How to film a choir in the spire of The Shard
Every December, The Shard transforms its spire into a festive light exhibition above the London skyline. The Shard wanted a film that would capture the scale, spectacle and seasonal magic of the project - A Choir in the Spire
The concept brought together music, light and architecture in a truly unusual location: a choir performing with celebrity choirmaster Gareth Malone at the very top of The Shard.
The Challenge
The spire of The Shard is not a conventional filming location. It is open to the elements, exposed to wind and cold, and filled with shifting light from the building’s programmed display.
Our challenge was to record and film a choir performance in this environment in the space of a single evening. The choir, crew and equipment all had to be transported safely to the location, kept warm, and supported to deliver a polished performance in the early hours of a winter morning.
Alongside the performance itself, the lights on The Shard had been carefully programmed to specific beats in the song. That meant the playback, the choir performance and the lighting sequence all had to work together precisely.
Our Approach
To make sure the final film had strong musical foundations, we first recorded each choir member individually inside a meeting pod at The Shard. This gave us clean vocal recordings before moving the group up into the more challenging conditions of the spire.
Once at the top of the building, we captured the choir performing in one of London’s most spectacular and demanding locations. The performance needed to feel intimate and human, while also reflecting the scale of the building and the visual impact of The Shard Lights.
At the same time, we had crews positioned on the ground filming the light display from carefully chosen locations across London. This allowed us to combine the close-up performance with wide city views, showing the choir’s music and the illuminated spire as one connected experience.
The Results
The finished film brought together a live choral performance, a landmark London location and a carefully choreographed light display to create a memorable festive piece for The Shard.
It captured not only the beauty of the final performance, but also the ambition behind it: a choir singing high above the city, in the cold and wind, while the building itself became part of the music.
For us, it was the kind of assignment that shows what careful planning, calm production and specialist experience can make possible, even in difficult conditions and tight timeframes.
“Performing with my hand-picked choir on top of The Shard is definitely one of the most memorable performances of my life.”
Why Experience Matters
TMAX has extensive experience working with choirs, orchestras and live musical performance. We have worked with English National Opera for over 15 years, as well as St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra and Welsh National Opera.
That background meant we understood both the creative and technical demands of the project: how to support performers, capture strong audio, work around complex logistics and turn a challenging live performance into a compelling film.
Choir in the Spire was a memorable project because it combined so many elements at once: music, architecture, light, weather, safety, timing and performance. One cold winter’s night, high above London, all of those elements came together.