On 22 June 1984 the now internationally acclaimed Crouch End Festival Chorus rehearsed for the first time in Middle Lane Methodist Church.

CEFC founders John Gregson and David Temple persuaded eighty local singers to turn up – a mix of people, from music graduates to those who had never sung in a choir before.

Three months later those singers plus forty more from London Philharmonic Choir performed Verdi’s Requiem in Hornsey Town Hall, thus beginning the journey this wonderful choir has taken under the baton of David Temple.

To celebrate its 30^th birthday, CEFC is staging one of the greatest and most dramatic works in the choral repertoire. In the spirit of the first performance in 1984, the choir will be joined at Alexandra Palace by singers from the local community as well as four top soloists and the Forest Philharmonic Orchestra.