History of the Society
In 1946 Conrad Eden, the Cathedral organist, formed a choral society which at
its peak had 112 members, but by the middle 50s this had dropped to such a low
number that it was decided to disband the group. From 1958 to 1962 the only
society of its sort was the Durham Colleges Choral Society which was, naturally
gown rather than town.
In 1962, Maurice Armsby, a Cathedral lay clerk, found that
there was a strong desire to re-form a choral society, so, after a public
meeting in June, the decision was taken to go ahead and rehearsals began in
September for the first concert which was given in the Cathedral on 30 November
1962.
The new choir did not have an untroubled beginning. Initial
enthusiasm produced a membership of 70 but again numbers began to drop
slightly. After three years the conductor moved to Winchester Cathedral.
His successor only directed three performances before he too left Durham.
In 1966, Raymond Hall, Principal of the Bernard Gilpin Society and a local
organist took over as musical director. In 1970 the performing venue moved
from Elvet Methodist Church to Wearside School. Numbers dropped to about 40 and
audience figures decreased, possibly due to the uncompromising hardness of
school chairs! This trend was reversed when the concert venue was
transferred to the Town Hall in 1974.
After 13 years Raymond Hall decided to retire and Richard Brice, the present
conductor, who had been assistant conductor for a few years, took over.
Under his direction membership began to increase and numbers grew until the only
suitable venue was the Cathedral. On several occasions the choir has
joined with other local choirs to give performances of works that neither group
would have had sufficient numbers to tackle alone< including Verdi’s
Requiem and Britten’s War Requiem.
The Society has been well served by its orchestra of mostly local musicians,
ably led over the years by (among others) Florence Wilson, Derek Downes, Jean
Provine and now Sue Innes.
A handful of our current members sang in the first concert in 1962. Indeed,
one member, who died only recently, sang in the 1946 group. Throughout its
history, the choral society has presented concerts with the best of local,
national and internationally known soloists, including among others Sheila
Armstrong, Jill Gomez, Thomas Allan and Ian Bostridge. The Society also
makes a point of engaging up and coming young artists, both vocal and
instrumental, and ended last season with a performance of Vivaldi's Gloria and
Britten's St. Nicholas, featuring one of the trebles from the cathedral choir
singing the young Nicholas.
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