Tree’s company for environmental choir

Choral music is getting a little bit greener with the launch of a new London choir. Conductor and countertenor Jonathan Darbourne (above, sort of) has founded Nature’s Voice, an ensemble whose purpose – aside from making lovely sounds – will be to raise awareness of environmental issues. The choir will be giving its first performance at Temple Church in the City of London on 3 Oct, with repertoire ranging from Dowland’s O Sweet Woods and Butterworth’s The trees they grow so high to the Beach Boys’ A day in the life of a tree. Pleasingly, one of the sopranos is also called Amy Wood. See Opinion, p27