The Collective, London’s maverick choir of actors, songwriters, musical directors, composers and singers, will celebrate ten years of adventurous ensemble singing with a special concert at St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway, on Saturday 8 August 2026. The performance begins at 8:00pm, with doors opening at 7:30pm.

The Galway concert returns the choir to a friendship and creative partnership that reaches back to its earliest days. The Collective began in January 2016 as an occasional choir for people working in and around theatre and music. Its first public performances took place that August in two collaborative concerts with PopUp Choir of Minneapolis, co-founded by choral conductor Heather Nelson. PopUp Choir’s flexible, welcoming and artist-
led model was among the influences that encouraged Joe Bunker to establish The Collective.

A decade later, Bunker and Nelson remain close friends and colleagues. To mark the anniversary, they are reuniting in Nelson’s adopted home of Galway, where she will become Artistic Director of Cois Cladaigh this autumn. Together with musicians from within The Collective, they will share leadership of a programme that reflects the choir’s artist-led approach and depth of musical talent. Seven different conductors will lead the
ensemble across the evening.

The Collective will sing a programme of uplifting music offering solace, strength and inspiration for challenging times. Drawing on musical theatre, pop, jazz standards, contemporary choral works and original compositions, the concert includes Bob Chilcott’s arrangement of The House of the Rising Sun, Cole Porter’s I’ve Got You Under My Skin, works by Jake Runestad, Elaine Hagenberg and Sarah Quartel, Brandi Carlile’s The Joke and Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday. The programme also features Silver Linings, a profoundly moving anthem composed by choir member Robert McNicol, with words by Adey Grummet, during the Covid lockdowns.

Since its founding, The Collective has grown from a choir for choir directors and theatre professionals into a wider community of composers, lyricists, actors and singers from diverse backgrounds. Its performances have ranged from Renaissance polyphony and jazz standards to gospel, soul, Motown, pop and musical theatre, while its open-access workshops extend the group’s inclusive approach beyond the concert platform.