Biography

The Academy of Ancient Music Chorus appears and records not only with its parent historical-performance ensemble but also independently. It is especially visible in large public performances by the Academy of Handel's choral music. The Academy of Ancient Music is a contemporary historical-performance ensemble, founded in 1973 with the intent of playing music of the 18th and early 19th centuries on period instruments. Its roots date back to 1726, when an Academy of Vocal Music, soon renamed the Academy of Ancient Music, was formed to study and perform older music. It soon attracted such prestigious members as composer William Croft, the violinist-composer Francesco Geminiani, and the castrato singer Senesino. Handel was not a member, but his music, then as now, was often performed by the group. The Academy of Ancient Music was reestablished in 1973 by composer/keyboardist Christopher Hogwood, and it soon found numerous performance and recording opportunities amid the authentic performance movement of the day. From the beginning, the group has performed a great deal of choral music, either collaborating with British collegiate choirs or featuring its own Academy of Ancient Music Chorus, which has also been known as the Choir of the AAM or Academy of Ancient Music Choir. Membership has been constituted through periodic open auditions and has grown more fixed. By 2010, it included some 40 members: this was a large figure in a historical performance context, but in keeping with the Handel oratorios and other large public works for which the chorus was often employed; these included, in 2020, a performance of Handel's Messiah, HWV 56, at London's Barbican venue. That performance was conducted by keyboardist and AAM director Richard Egarr. Generally, the chorus has not had its own directors but has worked under the directors of the larger AAM itself: prior to Egarr, these included Andrew Manze and Paul Goodwin, as well as Hogwood. The Academy of Ancient Music Chorus has made several recordings with the AAM and has also performed solo in Renaissance music, as on a 2012 recording of works by Orlando Gibbons. With the establishment of the AAM label in 2019, the chorus began a new recording program, appearing that year on a recording of Handel's Brockes Passion, HWV 48. The following year, the choir returned with a recording of Jan Ladislav Dussek's little-known Messe Solemnelle.