Leominster Choral Society

Some Background Information

Leominster Choral Society is a long established choir, its origins going back to 1902 - albeit in its present form dating from the mid 1960s when it was re-established under the guidance of our long standing musical director Vernon Thurgood, who now after forty fours years in post has recently stepped down. Although much of the membership is drawn from the surrounding villages and countryside the choral society is very much part of the town, with its summer concert in June forming an integral part of the annual Leominster Festival and Carols by Candlelight being an important part of the town's celebration of Christmas. Together with an autumn concert, usually given in early November, these three performances form our normal annual programme.

Currently the choir numbers a little over sixty singers (25 sopranos, 21 altos, 8 tenors and 10 basses). As a non-auditioned choir would-be members are invited to take part in a couple of rehearsals and then afterwards briefly meet with the conductor to sing a scale or two and provide a broad idea of their musical ability and "ear". Our age group is typical of most similar societies in that the odd grey hair may be noticed among our ranks!

A committee works closely with the musical director and is elected from and by the membership at the Annual General Meeting. Among other things this approves the annual Subscription, which is currently 80 pounds per annum. There are four elected officers, Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian. The society is affiliated to Making Music and is a registered charity.

Rehearsals are held  on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm in the pleasant schoolroom of the local Baptist church. A twenty minute coffee break allows for social interaction as well as a breather and we pride ourselves on being a friendly and welcoming choir whose members enjoy each other's company. But this does not mean that we do not take our music seriously.

Concerts are almost always given in the fine surroundings of Leominster's Priory church, which as well as having a good acoustic also has a notable organ.

The Society has always been open-minded in its choice of repertoire. Although the majority of this has been mainstream and traditional (for example Bach's St Matthew Passion, Haydn's Creation, Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony have been sung as the main works at summer concerts) we have always been ready to enjoy singing works by such as Britten, Kodaly, Syzmanoski, Puccini, Poulenc and Verdi and more modern works by such as Rutter, Walton and Karl Jenkins. At our autumn concerts we have ranged widely, from Faure to Gilbert and Sullivan and from opera choruses to Lucas' Creation Canticles. Good interesting music with a modicum of challenge is what is enjoyed by our members.

Not all our singing has been confined to Leominster or solely our own members. We have had happy exchanges with a French, German and - more recently - a Dutch choir and have also combined forces with other local groups.

Traditionally our summer concert has been a work requiring a full orchestra, and a professional group from Cheltenham [The Regency Sinfonia] has usually been employed; but the costs of having such a fill orchestra are recognised as providing us with a challenge, so we more frequently need to rely on the Priory organ and a professional organist. As a matter of course we have always used professional soloists.

Should you require any further information about the Society and its activities please contact either:

Anne Davis (Chairman)	Tel 01544 327264 email: old.quarry@virgin.net
or
Tom Pellow (Secretary)	tel 01568 611914 email: tom.pellow@zen.co.uk