Recent History
Founded in 1972, we celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2022, and in spring of that year, we appointed Tom Edney as our music director, to take over from Julian Wright.
A highlight of the 2022/3 season was the extraordinary ‘Magnificat’ concert in March 2023 at St Cuthbert’s Chapel, Ushaw. Then we wowed a packed audience at St Brandon’s Church in Brancepeth in July 2023 with our ‘Music for a Summer’s Evening’.
Our Christmas concert in December 2023, ‘A Winter’s Night’ was a first visit to St Godric’s Church, Durham, and proved a rewarding partnership, with the audience filling the church. The centrepiece of the music was Cecilia McDowall's Christmas cantata, A Winter’s Night, which reimagines five well-known carols from across Europe. Morten Lauridsen’s ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ and other pieces provoked the welcome comment ‘the choir were sounding excellent – it was a lovely, well-blended sound and lots of colour and interest… It’s good to hear new music and music by women.’
What a night we had in Durham Cathedral on 9 March 2024: ‘Ṣim 'Alenu Shalom | Dona Nobis Pacem’, a commentary on conflict and peace, comprising Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Tarney’s Canticle of Elizabeth (a world première) and the little-known Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem was both moving and dramatic. Our percussionists practically took off at ‘Beat, beat drums’, as did our audience.
Our partners, the Newcastle Youth Choir Project, commented: ‘In Newcastle we have a significant rate of deprivation amongst our young people and being able to offer them an opportunity is an experience they will remember all through their lives’; and ‘Going to Durham for the day and singing in the cathedral was really good. I really enjoyed singing with my friends and singing with the big choir. I’ve never seen or heard a harp before in real life!’
We returned to St Brandon’s again in June 2024, celebrating the French composer Gabriel Fauré in the centenary year of his death. Beginning with works by his pupils and shorter pieces by Fauré himself, the programme culminated in a masterly performance of his Requiem to a 'sell-out' audience.
Founded in 1972, we celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2022, and in spring of that year, we appointed Tom Edney as our music director, to take over from Julian Wright.
A highlight of the 2022/3 season was the extraordinary ‘Magnificat’ concert in March 2023 at St Cuthbert’s Chapel, Ushaw. Then we wowed a packed audience at St Brandon’s Church in Brancepeth in July 2023 with our ‘Music for a Summer’s Evening’.
Our Christmas concert in December 2023, ‘A Winter’s Night’ was a first visit to St Godric’s Church, Durham, and proved a rewarding partnership, with the audience filling the church. The centrepiece of the music was Cecilia McDowall's Christmas cantata, A Winter’s Night, which reimagines five well-known carols from across Europe. Morten Lauridsen’s ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ and other pieces provoked the welcome comment ‘the choir were sounding excellent – it was a lovely, well-blended sound and lots of colour and interest… It’s good to hear new music and music by women.’
What a night we had in Durham Cathedral on 9 March 2024: ‘Ṣim 'Alenu Shalom | Dona Nobis Pacem’, a commentary on conflict and peace, comprising Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Tarney’s Canticle of Elizabeth (a world première) and the little-known Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem was both moving and dramatic. Our percussionists practically took off at ‘Beat, beat drums’, as did our audience.
Our partners, the Newcastle Youth Choir Project, commented: ‘In Newcastle we have a significant rate of deprivation amongst our young people and being able to offer them an opportunity is an experience they will remember all through their lives’; and ‘Going to Durham for the day and singing in the cathedral was really good. I really enjoyed singing with my friends and singing with the big choir. I’ve never seen or heard a harp before in real life!’
We returned to St Brandon’s again in June 2024, celebrating the French composer Gabriel Fauré in the centenary year of his death. Beginning with works by his pupils and shorter pieces by Fauré himself, the programme culminated in a masterly performance of his Requiem to a 'sell-out' audience.
