Rugby League Finals
“biggest gig of our lives” say singers
Caitlin Maskell, Camden New Journal, 2024

A collection of four choirs are to perform at Wembley Stadium at Rugby League’s Challenge Cup Finals, which will for certain be “the biggest gig of our lives”.

More than a hundred singers from the Primrose Hill Choir and Children’s Choir, London Classical Choir and Let the Children Sing will perform on the pitch at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 8th June. The conductor of all four choirs, Matthew Watts, said: “We’ve performed on BBC Radio London and the London Classical Choir has done livestreamed concerts around the world, but this is by far our biggest performance. At first I thought it was a spam email, questioning, is this for real? When I had the definite confirmation I said to the children, ‘Right, you’re going to be performing at a very big venue in London, can you guess what it is?’ And it took them a while before they guessed Wembley – they were astounded. After we had been booked for Wembley I got an email from Twickenham Stadium, who have the Rugby Union Final on the same day, asking if we’d like to perform there. So I had to say sorry, we’d love to, but we’re already booked for Wembley! I‘m sure I will never get to say that again in my life, but I did say we’d love to come next year! It will be a surreal experience performing on the hallowed turf of Wembley. It will be one of those things you’re doing and you don’t quite believe you are there.”

“The fabulous Primrose Hill Choirs embody the community spirit of Camden”
Ex Mayor of Camden, Richard Cotton, 2017

"Our magnificent local choir"
On the Hill magazine, 2018

Pitch perfect: the UK children's choirs finding ways to connect in lockdown
Amelia Hill, Guardian, 2021

Some choirs are managing to maintain the old, pre-pandemic ways. The Primrose Hill Children’s Choir is holding a real life, live concert later in the spring, featuring uplifting favourites including Monty Python’s Always Look On the Bright Side of Life and lockdown-themed songs such as Born Free and Busy Doing Nothing. Though Matthew Watts, musical director, said there would be “Covid-19 precautions as long as your arm.”

Watts believes that nothing can replicate the experience of performing live. “Performing in front of a real audience, largely made up of family and friends, there is a real sense of interaction between the choirs and audience, which cannot be recreated online,” he said. “Has community music making ever felt more precious?” he asked. “As one parent said to me, thank you for providing some joy in our children’s lives in these dark times.”

Singing for Spring
On the Hill magazine, 2017

St Mary's church was the venue for a concert by the Primrose Hill Choirs on Saturday 1st April. All three choirs looked as if they were thoroughly enjoying Musical Director Matthew Watts's eclectic selection of pop, folk and musical-theatre numbers. The audience swayed and hummed with enthusiasm too. We have heard that the social side is not neglected: "I've got to know so many more people locally", one choir member told us during interval drinks.

Gareth Malone of Primrose Hill founds three local choirs
Michael White, Hampstead & Highgate Express, 2015

Matthew Watts likes to call himself "the Gareth Malone of Primrose Hill": and it’s a fair enough label for someone who has set up from scratch three choirs in the neighbourhood – every one of them a success story and doing their bit not only to get ordinary people stretching their vocal muscles but to reinforce a sense of community in that corner of NW1.

They started just three years ago when the former UCS schoolboy and Glasgow music graduate was sitting with his mother in their local restaurant, Lemonia, discussing the lack of singing opportunities within walking distance. “It struck me”, he said, “as a gap in the market. So I spent the next weeks leafleting every house around us, pinning posters to trees, to announce an inaugural meeting at the Primrose Hill Community Centre. 75 people turned up, and the Primrose Hill Choir was in business”.

The Primrose Hill Choir was designed for everyone and anyone, with no auditions. And its open-door policy is charmingly captured in the logo Watts designed for it: a bird, a dog and a few notes of music, indicating that whether you sing like a lark or howl like a hound, you’re welcome. “In fact”, says Watts, “most people can sing better than they think. They turn up saying ‘Oh I’ve got a lousy voice’, and then amaze you with how good they are. They just need confidence and opportunity”.

Out of the ranks of singers in the main choir, Watts then set about creating an auditioned sub-group for more complex repertory: the Primrose Hill Singers. And finally, with parents clamouring for something for their offspring, came the Primrose Hill Children’s Choir. Between them they sing everything from unison pop songs to opera choruses.