Light Out Of Darkness
Callum Knox (organ), William Vann (director), Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
Release date: 16th January 2026
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William Vann
Conductor | Pianist
Discography
In Search of Youkali: Songs of Kurt Weill
Katie Bray, William Vann (piano), Murray Grainger, Marianne Schofield (double bass)
Release date: 9th January 2026
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Mantegna
Dulwich Choral Society, London Mozart Players, William Vann, James Orford
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The album is a complex mixture of works, built around hymn tunes by Vaughan Williams, but involving ten composers and arrangers. The album explores arrangements of his many hymn tunes; some of the hymns are also sung as they were written, so that the tunes can become familiar.
Habanera: Music For Eight Cellos and Voice
Ana Beard Fernández (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone), Iain Hall (recorder), The Endellion Cellists, William Vann
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Multi-part music for the same instrument, dating back to Elizabethan consorts of viols, remains outside the typical orchestral repertoire nowadays, but as ever, SOMM remains true to its stellar reputation for presenting rare and singular releases.
A Christmas Fantasia
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Jamie Andrews (organ), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone), William Vann
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A Christmas Fantasia is a collection of carols and fantasias written (mainly) by Ralph Vaughan Williams and his friends and former students. The exception is a new carol composed by the album’s director, William Vann, setting a poem by Ivor Gurney.
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Carols From Herefordshire
William Vann, Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Derek Welton, Iain Burnside
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In 1920 Mrs Ella Mary Leather and Ralph Vaughan Williams jointly published “Twelve Traditional Carols from Herefordshire”.
Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Selection of Christmas Carols
Angus McPhee, Hugh Rowlands, Timothy Murphy, Derek Welton (bass-baritone), Iain Burnside (piano), Joshua Ryan, Eloise Irving, Katy Hill, Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann
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“A Selection of Christmas Carols” by Ralph Vaughan Williams is an album that features his arrangements of traditional carols, highlighting his interest in folk music and its role in Christmas traditions. The album, released in December 2023, includes a 15-song collection and falls into the classical and holiday genres. Key carols featured include “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” and “The Truth Sent from Above”.
Prometheus Unbound
Sarah Fox (soprano), Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), David Butt Philip (tenor), Neal Davies (baritone), Crouch End Festival Chorus, London Mozart Players, William Vann
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Hubert Parry (1848 – 1918), regarded by many (including Edward Elgar) as the finest English composer since Purcell, and as the father of the modern English tradition, is best known for his hymn Jerusalem (immortalised by the Women’s Institute and English cricket supporters alike!).
Portraits of a Mind
Alessandro Fisher (tenor), Navarra Quartet, William Vann (piano)
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2022 marked Vaughan Williams’s 150th birthday, for which The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society commissioned a new work from Ian Venables, one of Britain’s most distinguished composers and a master of song composition.
I Vow To Thee, My Country
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Joshua Ryan, Richard Horne, William Vann
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SOMM RECORDINGS announces the release of I Vow to Thee, My Country, believed to be the first recording to feature all of Gustav Holst’s sacred choral music, by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea directed by William Vann, with organist Joshua Ryan and Richard Horne on tubular and bass bells.
© 2025 William Vann