Immanuel's Ground Quire, Warwick

Formed in the Autumn of 2001, members come from the "Heart of England", which, generally speaking, is Oxfordshire, Northants, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. We sing music from the West Gallery period, ie roughly between 1725 and 1850, this including not only the sacred music sung in rural parish churches, so well recorded by Thomas Hardy in "Under the Greenwood Tree", but also secular part-songs

, glees and catches, and the popular music of the period, with especial emphasis on local composers and musicians. This is accompanied by a small number of instruments such as would have been found in any village band of that time. The other part of our repertoire comes from a parallel and living singing tradition in America, and especially New England, that of shapenote or Sacred Harp music, with its exciting and sometimes unexpected harmonies, kept alive since the time of the earliest settlers. We also include some of the new compositions still being written today. We take part in concerts, folk events, church services (usually a form of evening service), carols - concerts, services and pub sessions - and are happy to share the music with local choirs by workshops and other participatory events.