In the life of the London Symphony Chorus a summer holiday is not guaranteed. Sometimes the schedule continues through the summer, with a tour, for example, or preparations for a late summer prom.

This year, it is less than a month since we sang Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass at the Royal Albert Hall and still you would not know it from the buzz and excitement at our first rehearsal of the new season, like the first day of the new school year.

Chorus members greet each other as they arrive with a fresh welcome which will fade to a nonchalant not-you-again hello as the season progresses, exchanging tales of summer holidays as they go. One member sports his new term haircut and another his beautiful legs following surgery on his varicose veins.

There are new kids in class, who shyly introduce themselves and who are taken under the wings of seasoned members of the choir. Joseph, fresh from conducting in Chicago, indulges us by skipping the warm-up (hurrah!) to go straight to a sing-through of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. His stories and comments elicit the exaggerated response of the pantomime audience. There are titters when we are told to quote the code for a forthcoming ticket offer as “London Symphony Chorus members”.

Like the loose community of students who together comprise a school, or maybe the diverse members of an extended family, there are people in the choir who are close, some who see each other only in this chorus and maybe even some who would rather not see each other at all. Still, after a break, we are reminded both of the love of music which brings us together and of the hidden ties which bind us.

Back to school.