LATEST NEWS
On Saturday 4th June we held our first large scale event, Platinum in the Park, celebrating the Queen's Jubilee.
We performed to a jam-packed Priory Park, as audience members donned colourful outfits, packed their picnics and came our en mass to party with us!
We were joined by the incredible Mighty Brass Jam, as well our awesome Southend Vox Chamber Choir for an afternoon of British Music celebrating 70 years of the Queen's reign.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on the day, and watch this space for more events in the coming months & years!
To read more about the day, click here
December 2021: Let's get festive!
As ever the festive period brought a whole host of performances for Southend Vox. We performed at the 12 Events of Christmas organised by Southend BiD, as well as, St. Mary's Church raising money for the Mayor's chosen charities, The Papillon and finally, outside in the cold (pictured) for BBC Radio 4. To listen to us live on air, you can find the episode here, and we feature around 57 minutes in - enjoy!
What a way to round off 2021!
Nov 21: BBC Breakfast
We were incredibly proud to be asked to perform for a BBC Breakfast special, honouring and remembering the work that Sir David Amess MP did for his constituency.
To sing this piece & remember just some of the wonderful moments we shared with him as our Patron, was incredibly special for us. To view the programme on BBC iPlayer, click here.
You can see us from 15:45 minutes into the show.
Halloween 21: Ghoulish & ghastly!
To add some fright to Halloween, this year we learnt 'I put a spell on you', as featured in the classic Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus.
We added our own unique spin to the arrangement with our homage to the Day of the Dead celebrations and gave it our all in performance.
We hope you enjoy our SPOOK-tacular performance (see what we did there!)
Oct 21: A sad day for Southend
We were incredibly saddened to hear of the death of our Patron, Sir David Amess MP, who was fatally stabbed during his constituency surgery on the 15th October.
BBC Radio 4 asked us to take part in an on air memorial service to Sir David, and here is the full version of The White Cliffs of Dover. You can listen back to the full show here
Sir David was an incredible champion of arts in Southend and to us as a choir and we will miss him enormously.
Rest in Peace Sir David, and thank you for your service.
Jul 21: We're winners!
To celebrate Make Music Day UK 2021, we entered a National competition for the best cover of 'Stand By Me' by Ben. E. King.
Out of hundreds of entries from all across the UK, we were absolutely thrilled to be awarded one of 4 Runner-Up places for our virtual video!
To view our video click here, and to see the winning video and all the runners up, take a look at the Make Music Day Blog...
Jan 21: We're back, and this time we're GLOBAL!
We started the year all with a bang, back on Zoom and learning Virtual Insanity (well it seems apt!).
We also opened our doors to anyone, anywhere to join us for our virtual online rehearsals - we've had people join us from every corner of the UK and as far away as France, Sweden, USA and even Canada!
We will produce some new video content and look forward to sharing that with you soon - keep your eyes peeled!
Dec 20: Our Yearly round-up
2020 was a weird year for everyone, but for choral music it produced a unique set of challenges. Singing across a Zoom call meant we couldn't vocally connect in the way we normally do, however, we were not to be defeated. Here is our round-up of what we've managed to achieve throughout 2020, and we hope you agree, it's pretty amazing!
Here's to 2021; new beginnings, new music, hopefully live performance opportunities and breaking new ground as a choir.
Sep 20: Back to rehearsals - in a new way!
During our summer break from Zoom rehearsals, our committee worked tirelessly on pulling together all of the guidelines and risk assessments to allow to return to in-person rehearsals.
We started back with a handful of members in mid-September and you can read more on this from one of our members, Natalie. Natalie's 'new normal' rehearsal review can be found by clicking the icon to the right.
Jul 20: WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Virtual Awards
Southend Vox were asked to perform two exclusive numbers for the WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Awards, which this year, due to the Coronavirus pandemic were being held virtually for the first time.
The national awards ceremony was live streamed across social media, and Southend Vox were the closing act of the evening.
It was a hugley inspirational evening celebrating the female pipeline at a highly prestigious event, and what a truly great honour it was to be a part of.
You can read more about the awards here. To view our pre-recorded performances, take a look at our YouTube channel.
Jul 20: Fundraising for The Music Man Project
After an extraordinary year of fundraising, today we handed over a cheque for a whopping (and Vox breaking record!) £6,220.95 to The Music Man Project UK
.
Thanks to Voxers Ian, Michelle, Natalie and Jenny who presented the cheque to David Stanley.
We have loved supporting this charity and are so looking forward to performing together again in the future! Thanks for the great work you do MMP we’re proud to know you.
Mar 20: Vox goes virtual
As the UK went into lockdown amid the Coronavirus pandemic, we decided to move our rehearsals virtual, and like most music groups have started to adjust to a 'new' normal.
Whilst we aren't able to hear each other across Zoom, we have been able to learn lots of new pieces virtually and have even recorded a number of new videos and tracks.
It definitely isn't the same as singing together but it's wonderful to still produce music together even in the most challenging of circumstances!
The committee are busy behind-the-scenes preparing for a way we can return to our normal rehearsals as soon as possible, whilst following the UK government guidelines. Stay tuned for more info!
Feb 20: Southend Winter Pride
Southend Vox were so excited to be invited to perform at Winter Pride 2020, at St Marks Hall in Southend. We were welcomed by a riot of colour, rainbows and welcoming smiles. The church was filled with people manning their different types of stalls and visitors wandering around looking and chatting with each other. There was the smell of delicious pizza in the air.
We started our set with Stevie in the 60’s to warm the crowd up. We followed on with Dolly Parton’s classic Jolene, Mirrors by Justin Timberlake and One Night Only from one of our favourite shows Dreamgirls. The audience were dancing and singing in their pews when we sang the mash up of Start Me Up and Livin' on a Prayer. We loved singing for everyone and are really looking forward to singing at Southend’s Summer Pride in July this year.
The icing on the cake was that our photo was in the local press the following week