The only professional choir that is recognised as a National Portfolio Organisation by Arts Council England, Ex Cathedra engages around 90,000 people across the UK every year in a programme of world-class performances and participatory projects.
Singing together is powerful. It stimulates every area of the brain, releases feel-good hormones, reduces stress; it can excite and can calm. It touches our deepest emotions. It transforms individuals into a community, connecting us, regardless of age, ethnicity, faith, gender or any other definition. Singing builds confidence, shared understanding and empathy. It teaches us to listen with care and express ourselves with confidence. Singing together is inspiring.
Ex Cathedra is a charity about singing. We believe that everyone should be able to experience the remarkable physical, mental and emotional health benefits of singing together, and have opportunities to be inspired by extraordinary choral music from the past and present.
We are committed to developing the choral repertoire to engage with the widest possible audience. We do this by innovative and attractive programming, which explores the best, the unfamiliar and the unexpected. We premiere more new music than any other UK choir and make this repertoire accessible to others to perform.
We care about our musicians and the development of their skills, especially singers of the future. Our choral training pathway starts with very young children and moves on to include school children, young people, students, the best amateur and professional singers, and singing leaders.
We believe communal singing is needed now more than ever in an often isolating world, where many social interactions take place online, where people are living longer and lonelier lives with increasing health needs, and where many communities are fragmented and facing great challenges.
Our participation projects bring people together through singing, from whole schools singing in their playgrounds to local communities, work colleagues, parents bonding with their newborn babies, and families coping with dementia and recovery from stroke.
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we are as ambitious as ever to deliver outstanding performances and participatory opportunities. However, over the last 10 years the funding landscape has changed dramatically and we receive £10,000s less each year in public funding.
We need your support so that as many children and adults as possible can experience the joy of world-class choral music and the benefits of singing together as we look ahead to the next 50 years.
Please support us, and inspire singing with us. Thank you.
