Voce Chamber Choir is 20 years old in 2023, and to commemorate our emerald anniversary, we are fundraising for an extraordinary project: an organ transcription of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. We’ve received permission from the Walton Estate and the publishers (Oxford University Press), and we have commissioned the incomparably talented organist, David Briggs, to transcribe this enormous orchestral work, creating a piece that can be performed in any church with a half-decent organ. This huge endeavour will make it possible for small choirs like Voce, all over the world, to feel what it’s like to sing this exhilarating piece.

From Voce’s conductor, Suzi Digby OBE: "Perhaps more than any other choral experience, performing Belshazzar’s Feast is life-changing. It’s joyous, profound and uplifting. It's also prohibitively expensive to put on! Thus, until now, this opportunity has been out of reach for almost all choral singers. But in 2018, Voce attempted a world first: Belshazzar with a choir of just thirty, and a church organ. And it worked! Now David Briggs has agreed to write the official organ transcription that can eventually be shared, played and sung around the world. I am ecstatic that - with your generosity - we can make this experience a possibility for thousands of chamber choirs. What a wonderful gift for future generations of singers!"

We are aiming to fundraise £20,000, to cover the significant cost of this transcription; the world première of the new arrangement in London; and a recording, to be made and released in 2024.