The Hallé Choir is a large symphonic chorus of around 220 singers based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was founded as ''Manchester Choral Society'' alongside the Hallé Orchestra in 1858 by

Sir Charles Hallé ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

. The choir gives around 15 concerts a year with

The Hallé The Hallé is an English symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. Since 1996, the orchestra has been resident at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. History 19th century In May 1857, the pianist and conductor Charles Hallé set u ...

at The Bridgewater Hall and other venues across the UK. Appearing with international conductors and soloists in concert and recordings, the choir performs a repertoire of major choral and operatic works ranging from mainstream pieces to more esoteric pieces and commissions. Recent highlights have included performances of Elgar’s three great oratorios ''The Dream of Gerontius'', ''The Apostles'' and ''The Kingdom'' as the climax to the Hallé’s 2022–2023 season (and all three have also been released on the Hallé’s own multi award-winning CD label), Rachmaninov’s ''The Bells'' with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder at the 2023 BBC Proms and Fauré’s Requiem with Kahchun Wong, the Hallé’s Principal Conductor. As well as appearing with the Hallé, the Choir also performs regularly with other orchestras at venues and festivals around the UK, including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and York Minster. Recent collaborations have included Elgar’s ''The Dream of Gerontius'' with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under Edward Gardner at the 2022 BBC Proms, and the world premiere of Brett Dean’s ''In This Brief Moment'' with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Nicholas Collon, also in 2022. Recent Hallé Choir Directors have included James Burton, Frances Cooke and Madeleine Venner. The current Hallé Choir Director is Matthew Hamilton.

Conductors

* 2015 to present - Matthew Hamilton * 2012 to 2015 - Madeline Venner * 2002 to 2009 -

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also ...

Notable recordings

Since the launch of the Hallé record label in 2003 the choir has appeared on a number of recordings including

Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

's '' Hymn of Jesus'' (Hallé, 2013), Delius' '' Sea Drift'' (Hallé, 2013), Matthews' ''Aftertones'' (Hallé, 2014), Vaughan-Williams' '' A Sea Symphony'' (Hallé, 2015) and

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's ''Spirit of England'' (Hallé, 2017). The Hallé have also won a number of awards for recordings featuring the Hallé Choir:

References

English choirs Musical groups from Manchester Cultural organisations based in Manchester The Hallé {{UK-music-stub