Choir Of The Earth Founder Mark Strachan Receives British Empire Medal In 2022 New Year Honours

Mark Strachan, Founder of online choral sensation Choir of the Earth, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen's New Year Honours 2022 for charitable services to musicians during Covid-19.

When Covid-19 seized the world in March 2020, choirs found themselves suddenly unable to meet to rehearse or perform together. Dorset resident Mark Strachan, a keen chorister himself, recognised the gap that would be left in the lives of many choir members, and the healing that music might bring at a troubling time, sparking an idea to take choral singing online.

What originally began as a plan to bring local choristers together online soon became a global phenomenon and The Self-Isolation Choir was born.
Inspired by the aptness of its opening words, "Comfort ye", and undaunted by the scale of the challenge, Mark set about organising an ambitious project for the burgeoning choir to learn and record Handel's Messiah in isolation. Messiah At Home went on to attract more than 3,600 global singers and made international headlines.

The choristers who took part found that, as well as the comfort Mark had hoped it would bring them, being part of the Self-Isolation Choir also brought them a much-needed support network, a vibrant online community, and a way to improve their musical skills despite being in lockdown. The Choir's popularity and reputation soared. Since that first performance of Messiah on 31 May 2020, Mark has steered the choir to attract over 8,000 members worldwide and rebranded it, appropriately, as Choir of the Earth.

Under Mark's leadership, the Choir has hosted over seventy courses, raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity, and provided more than a hundred musicians with much-needed professional opportunities at a time when their industry had been decimated. They have performed for Her Majesty the Queen and worked with a litany of huge names from the world of music, including Tenebrae, Nigel Short, Ralph Allwood MBE, and Donald Palumbo of the New York Metropolitan Opera, to name but a few. However, the Choir means more to so many than its impressive achievements, as a group of choristers explain:

"The Choir has become a real family to so many of us. We share music, of course, but we also share our lives and our experiences; our joys and sorrows; our successes and challenges. We have celebrated together and grieved together, and created connections that will last a lifetime. None of this would have been possible without Mark and his commitment, both in planting the seeds of our community and in continuing to nurture it as it grows.

Mark's sign-off in emails to the choir is, "Always there if you need me", and this is not an exaggeration. His hard work gives us a welcome haven from the challenges we face as a community and as individuals, and provides a much-needed and much-appreciated network of support, learning and kinship that enriches our lives.

We are delighted that Mark is receiving this deserved recognition for his vision and commitment in creating and nurturing a unique community that provides camaraderie, education and joy for so many."

This spirit of togetherness and family is becoming as vital as ever, as many countries once again face restrictions due to high levels of Covid-19 and in-person events are cancelled. However, once again Mr Strachan BEM has risen to the challenge, recently announcing an exciting new project beginning on 24 January aimed at bringing the community together through music:

"As we enter 2022, we face yet further disruption. We understand - yet we are frustrated and tired. Tired of uncertainty, tired of restrictions and just tired of it all. So let us come together once again to sing for better times ahead.

As the new variant rages across the world, join Choir of the Earth - again or for the first time - as we learn and perform Mozart's most beautiful, positive and exciting choral work, the Great Mass in C Minor. This astonishing work has achieved cult status for its monumental music and for its sublime melodies - Pope Francis himself proclaimed that this work "lifts one to God". Written by Mozart for his new wife, Constanze, in 1782 when he was at his happiest, it is a piece born of true love and devotion.

This is a project for everyone - we hope you will join us and bring your families and friends along to try our way of learning and performing great music."

The Mozart Mass in C Minor course will be led by Choir of the Earth's charismatic and talented Musical Director, Ben England, who was himself awarded a British Empire Medal for his online choral work in October 2020, and who was recently shortlisted for the 2022 Music and Drama Education Awards' Francesca Hanley Inspiration Award.

This wonderful course will bring joy and community to a world that needs just that. Further information is available on Choir of the Earth's website at: https://choiroftheearth.com/mozart-great-mass-in-c-minor

To post a comment, you must register and login.