Welcome to SGC

A Celebration of Mozart, Sat 15th June ’24

We’d love you to join us for our Summer Concert, A Celebration of Mozart, on Sat 15th June 2024 at All Saints Church, East Sheen (while our lovely host venue Christ Church undergoes some essential maintenance). 

Sheen Gate Choir will perform Mozart’s Requiem and a selection of Mozart’s opera choruses with Robert Bridge playing one of Mozart’s piano concertos. More details to follow.


Sheen Gate Choir’s New Music Director:

Sheen Gate Choir are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Musical Director, Ben Thapa. Ben launches straight into his first rehearsal on 10th October at the start of what is going to be a very exciting time for the choir. Why not come and sing with us? All are welcome.

Ben Thapa started his career as one quarter of the classical opera group G4, runners-up on ITV’s The X Factor in 2004. Ben left the group in 2018, and has forged a varied and substantial career across a range of repertory.

As a singer, Ben has performed with the Royal Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Teatru Manoel, Malta, Longborough Festival Opera and Garsington Opera in soloist capacities, and at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Birmingham Symphony Hall and more. 

In the last few years, Ben’s career has increasingly encompassed conducting. He has conducted the Bach Choir, Nederlands Kammerkoor and Ex Cathedra, for whom he premiered (in the UK) the role of the President in Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, an engagement which required both disciplines! 

Ben has a small roster of choirs which he works with on a weekly basis, works as a choral workshop leader, and is passionate about unlocking voices and allowing them to flourish. 

In his spare time, Ben is a national level spirits judge, runs a blog on gin and perfume, and has regularly been spotted as the largest competitor on marathon start lines around Europe. 

www.benthapa.com 


About the choir

Sheen Gate Choir is a non-selective amateur choir based in East Sheen, South West London, UK. Formed in 2009, we rehearse every week in the Sheen area, and try to perform a major work every year, as well as other smaller concerts.

We find that singing is a cathartic experience. It is uplifting, challenging and rewarding, and is a social part of our members’ lives. You do not need to be able to read music or have previous experience in a choir to join us. All you need to do is commit to Tuesday nights during term time (and don’t worry if you cannot commit to every one, you can still be a part of the choir and a part of performances).

We rehearse from 7.45pm to 9.30pm  and then head to one of our local pubs to catch up.

In recent years, major concerts have included Haydn’s Creation, Faure’s Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G, Saint Saens’ Requiem, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Mozart’s Requiem as well as more contemporary works by the likes of Britten, Vaughan Williams, Whitacre, Rutter and Goodall. We have travelled to perform with other choirs in Salzburg and Vienna, and at the Royal Albert Hall.

New members are always welcome. If you would like to join us, please complete the following form and we will get back to you as soon as possible. No audition is required – you can just turn up and have a go!