Founded by clarinettist Stuart King in 1997, CHROMA is a London-based collective of outstanding freelance musicians engaged in new music and revisiting classic repertoire in fresh and exciting contexts; mentoring the next generation of composers, and involving people in compelling, inspirational experiences, both as audiences and creators.

CHROMA performs chamber concerts throughout the UK, from Cornwall to Shetland. Championing the imaginative and sympathetic  programming of contemporary works, our own commissioning programme has included Freya Waley-Cohen Wake, Rubens Askenar Praise of Smoke and Dust, David Bruce Kundalee and Suadades, Deborah Pritchard Rosa Celeste, Luke Bedford Falling Falling, David Gorton Burgh Castle, Michael Nyman chromattic, Leonardo Margutti Cochlear Short, Claudia Molitor 8+7= and DoodleOpera, Raymond Yiu Les Etoiles au Front (shortlisted British Composer Awards) and Michael Zev Gordon Glass Mountain.

Other premieres include  Anna Meredith Railgun (Norfolk and Norwich Music Club) Rolf Hind Sit Stand Walk (Spitalfields Festival), Joe Cutler Chanticleer and the Opera Fox with Roderick Williams (Little Missenden Festival - shortlisted British Composer Awards).

Collaborations
CHROMA has been Associate Ensemble with Tête à Tête since 2006 - which includes developing new work through Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, including Kerry Andrew/Tamsin Collison Dart's Love (winner Best Stage Work British Composer Awards), Laurence Obsorn/Theo Merz April in the Amazon and Lucie Treacher/Joanne Harris Moonlight in double bill with Na'ama Zisser/Stella Duffy The Last Seed.

Royal Ballet and Opera: hyper-reality opera installation Current, Rising score by Samantha Fernando; and premieres of operas - Philip Venables' adaptation of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis (Best Large Scale Composition Royal Philharmonic Society; Best Stage Work British Composer Awards; Best Opera UK Theatre Awards) Elspeth Brooke The Commission, Francisco Coll Café Kafka (Aldeburgh/ROH/Opera North co-production) Luke Bedford Through His Teeth Søren Nils Eichberg Glare Tarik O'Regan Heart of Darkness (ROH2/Opera East) Stewart Copeland Tell Tale Heart and Anne Dudley The Doctor’s Tale (ROH2 operashots).
Ballet - Will Tuckett's Wind in The Willows (ROH2 Linbury/in the West End at the Duchess Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre - winner Best Entertainment Olivier Awards).

Mahogany Opera Group: premiere tour of David Bruce's Firework Maker's Daughter (Hull Truck pemiere, then ROH Linbury and UK tour - nominated Olivier Awards 2014); iGloria - A Pig's Tale by HK Gruber (UK tour including ROH Linbury, and Bregenz Festival); The Mother by Laurence Osborn (Posk London).

Other collaborations include: Jessica Walker and Luke Styles People’s Cabaret, Phil Cashian’s Northend concerts, Polly Graham’s Loud Crowd at Bold Tendencies Peckham, Bampton Opera at Sinfonia Smith Square and Longborough Festival Opera.

Recordings include Alex Mills, Richard Baker Motet II (NMC), Max Hoehn’s The Last Castrato (Opera21), and pieces written for CHROMA by RHUL post-grad composers Gonçalo Gato, Aitor Sorozabal, James Helgeson and Kyriakos Costa.

Mentoring and Participation
CHROMA believes in offering close-up, meaningful encounters with music, making new music experiences accessible, enjoyable and stimulating - we engage in a diverse range of mentoring, community participation and learning activity, including ongoing collaborations with student composers and side-by-side mentoring of instrumentalists at the Royal Academy of Music, composer workshops at Oxford University and Royal Holloway University of London; workshops for women conductors with the Royal Philharmonic Society, and long-standing relationships with communities in Shetland.

Culture and values
CHROMA’s culture underscores everything the ensemble does. From our beginnings 29 years ago we have held a safe space for creativity, with the values of inclusivity, warmth, generosity, curiosity, appreciation, encouragement, nurture, democracy and authenticity.  CHROMA is a dogma-free zone where we meet people as they are, and where they are – we welcome everyone equally in CHROMA experiences, as audiences, creators and participants.

We believe in the power of music, that everyone who wants to should have access to classical music, and have positive experiences of new music. We create participation programmes in collaboration with the people they are for, and raise funds so we can offer these activities free of charge and ensure cost is not a barrier to joining in.

CHROMA on INSTAGRAM:

CHROMA is a non-incorporated association and registered charity no 1135431
VAT registered no 991 5285 83

correspondence address:
25 Gun Wharf
130 Wapping High Street
London E1W 2NH