We are a female vocal ensemble based in the South Pennine valley of Calderdale, West Yorkshire. Our core repertoire is drawn from contemporary works for upper voices by Alison West, a singer, choral director and composer, who has 40 years’ of experience performing as a musician, both widely in this country and in Europe.

Our group originally met for informal rehearsals with Alison during 2010. At first this was simply an opportunity to enjoy the rare privilege of singing new musical compositions ahead of their first public airing. Later the group formalised as ‘Alyssium’ and we gave our initial performances as a vocal ensemble. Although rehearsing and promoting Alison’s work remains our main musical focus, we also sing complementary pieces by contemporary composers. Most of our repertoire is unaccompanied.