Welcome to
L’Estrange Music
Bringing our music to the
world’s choir directors
and their choirs.
Bringing our music to the
world’s choir directors
and their choirs.
Award-winning choral composers Alexander L’Estrange & Joanna Forbes L’Estrange
“Our mission is to make choosing new music easier for you and your choir. ”
Our mission is to make choosing new music easier for you and your choir.
As composers, we have spent the past three decades composing a huge catalogue of choral music and a cappella arrangements which we want to make accessible to every type of choir across the world.
As choir directors too, we know how overwhelming and time-consuming finding new music can be. How do you know it’s going to be any good? Will it be possible to listen to it first? We’ve made it simple. Either search by choir type or by occasion or, if you already know what piece of ours you’re looking for, just type the title into the search box. Once you’ve found a piece which interests you, you can peruse the score, listen to the demo and watch a video. And if you have any questions at all, send us a message and we’ll get right back to you.
We know from experience that not all choirs read music which is why we’ve recorded demos of all of our pieces and created part-learning tracks to help singers learn the vocal lines. We also know that not all choirs are lucky enough to have a rehearsal pianist which is why we’ve recorded professional backing tracks to our accompanied pieces.
Some of the pieces in our shop are by Alexander, some are by Joanna, some are by both of us and some are by our son Harry, former Head Chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge.
Choral music is our family business; we’ve been singing it, writing it and directing it for as long as we can remember and we’re excited to share our music with you and your choir.
Alexander L’Estrange (b.1974) and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange (b.1971) have achieved international recognition as composers, arrangers, performers and choral leaders, both individually and as their partnership, L’Estrange Music. Having met as music undergraduates at Oxford University, they have spent the past three decades creating a huge catalogue of choral pieces, arrangements and songs, mostly notably their series for SATB choir, unison children’s choir and jazz quintet which began with Zimbe! Come, sing the songs of Africa!. Their music is accessible, with part-learners, backing tracks and other learning resources, all professionally recorded in their home studio. With their choral workshop You can sing…but can you swing?! they coach choirs, both amateur and professional, in the art of singing in non-classical styles.
Alexander L’Estrange has been dubbed “the added 9th of English choral music”, alluding to the jazz harmonies and grooves which subtly underpin much of his choral output. He is the go-to arranger for vocal groups such as Voces 8, The Queen’s Six and The King’s Singers, for whom he wrote and produced their Great American Songbook album. A charismatic choral leader, L’Estrange has conducted hundreds of singers at London’s Royal Albert Hall and the Lyceum Theatre and at Carnegie Hall, New York. His sacred choral works have been recorded by the chamber choir Tenebrae on a CD entitled On Eagles’ Wings (SIGNUM) and his Love’s Philosophy songs are on the ABRSM’s Singing Syllabus. A professional jazz pianist and bass player, L’Estrange is a Trainer for the ABRSM’s jazz syllabus; he founded and directs The ‘Call Me Al’ Quintet and is one half of the jazz duo L’Estranges in the Night.
Joanna Forbes L’Estrange was born into a family of eminent professional musicians and began composing during her tenure as Musical Director of the five-time Grammy® award-winning vocal group The Swingles. Her sacred choral music is published by the RSCM; her song A woman (wearing bloomers) on a wheel has been made into a film by the NYCGB Girls’ Choir and another, You are, was featured on the hit TV series Fleabag. She has performed all over the world and solo recordings include Will Todd’s Mass in Blue (CONVIVIUM). One of London’s busiest session singers, she has sung on hundreds of Hollywood film soundtracks at Abbey Road Studios, where she also made history by recording her International Women’s Day song Twenty-first-century Woman with an entirely-female team. Forbes L’Estrange founded and directs AQUILA, an all-female vocal group based in Cambridge. She is the lead vocalist of the jazz duo L’Estranges in the Night.
Read testimonials about Joanna & Alexander
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