Introduce yourself…
I’m Harvey Brough. I’m from Coventry but I live in Hackney and have done for a very long time now.
What do you do?
I run Vox Holloway, it’s my thing. I conduct and I compose pretty much everything that they sing or arrange. So that’s been going on now for nearly 14 years and it’s taken over my life. We do at least three concerts a year and more if we can but that means we have to have three big projects on the go every year and it is such a huge commitment. But still, it’s been a gift as a composer. I decided to write things that they could do and it meant we could do pieces about things around us - rather than just the normal core repertoire. So we’ve done a piece about slavery, climate change, we’ve done lots of subjects that most choirs don’t normally think about, that’s been quite a big deal.
What sparked your curiosity in composing?
Well, there was a choir in Coventry when I was six-years-old so I was a chorister at Coventry cathedral and then I studied music and I started a rock’n’roll band when I left college (called Harvey and the Wallbangers) and we toured all over Europe doing concerts. So I did that and then started making music for television and film and eventually I started writing my own compositions. I was mostly a performing musician and I did some arranging which is close to composing, but I didn’t start writing my own music until I was in my 30s.
What TV and film and did you work on?
Well, I worked with another composer around the corner, she’s called Jocelyn Pook and together we did various things, the most famous was Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick. I helped produce and conduct the music and so that was quite a big, big deal. We went to the premiere and it was mad, we were getting out of this limousine in LA and everybody in the crowd went nuts, screaming and shouting. For one moment we thought: ‘oh, maybe people do know who we are after all?’ But then we turned around to see Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman also getting out of the limousine. Showbiz is a funny world!
What is your favourite creation?
I think Vox Holloway really is. It came together without any planning, we just said anyone who wants to sing, come along and many had never sung before and didn’t read music and now they all can. You build up the trust and a commitment from the choir. It’s become a big thing for lots of people, and that’s a great gift to be able to give.
How have people responded to your work?
Amazingly! We have a really fantastic group, even though we only rehearse once a week, but it’s a real emotional lifeline for a lot of people. It’s something that really lifts them out of their normal daily lives and all the ups and downs of careers. Music lifts us all and has a magical effect, when people come together in a choir and they can breathe together and they sing together.
Music has a magical effect, when people come together in a choir and they can breathe together and they sing together.
What do you love most about your job?
When you’re singing in a concert and the band comes in and the whole thing just kind of ignites. It’s a big rush and a wonderful feeling for everyone.
What do you love most about london?
For a musician, it’s really fantastic. And that’s not to say you can’t be a professional musician anywhere else but I wanted to be where it was really happening. There’s so many orchestras here and talented people. It’s a magnet for people who are doing interesting things. When I first came to London, I went to the King’s Head in Islington, and I thought “wow, this is paradise.”
Do you have any words you like to live by?
I grab life as much as I can. There’s been terrible tragedies in my life, I lost my brother at 17. I’ve made a lot of music that remembers him. So there’s something good coming out of something terrible. You just have to hold onto life and value it. I’ve always done that.
What’s next?
We’ve just recorded a new piece of mine. I’ve spent the past months editing and finishing it. It’s this extraordinary, incredible story of a man who was on death row for 30 years in Alabama, but was completely innocent and framed. He found faith and turned the wheels of so-called justice. It’s such a powerful, agonising story. So I’m just finishing that and arranging new music. I’m always working and trying to do things that will inspire the group.
Who is your local hero?
I’d like to nominate Tricia Zipfel as my London hero, she’s worked for Oxfam and devoted her life to supporting those who need help, in social housing and many other areas. She’s also chair of Vox Holloway and does an incredible amount of work to promote the causes and the music that we perform.
