Album Notes

The Plaxtol Scholars

The Plaxtol Scholars celebrated their tenth anniversary in 2006 with a special birthday visit in the September of that year to Chichester Cathedral, the very first church to offer the choir the opportunity to sing the services. Since that day the choir has sung the length and breadth of the country. With nearly 25 cathedral and abbey churches under their belt, including St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Durham Cathedral and York Minster, the Plaxtol Scholars are well versed in the rituals of sung worship in the Church of England. 2008 saw the choir visit Norwich, Winchester and Ely Cathedrals, and in 2009 they sing in Hereford Cathedral for the first time. The choir also gives a number of concerts each year, either a cappella or with their sister ensemble, the Plaxtol Chamber Players. Their most recent was the opening of the 2008 Plaxtol Music Festival in which they performed Haydn's Little Organ Mass and the Bach Magnificat. The Choir made its first anthems recording in 2007 and this CD is their first for UHRecordings.

The choir members come from London, Bromley, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Ashford areas of Kent, and also from Surrey and Sussex. The main pre-requisite for joining is that the singers have little or no vibrato, and that they are encouraged to bring out their musicianship.

Their director, Marius Carboni, was the first music graduate from Huddersfield Polytechnic to major in conducting. He has much experience in the choral field having conducted and sung in a number of choirs. He left EMI Classics as their Head of Press 12 years ago to set up Carboni Classical Media, a Classical music marketing and public relations consultancy, which he continues to run today. The range of music projects is wide and includes music festivals both in the UK and abroad, works receiving their premiere, orchestral concerts as well as website design, and general marketing campaigns. He returned to study a few years ago, and gained an MA at King's College, London, and now lectures part-time on the Music Business at the University of Hertfordshire to final year undergraduate and Masters students, Marius Carboni is also researching a PhD into the provision and accessibility of Classical music in the UK over the last 20 years.