Christchurch Choral Festival

The Christchurch Choral Festival, lasting about one hour, will be held in the Catholic Pro-Cathedral, 373 Manchester Street, at 2 pm on Sunday, 11 August 2024. The Pro-Cathedral offers ample space at the front, suitable for large choral forces, and seating is available for an audience of at least 500, although the performers will use a proportion of that during the concert.

Christchurch has a wonderful tradition of co-operative singing at primary school level, in the annual Schools’ Festival. The Big Sing encourages competitive choral activity among the better resourced secondary schools, and most adult choirs work towards their own choral targets. This festival is intended to bring choirs together with an annual opportunity to share repertoire on a larger scale.

As in past years, individual choirs will be grouped into convenient clusters, performing for up to 10 minutes, and choosing their own items, conductors and accompanists. Combined inner-city church choirs, directed by Ravil Atlas, and co-ordinated by the Royal School of Church Music, will mark the centenary year of two great composers of church music. They will open the concert, first with Gabriel Fauré’s soul-stirring commemoration: Libera Me from the Requiem, and then Stanford’s exuberant Jubilate – “O Be Joyful”. Community Choirs of Christchurch will be co-ordinated by Henry Nicholson, singing Java Jive and Seventy-Six Trombones arranged by Denis Guyan. Young singers will include the Christchurch Boys’ Choir, directed by Robert Gaudin. They will present I Will Sing With The Spirit by John Rutter and songs from Broadway musicals. This year’s concert choir will be the Canterbury Lawyers Choir presenting lighter repertoire including songs from Stage and Screen.They are directed by Helen Charlton, who will herald the combined item by singing Let the Bright Seraphim. The “barbershop” tradition will be represented this year by both The Plainsmen and the widely travelled Christchurch City Chorus.

Admission will be free, and participants will pay nothing. There will be no interval, and the concert should last one hour.