On July 16, 2021, The Self-Isolation Choir's Founder, Mark Strachan, announced the choir's rebranding as Choir of the Earth (= COTE) - a name intended to reflect its post-pandemic future, global presence and commitment to environmentally-friendly singing. He also announced the choir's first online Festival of Choral Music in early November 2021, featuring teaching and conversations with John Warner, Ralph Allwood, Harry Bradford, Ellie Slorach, Nigel Short, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Ben England, Donald Palumbo, Ashley Riches, Helen Charlston, Patrick Hawes, Marina Mahler, and more.
As well as a wide repertoire of choral singing courses, COTE also offers historical lectures, singing skills courses and 'In Conversation With' interviews with key figures in the choral world through its Around Sound series. In November 2021, journalist, presenter and author John Suchet led a series of Around Sound talks on L.v. Beethoven. In October 2021, guest director Nigel Short led over 2,000 voices in a performance of 40-part choral motet Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis. The Choir produced a video to accompany its performance, which simultaneously shows Nigel Short conducting each of the 40 parts individually. In December 2021, Musical Director Ben England conducted the Choir in a special broadcast of George Frideric Handel's Messiah from the Foundling Museum in London.
In January 2022, COTE's Founder, Mark Strachan, received a British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours List 2022 for his work with COTE and its charitable services to musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. On February 9, 2022, COTE performed Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 under the direction of conductor John Warner and in partnership with the Mahler Foundation and the Orchestra for the Earth. The performance included 1,200 vocal parts, including the children's choir of the Conservatorio Gustav Mahler in Irapuato, Mexico and soloists from Sansara Choir, and is believed to the only performance of this large-scale work to ever be recorded, mixed and performed remotely. COTE partnered with the Royal School of Church Music for its Music Sunday celebrations in both 2021 and 2022, performing the competition-winning anthem God Of All Creation by Chris Totney under the direction of the RSCM's Director Hugh Morris on June 6, 2021, and performing an online Evensong service with the Choral Evensong Trust under the direction of Ralph Allwood on June 12, 2022.
In May 2022, COTE partnered with international conductor Saul Zaks to publicise the story and music of Shchedryk children's choir, the children of which had been displaced by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. With the aim of sharing Shchedryk's music with the world, Saul, Choir of the Earth and a small international team established a recording project where choirs and individuals worldwide could learn and record one of Shchedryk's recently recorded pieces - a lullaby called Ходить зайчик ("The Bunny Walks"). On June 15, 2022, Choir of the Earth premiered the final performance of The Bunny Walks, conducted by Saul Zaks, which featured 2,000 vocal submissions from singers around the world. On June 2, 2022, COTE premiered its performance of God Save The Queen - a new arrangement by Ralph Allwood, featuring a new third verse written for the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II by poet Alexandra Brooke and accompanied by Luke Bond on the organ at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The performance, featuring over 2,500 vocal recordings, was commercially released as a single by Pretty Decent Music on June 3, 2022. As of July 2022, the Choir has run over 80 online courses, with plans for more to come in 2022 and beyond.
In May 2022, COTEh announced its foray into live events via a Messiah 'Come and Sing' Tour, with initial dates and venues across the UK and Ireland, starting in London on October 22, 2022 and ending in Belfast on April 15, 2023. The Choir hopes to take the Messiah Tour to further international locations in 2023-2024. Throughout summer and autumn 2022, Musical Director Ben England led COTE through intense rehearsals of A Mass Of Life by Frederick Delius ahead of a ground-breaking, hybrid live/online performance of the work alongside the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, led by chorus master Håkon Matti Skrede, and conducted by Mark Elder. The live element was recorded at the Norwegian premiere of A Mass Of Life on September 22-23, 2022, with the hybrid performance incorporating the digitally recorded singers to be screened in late 2022. |