About us
We are a thriving 80-strong mixed voice choir, based in the Hertfordshire market town of Berkhamsted. St Peter’s parish church on the High Street is our venue for local concerts – but please don’t get the idea that we are ‘small town’ in outlook. For major choral works, accompanied by a symphony orchestra, we join up with other choirs with whom we share the same Music Director – Chorleywood Choral Society and the Gaudeamus Singers – to form the English Philharmonia Chorus. In recent years we have performed in such venues as The Royal Festival Hall, Bath Abbey, York Minster and St Albans Abbey.
Our usual schedule is to perform three main concerts a year, in May, September and December. We also present concerts on tour every summer, usually in mainland Europe, and have sung in Catalonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Flanders. Our most recent foreign trip took us to France in August 2010, where we performed in Paris churches and Chartres Cathedral. For our summer 2011 tour we remained in England, travelling to Yorkshire, where we were thrilled to perform in Ripon Cathedral, Beverley Minster and York Minster.
We rehearse under the guidance of full-time professional musicians – Graham Wili and Fei Ren.
Under Graham’s directorship the choir continues to expand its wide-ranging chorale repertoire – from the Renaissance to the 21st century, both a capella and symphonic. We are a commissioning choir, and are proud to have given first performances to no fewer than four pieces of contemporary music. A fifth, Songs of the Coromandel Coast by Chris Williams, was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall on 12 May 2008. The performance was commercially recorded – another first for the choir.
If you enjoy singing, or would like to try, just come along to one of our rehearsals on Tuesday evenings between 8 and 10 pm. There are no auditions and you can be certain of a warm and friendly welcome.
We also have an extensive range of sheet music available for hire.
See our catalogue ».
Berkhamsted Choral Society is a member of Berkhamsted Arts Trust which is supported financially by Dacorum Borough Council, and is affiliated to Making Music, which represents amateur performing and promoting societies.
Berkhamsted Choral Society Registered Charity Number: 274462
