The Really Big Chorus benefits from the expertise of a dedicated team of experienced and enthusiastic people—working mostly in their spare time—who share a passion for choral singing: together we comprise one soprano, two altos, one tenor and two basses! The initial impetus was provided by ‘four mad scientists’ from Imperial College who agreed to share the cost of mounting Messiah from Scratch at the Royal Albert Hall. These four called themselves The Tuesday Partnership, and one of their number was Don Monro who, after the Partnership’s demise, dealt single-handed with all aspects of the operation from booking the hall to playing in the orchestra. He was soon able to pass the bookings, distribution of tickets and liaison with singers to his wife Ann Monro, and together they ran TRBC from a small office in their home.
With the mailing list growing ever longer, and extra events creeping into the calendar, it was time to enlist more help, and by the time of Messiah from Scratch in 2003 there were two more people in the team: Trevor Ford and Tony Hastings. To maintain the ‘family business’ model, Trevor and Tony were subsequently joined by their own spouses: Marianne Barton now runs most of the administrative side of TRBC, and Annie Hastings has taken over from Ann Monro all the ticketing and liaison with members. The ‘small home office’ still accurately describes our mode of working, but there are now three of them instead of one!
Click here for a more detailed history of The Really Big Chorus.
