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About Us

The Ensemble of Friends is an A Cappella chamber choir based in Potton, Bedfordshire, where we rehearse once a fortnight on a Sunday evening.

Our extensive and eclectic repertoire ranges from Beethoven to Rogers and Hammerstein, and all our songs are arranged by our director Douglas Coombes MBE.

We are available for hire, for all types of events, generally around the Beds, Cambs, Herts area, but not exclusively.

Applications for membership are always welcome.

 

How it all began.

Formed in September 2011 when a quartet, (Double Take), from Shannon Express, a well-known Bedfordshire Male Barbershop chorus approached our director Douglas Coombes and asked him if he had the time to start a chamber choir to sing a wide variety of music. The result was The Ensemble of Friends made up mainly, but not exclusively, of members of two choirs from Bedfordshire – Shannon Express and The Amici Singers, a women’s choir conducted by Douglas.

Southwark cathedral

Southwark Cathederal December 2018

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Bristol Cathedral 2023

Since its inception The Ensemble has grown from the original twelve to thirty singers. The eclectic repertoire has grown enormously too, to way over 100 arrangements, thus providing a very varied program for any concert or occasion.

 

During the relatively short time of its existence, the Ensemble has performed in a variety of prestigious locations including a performance at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel, London and carol concerts for Barnardo’s in Westminster and Southwark Cathedrals, many local fundraising events, as well as a number of concerts in schools as part of the Ensemble’s outreach policy.

Although the majority of our performances are within the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire area, we do stray further afield. In fact in October 2018, we were invited to Germany to perform concerts in and around the town of Quedlinburg. You can hear some samples of us singing in the wonderful St Cyriakus church here. 

Since then we have performed Evensong at Wells and Bristol Cathedrals in 2023 during our West Country Tour and also Carlisle Cathedral in 2024.

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