A professional chamber choir looking to bring a continental sound to the UK choral music scene has its roots firmly based in Wimbledon.

Sonoro, a 16 member ensemble, was created in just six months by Wimbledon Choral Society director of music Neil Ferris and director of music of St John the Baptist, Wimbledon for the past 10 years, Michael Higgins.

Mr Higgins, 35, is also the accompanist for the Wimbledon Choral Society, and the pair have worked together for seven years.

Having met in 2007 in Birmingham through the city’s Bach Choir, Mr Ferris and Mr Higgins were brought together in Wimbledon two years later and have struck up a strong professional relationship which has seen the amateur group become a regular feature at the annual Royal Albert Hall Remembrance Day service, as well as perform at some of the top music venues around London and Surrey.

Wimbledon Times:

Neil Ferris, left, and Michael Higgins, right, have known each other for nine years

Mr Ferris, who lives with his family in Isleworth, said: “I was approached and asked if I might be interested in taking on the position at Wimbledon and haven’t looked back. What is great about being part of a choir like this is you become part of the community – we are connected to the annual music festival, and the current campaign to have a music hall built in the area – you feel very much part of the community.”

Having decided to create Sonoro last summer, the pair carefully selected its members and held its first performance in St Martin in the Fields, off Trafalgar Square last month.

Wimbledon Times:

Sonoro in St Martin in the Fields 

They are now preparing for an evening dedicated to the French Romantics on Friday, April 1, at St James’s, Piccadilly, featuring Mr Higgins’ new string quintet and organ arrangement of Faure’s ‘Requiem’.

Mr Ferris explained the reason for forming the new group.

The 39-year-old said: “There are lots of chamber choirs so you may ask why we thought to add another, but this will be different.

“We have chosen the singers very carefully for their type of voice. A lot of choirs in this country, who I love and adore, but they have a very similar sound, a kind of cathedral choir tradition. In particular there seems to be this trend of encouraging the female voices to sound more like boys, which isn’t natural for them.

"With Sonoro we are encouraging our singers to focus on a natural resonance, but not operatic, just greater engagement with the text. It is more alongside the European model, offering something different. All our singers are on-board with the idea and hugely excited.”

Following next month’s performance the ensemble will perform Rachmaninov’s Vespers in Sacred Heart, Wimbledon, in September and hope to be included in the Wimbledon Music Festival’s programme of concerts either this year or next.

French Romantics, St James’s, Piccadilly, April 1, 7.30pm, £14.40 - £28. For more details and additional concert information visit sonoromusic.com.