Chorus

A welcome message from the President – Louise

Hello! Welcome to the University Chorus website! My name is Louise, I am a second year music student and this year’s Chorus President!

Chorus is open to anyone, students and non-students, which makes it a great way to integrate different members of the community. It would be lovely to welcome back long standing members, as well as see some new faces this year! We rehearse on Thursday evenings, 7-9pm in the Cosmo Hall in the Martin Harris Centre.

After a successful year online last year, we are very excited to be able to return to in person rehearsals! We will be looking at some of the pieces that we worked on last semester, as well as some new material and, of course, Christmas music nearer to December!

Please take a look at our website and our social media accounts for more information about who we are and what we do, and don’t hesitate to get in touch with me on president@universitychorus.org.uk if you have any other questions!

See you on Thursday!

Update from Rob

Dear Chorus

Happy New Year.

I have missed our Thursday evenings, and I am looking forward to continuing our excellent work this year. We will be singing beautiful music by Eleanor Daley, Rebecca Dale, Vaughan Williams and Oliver Tarney. In addition, two of our current 2nd year music students George Parris and Juliette Waterhouse have written pieces which will be getting their first virtual rehearsal and performance.

I am proud to work as part of the dedicated committee team and I want to take this opportunity to thank them once again. They work tirelessly behind the scenes to make our rehearsals run as smoothly as possible.

One of the advantages to working online and having a big team of conductors is that we can have more sectionals to get people into smaller groups. I hope this will be a helpful experience. Chorus provides an invaluable opportunity for our students to gain experience at a time when opportunities are hard to come by.

Thanks to you all – I hope you enjoy our rehearsals this term.

See you Thursday!

Rob

Repertoire

During the first term we sang a wide range of repertoire: the Road Home’ by Stephen Paulus, ‘Shenandoah’ by James Erb, Greig’s ‘Ave Maris Stella’ and Elgar’s ‘The Snow’.

Our repertoire has also included the premiere of ‘Da Pacem’ by Eleanor Jarvis – who is a second year music student at the University of Manchester. As well as opportunities for composition, our rehearsal’s sectionals are also led by our enthusiastic student conductors.

This coming term we will be singing Daley’s ‘Upon Your
Heart’, Dale’s ‘If I Should Go’ and Vaughan Williams’ ‘Toward the Unknown Region’ as well as premiering more student compositions.

Our most recent student composition premiere is George Parris’ ‘Introit Echoes’. This recording includes singers from our chamber choirs (Ad Solem and Cosmo), and was put together by our vice president Angus Robertson.

Guest speakers

During the first term we have also hosted a number of incredible guest speakers. These have included Ruth Evans (Head of Artistic Planning and Participation at NYCGB) and Naomi Lewis from the Royal Opera House as well as the esteemed composers Paul Maelor and John Casken.

Membership
Chorus is open to everyone – students at the University of Manchester and members of the wider community. You don’t need to have sung in a choir before and there are no auditions – all we ask is that you attend rehearsals, are available to perform in concerts and can read music. We would be delighted to take on new members this coming term.

In order to sign up and register for this semester’s rehearsals, please fill in this form here.

Absence
Valid excuses for absence will be taken into account, so please contact the membership secretary by 5.30 at attendance@universitychorus.org.uk if you can’t make a rehearsal.

Click here to see some of our virtual performances!