Bath Choral Society
Patron
- The Mayor of Bath
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Musical
Director - Matthew Bale
Assistant Chorus Master - Geoff Ditcham
Accompanist - Nick Thorne
‘Heavenly
performance.... the choir
rose magnificently to the occasion..., a very
impressive sound, balanced and controlled’. (Bath Chronicle 2007)
Bath Choral Society is a
lively amateur mixed choir of about 120 voices, engaging professional orchestras
and soloists and presenting a wide range of sacred and secular repertoire. The
choir performs four concerts a year in Bath including two performances of Messiah
in Bath Abbey during early December. Every two years the choir tours abroad
and performs varied programmes in some of the great musical cities of Europe.-
ln-2007 Bath Choral performed in St Stephen’s Cathedral and the Matthias
Church, Budapest. The society regularly supports local charities with an annual
summer concert in the chapel of Prior Park College. In 2007 the money raised
from this concert (approx £1500) was donated to the Bath Cancer Unit Support
Trust.
In Autumn 2007 the choir held a successful workshop when members, together
with an enthusiastic group of non-members, tackled works by Benjamin Britten and
Arvo Part over one day’s intensive rehearsal. This informal and most enjoyable
day concluded with a performance in the Michael Tippett Centre at Bath Spa
University.
While encouraging all ages, the choir has been particularly successful in
attracting younger singers over the last few years and has in place a bursary
scheme for singers under 25 which helps with membership and music costs and
also provides complimentary individual singing lessons. Entry to the choir is by
audition, and further details can be obtained from the Registrar Libby Birts
tel. 01225 873815.
The season 2007/2008 marked the 125th anniversary
of the choir and we celebrated this occasion with four
varied concert programmes and a number of non-musical events.
