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We’d love to keep in touch and send you occasional emails (approximately four per year) about our concerts and activities. 

If you sign up to our newsletter via the QR code published in the advert in our concert programmes before 11:59pm on 31 January 2026, we’ll enter you into our prize draw to win a VIP Package to our performance of Handel’s Messiah on Good Friday, 3 April 2026 at 2.30pm in the Royal Albert Hall, London. You must sign up via the QR code and you must also confirm your subscription via the link in the email that is sent to you in order to be entered into the draw.  

1. You will automatically be entered into the Prize Draw if you sign up for the newsletter between 18 October 2025 and 11:59pm on 31 January 2026 via the QR code published in the advert in our concert programmes and confirm your subscription via the link in the email that it sent to you. If you want to sign up to the newsletter but don’t want to be entered into the prize draw please email marketing@royalchoralsociety.co.uk and we will remove you from the Prize Draw.
2. The Prize Draw will close at 11:59pm on 31 January 2026 (the “Closing Date”). You must sign up to the newsletter in order to be eligible (“Recipients”).
3. Entry into the Prize Draw is limited to one (1) entry per Recipient. The Royal Choral Society reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify anyone that enters the Prize Draw more than once.
4. Entry is not permitted for current or previous members of the Royal Choral Society, their immediate families or anyone else living in their household. Proof of age may be required.
5. There is one (1) prize and there will be one (1) winner who will receive the following prize:

• 8 tickets in an exclusive private loggia box for the Royal Choral Society’s performance of Handel’s Messiah at 2.30pm on Good Friday 3 April 2026 in the Royal Albert Hall, London
• £250 of pre-concert and interval food and drink delivered to your box.
• 8 souvenir programmes

Any other expenses incurred by the winner in taking up the prize such as, but not limited to, travel to and from the venue, overnight accommodation and any other food and drink are the responsibility of the winner. 

1. No cash alternatives to the Prize are available. The Royal Choral Society  reserves the right to substitute the Prize (or any part of it) for an alternative prize of equivalent or greater monetary value if this is necessary for reasons beyond its reasonable control.
2. The winner will be selected at random by computer from all eligible entries received by The Royal Choral Society after the Closing Date.
3. The Royal Choral Society will email the winner using the email address they provided when signing up to the newsletter and entering the prize draw shortly after 31 January 2026 (the “Prize Draw Date”) letting them know they have won and asking them to confirm that they would like to accept the Prize.
4. The Royal Choral Society will liaise with the winner to arrange the fulfilment of the Prize. 
5. The Royal Choral Society will publish or make available the winner’s surname and the county they live in. If you are selected as the winner you must notify The Royal Choral Society immediately if you are not agreeable to this information being published or made available, or that you require the amount of information published or made available to be reduced - you can send this request to marketing@royalchoralsociety.co.uk. Please note The Royal Choral Society may be required to provide the winners surname, the county they live in and their email address to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to demonstrate that a valid draw has taken place, Recipients that would not be agreeable to disclosure of this information to the ASA in the event they are the winner should not enter the prize draw.
6. If the Royal Choral Society does not receive a response from a winner, or if a winner fails to confirm their email address within thirty (30) days of the Prize Draw Date, we reserve the right, at our absolute discretion, to consider that winner to have forfeited the Prize and to withdraw the Prize entitlement of that person and award the prize to a reserve who will also have been drawn out in accordance with section 7 above.
7. If the winner is unable to take up the prize personally they can choose to transfer the prize to someone else of their choosing, or they can hand the prize back. If they hand the prize back the Royal Choral Society will award the the prize to a reserve who will also have been drawn out in accordance with section 7 above.
8. The Prize must not be sold or auctioned. If the Royal Choral Society becomes aware that the prize has been sold or auctioned the prize will become invalid. Identification may be requested.  
9. The Royal Choral Society takes no responsibility for entries that are delayed or lost due to technical reasons or otherwise.
10. Any personal data that The Royal Choral Society collects in connection with this prize draw will be processed in accordance with our privacy notice, and will only be used to administer this promotion.
11. The Royal Choral Society reserves the right to withdraw or amend either the Prize Draw or these terms and conditions at any time, and without notice, if this is necessary for reasons beyond its reasonable control.
12. By entering the Newsletter Sign Up Prize Draw, you will be deemed to have read and agreed to be bound by these terms and conditions.
13. The decision of The Royal Choral Society is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Entries that do not comply in full with these terms and conditions will be invalid and disqualified.
14. These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and any disputes arising from these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.
15. The promoter of the prize draw is The Royal Choral Society, a private company limited by guarantee without share capital (company number 02162383) whose registered office is at 507 Queens Quay, 58 Upper Thames Street, London, England, EC4V 3EH 

