Huddersfield Choral Society is a choir based in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. It was founded in 1836, and is recognised as one of Britain's leading choirs. Over the years the choir has performed most of the major works in the choral repertoire, and has had numerous works commissioned for it, including works by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

and

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

. The choir has made numerous

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

and

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

s. Two of its

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s made an appearance in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. These were ''The Hymns Album'' (1986, #8) and ''The Carols Album'' (1986, #29). The choir performs regularly with the leading orchestras in the north of England, including the

Orchestra of Opera North The Orchestra of Opera North (or English Northern Philharmonia as recording name) is the orchestra that plays for the Opera North. It was founded as the English Northern Philharmonia, and changed its name during the period when Steven Sloane was O ...

The Hallé The Hallé is an English symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It supports a choir, youth choir, youth training choir, children's choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasiona ...

, the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...

Manchester Camerata The Manchester Camerata is a British chamber orchestra based in Manchester, England. A sub-group from the orchestra, the Manchester Camerata Ensemble, specialises in chamber music performances. The orchestra's primary concert venue is The Bridg ...

and the

Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the o ...

. The choir performs with many leading conductors, known by the choir as their 'family' of conductors instead of having one Principal Conductor. Martyn Brabbins is Music Director of the society and other notable conductors to work with the choir regularly include: Vasily Petrenko, Bramwell Tovey and Jane Glover (a former Principal Conductor and former Principal Guest Conductor of the choir). In August 2016 Huddersfield Choral Society appointed Gregory Batsleer as Choral Director. The team is completed by Associate Choral Director Fanny Cook, Accompanist and Assistant Chorusmaster Daniel Gordon, deputy Accompanist Malcolm Hinchcliffe and Musical Director of the youth choirs Alison North. The choir remains an amateur choir, with membership open to all via a brief audition while maintaining its performing commitments. The Huddersfield Choral Society was in partnership with the

University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancel ...

; however, this relationship ended in 2012 for funding reasons.

Discography

References

External links

Huddersfield Choral Society Website

The Hymns Album - Huddersfield Choral Society
{{Authority control Organisations based in Huddersfield Yorkshire choirs Musical groups from West Yorkshire Choral societies Musical groups established in the 1830s 1836 establishments in England