Founded in 2009 by conductor Joy Hill, Vigala Singers are a self-funded choir of young adults from the alumni of the Royal College of Music Junior Department who wish to bring people together through the power of great choral music. The name of the choir stems from the special relationship held between the Royal College of Music Junior Department Chamber Choir and Estonia, since performing at the Estonian Choral Directors’ Seminar in Vigala, and also with the Estonian TV Girls’ Choir in a joint premiere by Urmas Sisask to mark the Republic of Estonia’s 90th Anniversary at St. Paul’s Knightsbridge (2008) supported by the Estonian Embassy.
Vigala Singers have toured to Sweden and the Baltic States performing with St Jacob’s Youth Choir in Stockholm and with André Thomas at the Estonian Choral Directors’ Summer Academy. They have also enjoyed much success performing in New York and Washington and celebrate opportunities for collaborative cross-cultural artistic performances such as their concert with Estonian saxophone quartet SaxEst in London.
They commissioned BBC Singers Associate Composer Gabriel Jackson to write a piece for their launch, A ship with unfurled sails, based on a poem by Estonian poet Doris Kareva, which has since been performed by esteemed choirs throughout the world and is the title of a CD released by the State Choir of Latvia.
In London they sang at the Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture Musical Celebration with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth and in April 2016 they were invited to perform at the re-opening of the Basilica Santa Barbara in Mantua Italy. In July 2016 they were artists in residence at the Summer Choral Academy for Choral Conductors at the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Kecskemét.
In 2017 they performed at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly as part of the Holy Week lunch time recital series and then in December at St. Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe alongside the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir from Hungary. In 2019, Vigala Singers performed in the cathedral of Stockholm, Storkyrkan, and also at La Madeleine, Paris.