We are delighted to announce that HM King Charles III will take on the Patronage of the Royal Choral Society following the death of our former patron HM the late Queen Elizabeth II. This follows a review of patronages undertaken by Buckingham Palace, and an announcement to mark the first anniversary of Their Majesties’ coronation.

Peter Dart, Chairman of the Royal Choral Society said: ‘We are honoured that His Majesty has confirmed his Patronage of the Royal Choral Society, and delighted to be able to announce this on our 152^nd birthday, 8 May 2024. His Majesty’s love of music, and his support for music as a bedrock of our cultural life, is well known, and we look forward to welcoming him to one of our concerts. We are grateful for the continuing support of our monarch, an unbroken thread in our history ever since HM Queen Victoria gave us permission to call ourselves the Royal Choral Society in 1888.’

photo (c) Hugh Burnand

This year sees the Royal Choral Society’s 147^th annual Good Friday afternoon performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall. The choir performed this masterpiece in its first season in 1872, but in 1876 the work was performed on Good Friday, repeated the year after, and thus started London’s Easter tradition.

The Royal Albert Hall estimates that five million audience members have seen a performance of Messiah at the Hall since it opened in 1871, and we reckon that the number of Messiahs sung by individual Royal Choral Society members over the last 150 years will be in the tens of thousands. We must have performed the work more times than any other choir, with at least 280 performances.

This work is a recurring highlight of the choral repertoire, and not just because of the unusually large number of choral movements! It is simply one of the best oratorios to perform – for choir and soloists alike.

Do we get fed up with the annual rehearsal/performances of Messiah? Never! It is part of our DNA, the comfy slippers or favourite recipe that we love to return to. From the first sing-through to the final note of the 'Amen Chorus 'on stage on Good Friday, we simply love it. And performing in our ‘spiritual home’, the Royal Albert Hall, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a quartet of exceptional soloists, under the baton of our Music Director Richard Cooke, is the icing on an already rich and fruity cake.

We polled our members to get some stats and facts:

• We think that current members have performed 2780 Messiahs between them, the highest being 61.
• The runaway favourite chorus is Worthy is the Lamb/Amen Chorus. Surely he hath Borne Our Griefs also scored well.
• Favourite aria is 'The Trumpet Shall Sound' followed by 'I Know that my Redeemer Liveth'. But there were many favourites among the respondents.

And we also asked some other questions:

1. What does performing Messiah mean to you?

There's no better place for a singer to be on Good Friday afternoon than in the RAH singing Messiah. Andrew, bass

As a Christian for me it us an act of worship. Royston, tenor

I love the certainty that, at 2.30pm every Good Friday, I am going to have a uniquely life-affirming experience. When I was younger, I was more light-hearted about it. With every passing year, it means more and more…The sheer intensity of it is unforgettable. Gill, soprano

I can’t put it into words. It is beyond words. Pat, alto

Wonderful choral experience, continuation of the history of the choir and a major aspect for me of Easter worship. Andrew, bass

Pinnacle performance of the year! Personal elation and sheer power and musicianship of the choir. Philip, tenor

It defines the whole of Easter for me. Rebecca, soprano

Tradition, history and a deep sense of privilege to sing such an iconic work, with a wonderful choir, in a beautiful building, to an (always) appreciative audience. It makes me tingle with joy. I could die happy after every performance - except that it would be an inconvenience! Alison, soprano

