Surprising settings

Chesham is home to some of Britain’s most celebrated musicians, who are making music in some surprising places.
Based in and around Chesham, Echor is a ground-breaking professional orchestra created by three friends in the aftermath of the pandemic.

After this troublesome time for the arts, the three saw an exciting opportunity to bring live music back to local audiences in a fresh and innovative way, breaking away from tired, restricted traditions often associated with classical music.

The orchestra brings together locally based musicians who happen to be some of the world’s most celebrated chamber musicians, principals of the major London orchestras, and highly sought-after freelance players who specialise in film and television recordings

Since its inaugural concert in a working barn in Brazier’s End, this orchestra of many talents has performed in a variety of unusual venues where professional classical music is not often heard.

Performances have ranged from free solo Bach performances at The Lee and other local hilltop churches to Mendelssohn’s Octet with cheese & wine at The Full Moon in Hawridge & Cholesbury.

Echor’s Artistic Director, Nicholas Bootiman, also wrote a soundtrack to the silent film Nosferatu (A Symphony of Horror), which premiered at the atmospheric Dundridge Manor, St Leonards for a truly spooky Hallowe’en event.

Echor continues to develop a series of concerts great and small, designed to provide evenings of exhilaration and extraordinary live performances. Amadé, at Chesham’s St Mary’s Church on 2nd November, is next up in their season. With Mozart’s great works at the heart of the evening, the concert adds projected images and theatrical touches to present the composer’s remarkable life and narrative as never seen before.

Check our Events section for Echor concerts in Chesham and villages.

Or visit Echor music website for their events across the Chilterns.