A community choir will perform its annual season finale concert at St. Matthias Church, Stoke Newington, on Saturday evening.
Chorus of Dissent is an amateur choir comprised of 50 members primarily from Stoke Newington. The group is performing to raise money for the ‘Shine the Light on St. Matthias’ campaign, which aims to fund a rewiring of the Grade-1 listed church’s electrics.
The evening’s programme, titled ‘All We Need Is Love’, has been carefully planned by choir director Ruth Whitehead, who says the concert’s theme was chosen “because we’re fed up with how much hate is around”.
Although politics was not on her mind during the planning of the programme, Ruth acknowledges that some of the musical choices, such as European anthem Ode to Joy, have become “more and more appropriate”.
Founded in 2012 as part of local non-profit Dissenters N16, director of development Jackie Ambrosini says the choir “feeds off the history of dissent in the area”. Ironically, the group is based in a church established in opposition to local non-conformist organisations in 1853.
Chorus of Dissent will be joined by youth choir Young Dissenters and accompanied by 40 members of the Elastic Band orchestra. Moreover, pianist Krystal Tunnicliffe will perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Tickets are available online and on the door.
