Two of London's leading non-professional ensembles bring their considerable musical talents together for a full-scale performance of Brahms' majestic and deeply moving Requiem, with shorter choral works by other German-speaking composers.

The outstanding Civil Service Choir is well known to audiences at St John's Smith Square, most recently performing the ‘Celebrating Will Todd Choral Jazz’ concert as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival 2023.  The Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1965, is consistently praised for its high standards of musicianship and has an enviable record of collaboration with some of the UK’s most talented younger soloists.

They are joined by exciting soprano and producer Betty Makharinsky who has been performing recently with the Consort of Vache Baroque in a series of concerts celebrating the Jewish-Italian composer Salomone Rossi, culminating in a performance at SJSS.  The baritone soloist is Patrick Keefe, joint winner of Glyndebourne’s John Christie Award 2022 and a newly appointed Harewood Artist at English National Opera.

The performance is conducted by young Italian maestro, Claudio Di Meo.