Durham Choral Society
Over 60 years of glorious choral music
Welcome to Durham Choral Society
JOIN OUR OPEN REHEARSAL!
Open Rehearsal on Wednesday 9 September 2026
Are you a keen singer looking to join a choir? Come and try us out at our open rehearsal.
• Date: Wednesday 9 September 2026
• Venue: Belmont Community School, DH1 2AG
• Rehearsal time: 7.30-9.00pm
• Music distribution: from 7.15pm
No audition is necessary and we’ll provide you with music for the evening. We’ll be rehearsing a couple of the choruses from Handel’s Messiah which we’ll be preparing for our Cathedral concert in January. We’ll also do some simple singing activities.
The venue has plenty of parking and level access into the building.
If you’d like to join us for the open rehearsal and find out more about DCS, please drop us an email on committeedcs@gmail.com so we can look out for you.
About Durham Choral Society:
We’re a friendly welcoming mixed voice choir of around 115 members who share a love of choral singing. We don’t hold auditions, but our dynamic musical director encourages us to achieve ever higher standards and perform increasingly ambitious repertoire.
Twice a year you’ll have the opportunity to be part of fantastic performances in the stunning venue of Durham Cathedral. We also enjoy performing an annual Festive concert in a community venue.
We sing a wide range of choral works including the ‘big’ choral masterpieces and modern choral classics and regularly collaborate with other choirs and ensembles.
In 2026/27 we’ll be preparing for our performances of Handel’s Messiah on 23 January 2027 and Brahms A German Requiem on 22 May 2027.
We rehearse at Belmont Community School every Wednesday in school term time from 7.30pm-9.30pm. Whether you sing bass, tenor, alto or soprano, you’re very welcome to join us for our open rehearsal from 7.30-9.00pm on Wednesday 9 September.
For more information, or to enquire about membership, please contact committeedcs@gmail.com
At Durham Choral Society we are dedicated to celebrating the joy of great choral singing in the North East of England, enriching the lives of our singers and the community.
Durham Choral Society is a mixed voice choir with around 110 members who share a love of choral singing. Although we are an amateur choir, we are encouraged by our dynamic musical director to achieve ever higher standards. We sing two major concerts a year in the glorious setting of Durham Cathedral. Depending on the work, our concerts have full orchestral or other accompaniment and professional soloists are brought in as required.
The repertoire of the Society is varied, including traditional choral music by composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Handel and Bach as well as works by modern composers such as Howard Goodall and Ola Gjeilo. We have also commissioned works by modern composers such as Durham-born Will Todd who is our President.
We also sing at Christmas with a concert, usually in Elvet Methodist Church, the profits from which are donated to a local charity. In 2017, a group of us sang carols around the wards at the local hospital - an event that started in 1967 and happened every year until 2019 and Covid pandemic intervened.
WE'VE MOVED!
From the beginning of the new choral season (September 2025), Durham Choral Society will be rehearsing in a new, state-of-the-art venue.
Our rehearsals will be every Wednesday, from 7:30 - 9:00pm.
The address is as follows:
Belmont Community School,
The Links,
Durham,
DH1 2AG