Bollington Festival Choir is a friendly choir which retains its village roots while welcoming singers from a wide area. Giving three concerts a year in Bollington and hosting the annual ‘Messiah for All’ in aid of local charities, and a public Singing Day, it is known for imaginative programming and high standards of performance. All this is achieved by welcoming all who wish to sing, without audition.
The Choir was founded in 1964 by Dr John Coope MBE (1928-2005) who conducted the Choir with great distinction for 37 years. Surely few amateur choral societies can have covered such a wide range of music as John chose.
Since Donald Judge became the conductor in 2001, the Choir has maintained this sense of adventure. Alongside standard classics of the choral repertoire by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms, the choir has performed fine and unusual music by many lesser known composers including most recently, Jan Dismas Zelenka, the Czech contemporary of Bach and Handel, while the centenary of World War One was commemorated with music by de Lalande, Biber, Caldra and J C Bach. The Choir is very pleased to have given performances of three fine pieces by the contemporary composer Cecilia McDowall: ‘Christus Natus Est’, ‘Ave Maris Stella’ and ‘Folk Songs.’
The Choir has premiered several of Donald’s own pieces, including ‘May Magnificat’ (with words by G M Hopkins) His arrangements of ‘Death is a Shadow’, a 16th century Italian song; and Edmund Pascha’s ‘Czech Christmas Mass’, performed with a plethora of early and folk instruments played by Tapestry of Music, delighted both singers and audiences.
The Choir has performed at every Bollington Festival, including most recently, Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ at the 2014 Festival.
The Choir has an outstanding accompanist, Rosalind Hall. For at least one concert a year, we engage soloists from the Royal Northern College of Music and an accomplished orchestra.