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Libera "Angel Voices" album cover (2006)

Libera is the third 'public' name for the boys' section of an Anglican parish church choir from South London. The boys are between the ages of 7 and 16. Some boys stay longer to help coach the younger children. As the name has changed at various times during the public performance life of the choir, the name in use at the relevant time will be used in each section.

Their first appearance in the public eye came when, as the Saint Philip's Boys' Choir, they backed Sal Solo on his song San Damiano in 1984. This led in 1988 to the choir releasing their first album, Sing For Ever, as the Saint Philip's Boys' Choir. The title track for this album was chosen by the BBC as the first Children in Need telethon anthem. Due to the work of the passage of time on the boys' voices, the principal soloist changed at various points during this period, as it has done since. The period when they were called the Saint Philip's Boys' Choir roughly equates to the 1980s. The change of name to Angel Voices came in 1990 to accompany the release of their second album, New Day. Both Sing For Ever and New Day are now out of print. The changes of name of the publicly performing section of Saint Philip's Church choir are to show the different styles of music for new audiences.

It was as Angel Voices, during most of the 1990s, that Libera came to real public prominence with three albums and regular appearances on two television shows. A major role as singers in the programmes Titchmarsh on Song, presented by Alan Titchmarsh in 1992 and Thora on the Straight and Narrow in 1993 introduced Angel Voices to a wider public. The third album, Angel Voices, was released in 1992 and re-released in 1993, containing much similar material to Sing For Ever. Further television appearances followed through the 1990s, with a second album as 'Angel Voices', Angel Voices 2, appearing in the shops in 1996. This was soon (in 1997) followed by an album for Christmas and, following the naming that characterized this period, the new album was called Angel Voices 3.

In 1998, along with a departure from fairly traditional church choir music, came the latest change of name to Libera. Since then, five albums have been released: Libera in 1998, Luminosa in 2001, Free in September 2004, Visions in November 2005 and Angel Voices in November 2006. Along with regular appearances on television, most often on Songs of Praise, they have released four videos that are often shown on Classic FM TV. Currently there are around 30 boys in the group, but this number changes as voices break and new members join. Although there may be up to 30 members in total, only about 15 have appeared in the videos made thus far. Libera have also been used as session artists on various outside projects such as film soundtracks including Romeo & Juliet, Shadowlands and Hannibal and one of the members has even recorded music for the PlayStation 2 game ICO. They have also collaborated on three albums with Aled Jones. In 2007, they appeared on the television show When Will I Be Famous presented by Graham Norton on BBC 1. They won the show, winning a cheque for £10,000. They were invited back the following week to compete against other acts in a show which one of the other acts won.

The choir appeared in concert in South London in late March before leaving to tour Japan and the Far East during the Easter school holidays and upon their return performed at Arundel cathedral, West Sussex in May. In June they supported Hayley Westenra in concert in Yorkshire and also appeared in their own right the following evening at another venue. On the 30th and 31st of May 2007, Libera filmed two live concerts at the Pieterskerk in Leiden, Holland. The combined version was used to produce a DVD and accompanying CD called 'Angel Voices: Libera in Concert'. In September one of the boys took part in the world premiere of Zbigniew Preisner's "Silence, Night & Dreams" in Athens, Greece.

Libera performed at the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors Awards on 2nd December at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, attended by the President Of The United States and a host of celebrities. Alongside a choral group made up of boys from the prestigious Washington-area Landon, Potomac, St. Albans, and Sidwell Friends schools, Libera sang a Brian Wilson arranged piece of music titled, "Love and Mercy". The gala event will be broadcast on US TV Station CBS on December 26th, 2007.

The musical and visual style of Libera has changed, along with the name, at various points during its history. The distinctive white robes now worn arrived soon after the change of name to Angel Voices. Previously, standard choir robes or normal clothes were worn by the choir. This variety of style has continued, but the white robes have been worn more and more. The music has always been distinctive, even when based on traditional choral music; originally, the music was traditional choral music such as Amazing Grace interspersed with modern music like Orinoco Flow or You Are the New Day. Since becoming Libera, however, the style has become more distinct. Although the choir mostly sings new compositions by Robert Prizeman, who still directs the choir, the new compositions contain elements of Gregorian chant and classical composers such as Debussy, Beethoven and Pachelbel. The lyrics are either new, as most of the album Free is, or are translations from the Latin text to Christian services, a good example of this being the song Vespera from Luminosa. We are the Lost uses the poems In Flanders Fields by John McCrae and For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon.

Libera added drums and synthesizer and, despite the meanings of some of the songs, is very upbeat, whereas Luminosa is calmer and quieter with a much more reflective mood over all.

• Libera: The official website
  
• Libera Gateway: Further information
  
• BCSD: Information on CDs
  
• Angel Voices album microsite
• Lib section on ClassicalX
• EMI Classics page about Libera