Polyphony

There is more than one band named Poloyphony. The more well known Polyphony was formed by Stephen Layton in 1986 for a concert in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Since then the choir has performed and recorded regularly to wide critical acclaim throughout the UK and abroad. For the last few years Polyphony has given annual sell-out performances of Bach's "St. John Passion" and Handel's "Messiah" at St. John's, Smith Square.

These have become notable events in London's music calendar and have been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and the EBU. Since its double BBC Proms debut in 1995, Polyphony's performance highlights include the world premiere of "Oceanos" by James Dillon, Schnittke's Symphony No. 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and premiere performances in collaboration with Arvo Part and John Tavener. The choir has built an extensive discography, its recordings frequently appearing as record of the month in "Gramophone", "BBC Music", and "Classic fM" magazines.

Most recently, Polyphony's album "Eric Whitacre: Cloudburst and other choral works" was nominated for a Grammy in Best Choral Performance, 2007.

Polyphony the Progressive Rock band released one album of rich, complex and progressive rock in 1971. Polyphony's "Without Introduction" is renowned for being a highly-collectable and listenable album of psych/prog jams reminiscent of some of the British or Italian psych monsters from the early ?70s. Released in 1971 on the Eleventh Hours label (Eleventh Hour 1003), this hard progressive rock outfit from Virginia features some stunning guitar and keyboard work, as well as a percussionist at home on congas, timbales and just about everything hittable. The band is definitely influenced by early UK exponents of prog including Keith Emerson, Steve Howe and Peter Gabriel. The stunning original artwork lends itself perfectly to the album's inspired music.