ABOUT OUR CHOIR
St Albans Choral Society is one of the leading large amateur choirs in Hertfordshire, singing to a high standard in beautiful concert venues around the city and surrounding area.
With about 100 members, we perform four to five concerts a year, including one in
St Albans Cathedral, with superb professional soloists and the critically acclaimed Orchestra Nova. We benefit from the inspiring leadership of our Music Director, George Vass, our talented accompanist Richard Harvey, and our new assistant conductor and chorus master Naomi Jones.
Our Patron is The Worshipful Mayor of St Albans.
The Choral Society gave its first performance in December 1944 and has sung a substantial part of the choral repertoire during its long history, including Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Verdi and Vivaldi. You can explore the full history of the choir’s concerts since 1944 in the Concert Archive at the end of our Concerts page.
Thanks to George Vass’s strong advocacy of living composers, we are also well known for our contemporary repertoire, performing works by James Francis Brown, Morten Lauridsen, Alexander L’Estrange, James MacMillan, and Tarik O’Regan among others. We enjoy a special relationship with Cecilia McDowall as the choir’s composer-in-association.
We rehearse on Thursday evenings from September until early July in a friendly and welcoming environment. If you would like to join us, you can find out more here.
Listen to three members speak about life in the choir, along with some music from our rehearsals:
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: THE SINGING GROUP
The Singing Group comprises volunteers from the choir who perform lighter music in care homes and senior living establishments in and around St Albans. As part of our wider purpose to benefit the community, we take music and entertainment to senior citizens who are unable to get to our concerts.
Our audiences range in size from 10 to about 30 in the larger homes. Some residents are living with dementia, and hearing and singing familiar songs is very beneficial – a fact endorsed by organisers in the homes. Our concerts are much appreciated by residents and staff.
St Albans Choral Society is a Registered Charity No: 287882, and is affiliated to Making Music – the National Federation of Music Societies.