About Us
EC4 Music is a choir and orchestra based in the City of London, and named after the postcode where many of us work. We were first established in 1995, and since then we have been putting on classical concerts every year, and raising money for our chosen charities. We are proud of our ability to delight our audiences, and we work hard to convince even the most sceptical new listeners of the passion and power of live classical music.
We know that for many people, it’s hard to combine making music to a high standard with working in London.
Our aim for our members is to make it easier to do just that, in a congenial atmosphere. EC4 at full strength numbers about 250 people from over 100 organisations, many of them based in and around the City.
Since 1995, we’ve performed sell-out annual midsummer concerts in St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, and the choir also puts on at least one Christmas concert. We’ve been privileged since 2003 to perform most years in at least one other major venue – most frequently, the Barbican, and in 2012 and 2014, in the Royal Festival Hall.
Our concerts are always in aid of one of our chosen charities and we’ve raised in total over £200,000 over the last 15 years, including £150,000 for The Prince’s Trust. We are very proud of what we achieve, both musically and charitably. The musical standard reached is very high, and is truly exceptional for a non-auditioned group.
We are always looking for opportunities to work with new partners on future concerts. If you would like to discuss your idea for a concert please get in touch.
Tim Crosley, conductor
Tim studied piano from a young age under Reginald Thompson in Devon, culminating in four concerto appearances playing Mozart, Beethoven and Grieg at the Purcell Rooms in London as a teenager. At Cambridge University, he performed several solo piano recitals and another Beethoven concerto at the West Road concert hall. He also sang as a tenor in various choirs while at University, including Clare College Chapel Choir and the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, which involved tours to India, Russia and the United States as well as much of Europe.
Tim has been heavily involved with EC4 Music since its debut concert in St Bride’s Church in 1995, playing solo piano in past years and taking over as conductor of EC4 Music in 1997. He remains as keen as ever to continue to improve on what the group has achieved so far. Tim's other choral conducting includes the "City Consort of Voices" chamber choir formed as an offshoot of EC4 Music. In March 2010, he conducted Deloitte choir as winners of the "Office Choir of the Year" competition. Tim works as Director of Group Tax Planning and Research with Compass Group plc.
Claire Ashby, leader
Claire Ashby has performed as orchestra leader and chamber musician since she was eight, at venues such as St John’s, Smith Square, the Barbican and Wigmore Halls, and as soloist, including Bach’s Double Violin Concerto at Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall (1984) and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at Charterhouse, Godalming (1987). She studied as a Scholar at the Royal College of Music with Professor Andrievsky and there founded the Sammons Quartet, which she led in recitals in the UK and Europe and took part in the International Quarternion. She led all the Royal College orchestras, and prizes won included the Fred Brough Orchestral Leadership prize and the Hester Lavene Award. Claire has led EC4 Music since 2000, performing Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre at EC4 Music’s Barbican concert in 2009, guest led the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and appeared as lead violinist with Wired Strings who perform and record with rock/pop artists including Mary J Blige, Kanye West, Paul Weller and Rod Stewart. Since 1996, her day job has been in marketing and publicity for organisations including Mind, the BBC Proms and the Royal Albert Hall, and she works as Strategic Engagement Lead at the Social Care Institute for Excellence.