Requiem To Cancer

Update - 08 May 2021 - Requiem to Cancer 2022 Dates

After a lot of soul-searching and consultation, and with much reluctance, the decision has been taken to push back the third Requiem to Cancer event until 2022, the dates for which will be Friday 23rd/Saturday 24th September 2022 in the same venue, St Paul's Church, Covent Garden in central London.

Notwithstanding the likelihood of large choirs being able to return to full rehearsals in the autumn looking much more positive now, the decision was taken on practical, pragmatic and realistic grounds, given the nature and objective of the event. We felt we would prefer to see the choral world use this autumn to settle back into its routine, rather than compete with it, and then focus on autumn 2022 for the 24hr session of Requiem to Cancer.

As noted before, for those of you who have already registered and made a donation to CRUK in anticipation of participating in 2020 or 2021, be assured that your registrations will be carried forward automatically to RtC2022 and you will have a place.

Thank you for your continuing support and we look forward to meeting up with you all soon.

Ruth, Michael & Neil

Music for 2022

The first main session will kick off with Cecilia McDowall's fabulous new 'Da Vinci Requiem' that was commissioned by Wimbledon Choral Society and received its world premiere in the Royal Festival Hall in May 2019. This is a very accessible work and will be directed by Neil Ferris. To guide us through the early morning of Saturday, Mark Jordan will add his personal touch to the sublime Mozart Requiem so that we can do justice to the work. At some point we'll also fit in a run-through of the Fauré for some light relief, which Mark will also lead for us. And finally to finish off the whole session, Jeremy Jackman will light the boilers under Brahms' 'Ein Deutsches Requiem' and we'll give every last breath we have left to deliver this one as well. Interspersed amongst all this also will be Janet Wheeler's new life-affirming anthem.

Money raised so far
2016 : £31,450
2018 : £37,250
Total : £68,700
+ more than £13,500 so far in the 2022 pot

Simon Wood, the creator of Requiem to Cancer, died peacefully at home at the end of July 2019. He had been fighting cancer for several years as it progressed through his body, ending up with having brain surgery. He was a gentle giant of the tenor line, a quiet and shy man who just loved to sing. Sadly the last year or so had robbed him of being able to participate in most events.

It was Simon’s wish that his body be donated to medical scientific research and his family honoured those wishes. A memorial service marking Simon's life was held on Friday 13th March 2020 in St Paul's Church, Covent Garden - the venue for Requiem to Cancer.
More details here.

Requiem to Cancer has raised over £68,000 for cancer research as a result of the two events held so far. There is a third RtC event planned for September 2022 in honour of Simon. This has been postponed twice as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. If you are interested in taking part then head for the Apply page. If you'd like to find out more about RtC then click on the link below.

If you would like to make a donation to Cancer Research UK in memory of Simon then please use the Donate button shown on the left. Thank you.

What is Requiem to Cancer all about

This page last update 08/05/2021

Requiem to Cancer is grateful to these companies and individuals for their support and sponsorship:

Ruth Yeo
Michael Woods
Neil Dennis
Elaine Howell
Bruno Lasnier
Angus Bearn
Andrew Smith