The Vigo Singers
Based in Vigo, Kent, and originally named the Vigo Ladies Choir, the Vigo Singers are a female choir with about thirty five voices. Over the years the choir has increased both their numbers and their repertoire and have have performed at a variety of local venues. Their repertoire includes classical, spiritual, show songs, and material from modern composers.
Current information on the choir and detail of current and future events is available on their website at
http://www.vigosingers.org.uk
The Society would like to thank Judy Yallop and Sue Callow of the Vigo Singers for their contribution to this content.
Vigo Ladies Choir was founded in 1995 at Vigo Village School as an adult evening group, associated with the Kent Music School under the direction of Elizabeth Clark. In September 2005, the group became an independent choir renamed the Vigo Singers. Elizabeth Clark, and was the choir’s musical director until 2009. Elizabeth attended the Royal Academy of Music for four years where she studied singing. She has performed as a soloist in many operas, operettas, oratorios, and recitals.
Elizabeth retired from Kent Music School after seventeen years, where she taught singing and was a vocal coach to the Kent Junior Singers, Junior Choir, and the Kent Girls Choir. She co-conducted the Junior Singers and, over the past few years, the Kent Girls Choir.
From the beginning, the choir has performed a broad repertoire of music, including classical pieces, spiritual and folk songs, music from shows, and compositions from all over the world. In 2009, Elizabeth Clark handed over the baton to the current Musical Director, Ciara Considine.
Ciara Considine grew up in Maidstone within a musical family and gained a prestigious County Scholarship to study the flute and piano at the Kent Music Academy. Whilst a pupil at the Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, she was a member of the Kent Youth Choir and toured Brazil and Argentina with the Kent County Youth Orchestra.
She was a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, touring the US, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. She subsequently went to Manchester in 1993 to train as a concert pianist at the Royal Northern College of Music. After gaining her Bachelor’s Degree in Music, she went on to gain both a Masters Degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance (Piano). Ciara has also worked with Gareth Malone on the BBC2 series ‘Sing While You Work’.
During more recent years the choir’s musical repertoire has widened to include contemporary choral compositions and popular music. The choir welcomes new members, without auditions, whenever vacancies arise.
Whilst choir members are encouraged to develop their musical knowledge and improve their technical skills, the group principally sing for pleasure, presenting three concerts each year in local churches. In recent years, the choir has toured Ireland and France, enjoying new places and sharing concerts with other choirs.
To quote one of their current members: “We are a happy and supportive group, bound together by music and friendship”.
The following recording is of the Vigo Singers performing ‘The Lily and the Rose’ by Bob Chilcott. The recording was made at the Easter Concert in the Church of St. James the Great in East Malling, Kent, on the 25th March 2017.