tippett, Ramsay to Rutter. Founded in 1989, the choir has grown and evolved, and now has about 30 members, under our Musical Director, Hilary Campbell.
As a small chamber choir we perform four concerts a year and aim to have between 25 and 30 singers in each performance.
In recent years, the Music Makers have been invited to work with trainee conductors from the Royal Academy of Music. The choir has also
sponsored a young choral scholar and appeared in music festivals in London and across the country. We also encourage new music-making by contemporary composers, and have sponsored three composition competitions.
We are always keen to hear from able singers who are interested in joining our choir. If you are interested in singing with us, please visit for details.
We rehearse on Thursday evenings at St Michael & All Angels Church in Barnes from 7.45pm to 9.55pm.
Musical Director: Hilary Campbell
Hilary Campbell is a freelance choral specialist. As well as being Musical Director of West London Chamber Choir, she is also founder and director of professional chamber choir Blossom Street, and MD of Bristol Choral Society and Chiswick. She is also conductor of several office choirs, including P&O Ferries, the group which won the recent BBC2 series The Choir, and whom she met whilst filming for the series. Her guest work includes ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Chorus (whom she prepared for a Prom featuring Mozart’s Mass in C Minor) and BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service Singers. She also runs an annual project with Judith Weir at the Royal Academy of Music, in conjunction with Blossom Street and the RAM composition department. In 2017, she looks forward to chorus mastering the combined forces of the Royal Academy of Music singing department in a performance of Mahler Symphony No. 2 at Royal Festival Hall conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
Hilary gained a Distinction for an MMus in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Patrick Russill, where as part of her course she worked with professional choirs including the BBC Singers and Cardinall’s Musick; she was also awarded the three choral conducting prizes. She gained a Distinction for an MA in Vocal Studies at the University of York, and undertook an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in singing at Trinity College of Music. Following her studies, she returned to the Royal Academy as the Meaker Fellow 2012-13, the first choral conductor to have been thus honoured. In addition to her regular conducting work, Hilary also acts as an adjudicator, choral workshop leader and guest conductor. She is a founder member of the Voices of London Festival, and is also a published and prize-winning composer. With Blossom Street, she has released two award-winning Naxos recordings.
Accompanist: Liam Dunachie
Liam Dunachie is a pianist, composer and arranger based in London.
Originally from Shropshire, he began his musical training as a treble chorister in Hereford Cathedral Choir and later studied music at Trinity College, Cambridge where he was a choral scholar in its world renowned choir under Stephen Layton. At Cambridge he studied composition with Robin Holloway and Richard Marlow and co-directed the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra with which he toured Budapest, Rome and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
After graduating from Cambridge, Liam won a scholarship to study jazz piano and arranging at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he studied with Malcolm Edmonstone, Nikki Iles and Scott Stroman among others. He has performed with the London Jazz Orchestra at the Vortex Jazz Club and appeared with many different groups and artists at prestigious venues in London including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, The Savoy Hotel, The Arts Club and The Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room.
As an accompanist and session pianist he has worked for a wide variety of organisations, including BBC2’s “The Choir” with Gareth Malone, Opera Up Close, and has worked in several of London’s premier recording studios including Air, Angel and The Pool.
As a composer and arranger he has also produced arrangements in recent months for the City of London Sinfonia and had his work performed by Trinity College Choir on a recent tour across the USA and Canada. He has also worked as a Musical Director for National Youth Music Theatre.
Past Concerts
9 December 2019
Christmas concert: A Christmas Rose together with Archdeacon Cambridge's Church of England Primary School Junior Choir
St Michael & All Angels Church, Barnes
19 October 2019
Sun, Moon and Stars
St John's Church, Tisbury, Salisbury SP3 6NH
5 July 2019
St John’s Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA
Orff Carmina Burana | Chilcott Songs and Cries of London Town
In conjunction with the Chiswick Choir and New Forest Children's Choir
16 March 2019
Spring concert: Beyond the Stars. Jointly performed with the Kew Gardens workplace choir.
St John the Divine, Kew Road, Richmond
8 December 2018
Christmas concert: Carols from around the world together with Archdeacon Cambridge's Church of England Primary School Junior Choir
St Michael & All Angels Church, Barnes
13 October 2018
Fauré Requiem and Cantique de Jean Racine
St Mary's Church, Barnes
8 July
Summer concert: Eyes
St Mary with St Alban's church, Teddington
17 March 2018
Spring concert: If Music be the Food of Love. Jointly performed with the Kew Gardens workplace choir.
St Anne's Church, Kew Green
9 December 2017
Christmas Concert: When Icicles Hang
St Michael & All Angels Church, Barnes
16 July 2017
Eucharist at Old Royal Naval College Chapel
1 July 2017
Shearing Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare, Dove The Passing of the Year, Chilcott Songs and Cries of London Town
Voices of London Festival Concert
St Sepulchre's Church, Holborn
18 March 2017
Spring concert including music from Vaughan Williams, Whitacre, Elgar and Saint-Saens. Jointly performed with the newly formed Kew Gardens workplace choir.
St Anne's Church, Kew Green
10 December 2016
Composition Competition Final + Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols accompanied by royal harpist Ann Denholm.
St Michael & All Angels Church, Barnes
7 November 2016
‘Bewitched!’
Fulham Palace
Including works from Purcell’s Fairy Queen, and Shakespeare songs by Vaughan Williams and Jakko Mantyjarvi
9 July 2016
Vaughan Williams: Sancta Civitas
Voices of London Festival
St James’s Church, Paddington
19 March 2016
Vaughan Williams: Sancta Civitas
With Chiswick Choral Society
St Peter’s Church, Chiswick
11 March 2016
Barnes Festival
Shakespeare Songs by Vaughan-Williams and Mantyjarvi
St Mary’s Church, Barnes
5 December 2015
Christmas Concert
St Michael & All Angels Church, Barnes
9 October 2015
‘Feel the Spirit’
An American flavoured programme from Whitacre’s Water Night to the exciting spiritual arrangements of Richard Allain and John Rutter.
Normansfield Theatre, Teddington
27 June 2015
‘Festival Finale’ - Voices of London Festival
St James's Paddington
Cornish Requiem - Brown
Gloria - Rutter
with brass, organ and other choirs
15 March 2015
‘Portrait of Freedom’
St Mary's Church, Barnes
Part of the Barnes Festival 2015
Howells' Reqiuem and other works by Howells and Vaughan Williams at St. Mary's Church in Barnes, just round the corner from where Howells lived.