COMMUNITAS CHOIR
WHAT IS COMMUNITAS?
Communitas Choir was founded in 2009, with just four participants! Since then it has grown and thrived, regularly averaging forty members. These include Converge students, as well as Music, Occupational Therapy, and other YSJ undergraduates.
We have performed in venues across Yorkshire, including an annual visit to York Minster at Christmas time.
For our ten year anniversary in 2019 we made a CD, ‘Freedom Is Coming’. This year (2020) we took members of the choir down to London to record in Abbey Road Studios!
The choir meets on Tuesday evenings in term-time. Our focus is on singing naturally, for health and well-being. You don’t need to be a trained singer or to think of yourself as musical to take part. Songs are taught by ear so there is no need to be able to read music, and there are no auditions, you just need to be willing to use your voice and join in! We sing a wide range of music, including popular, folk and world songs.
Communitas is led by Chris Bartram and Assistant Director Esther Clare. Each year we also have one or more music students working with us as Co-Leader.
Hear From Our Members?
The best way to understand what the Communitas Choir is like is to hear about it directly from the choir’s members. This video features the views of a number of our members as well as footage of the Choirs activities, including us performing live in York Minster.
MEET THE CHOIR
Chris Bartram (Founder and Choir Director)
Chris Bartram is an experienced musician who has worked on numerous community arts projects in the UK, including for the National Centre for Early Music, Youth Music, Opera North, Manchester Camerata, Accessible Arts & Media, Sing Up, and many more. From 2000-2017 he was Senior Lecturer in Music at York St John University. He specialises in leading singing for health and wellbeing. He has been the leader of Converge’s ‘Communitas’ since its foundation in 2009. He runs the highly successful ‘A Cuppa & A Chorus’ sessions for the National Centre for Early Music as well as directing the local choir ‘Soon Amore’.
Chris is also a professional performer and songwriter. He sings, and plays trumpet, guitar, recorders, keyboards and percussion as a proud member of the alt-folk trio White Sail.
Esther Clare (Assistant Choir Director )
Esther Clare is an accomplished musician and has been a professional singer songwriter for 20 years. After working as a television producer, she dusted off her clarinet and followed her dream of playing music, gaining an Advanced Diploma in Popular Music. Since then she has recorded several albums and her songs have been played on BBC introducing.
Esther loves co-leading Communitas Choir with Chris Bartram and YSJ music students, and is very proud to be part of such a lively and supportive choir. Esther is the songwriting tutor for Converge and Emerging Voices. She has brought her students’ and her own original songs to Communitas Choir, and produced a series of five Converge Songwriter CDs. Earlier this year, Esther co-wrote a song that the choir recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Esther is glad to be continuing choir online every week during lockdown, as part of Zoomitas. Her dog has even been able to join in!