It always remains my most favourite concert with the RCS, and I feel enormously privileged to sing this work with such a wonderful choir in such an iconic venue, bringing such delight to so many people. Sue, alto

I feel part of an epic tradition, not just within the history of the Society, but within the singers in my family before and after me who have also sung Messiah. Simon, bass

It’s exhilarating and uplifting no matter how many times you’ve sung it. Dinny, alto

2. What’s your favourite moment in the two hours it takes to perform Messiah?

The line ‘He was bruised for our iniquities’ in the bass part of ‘Surely...’ Jerry, bass

Unaccompanied singing in ‘Since by Man came death’ Peter, bass

The trumpet solo in ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ – pure and glorious sound! Robert, bass

Definitely seeing the audience standing during the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’; I get emotional (and definitely choked up!) every time it happens! Katie, soprano

The last page and the run up to THAT amazing top A where you think you are flying. Jennie, soprano

The final rest before the final amen is a magical moment at the culmination of the work. Sam, bass

In ‘All we like Sheep’ Handel makes light of having gone astray, and invites us to laugh at ourselves. Haven’t we all gone astray at one time or another? And then he springs the trap shut, forcing us to acknowledge the full cost of our iniquities. Joseph, tenor

The audience reaction to the 'Hallelujah Chorus' – esp when the soloists make a point of turning around with thumbs up! Andy, tenor

The 'Amen Chorus' – makes me cry every time. Sophie, soprano

The very end. 'Amen Chorus', all 9999 pipes on the organ on the go. A tear is always shed. Fiona, alto

Turning that final page after two hours of glorious music, I feel sad that it’s about to end but exhilaration at the journey we’ve been on; that high A from the sops as the work edges towards its final climax is sublime, and then the big pause before the final ‘Amen’. I find it difficult to sing this page because I get so emotional. Jackie, alto

The final moments of a good performance where the whole choir, the soloists and the audience are filled with the emotion of the whole piece... I remember one performance not many years ago when the soloists were moved to tears at the end. So was I! Peter, tenor

3. And we asked for any special memories of past performances…

Back in the day the RCS would picnic in the auditorium between the rehearsal and the performance. I had a busy social life so would often take a nap by turning the seats in the stalls to lie down! Tessa, alto

During rehearsals for the first Messiah post Covid there were no seats in the arena and one of the soloists went and laid down on the floor in the middle of the arena to listen to the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. It felt like a particularly emotional moment for many there that day. Anon, soprano

I sang Messiah when I was 8 months pregnant and hoped I wouldn’t do a live re-enactment of ‘For unto us a child is born’! anon, alto

In 1966 Sir Charles Grove took one rehearsal. He said ‘sing it how you normally do’, which we did. At the end of the rehearsal he said; ‘On Friday you sing it my way’ – and we did. Everything was different. We concentrated like mad! Peter, bass

The socially distanced version will be something that I’ll remember forever. And, of course, our online version during Covid! Emma, soprano

I shall never forget our socially distanced performance singing at least 8ft away from any other performer in any direction, nerve wracking and yet intensely moving to be privileged to sing at the first choral concert at the Royal Albert Hall after lockdown. Kate, alto

When Lesley Garrett – before she was famous – sang ‘Rejoice Greatly’. Utter knockout! At the rehearsal, the orchestra applauded. I’d never seen them do that before. Gill, soprano

I loved our 2021 performance, socially distanced just with organ; such a different experience and joy to hear Richard Pearce’s mastery. Andy, tenor

My Dad’s first ever visit to the Royal Albert Hall was Good Friday Messiah in 1937 when he was 21. He couldn’t possibly have foreseen his daughter singing it 80+ years later. Pat, alto

In 1947, my partner’s mother and father came to see the RCS Good Friday performance when courting and his father wanted to propose to her at the event (as it was her birthday too), but knew she would think it sacreligious. They loved the concert but he waited until Easter Sunday as a ‘happy day’. She said yes! Jonathan, bass

One year (probably late 1970s) our conductor, Meredith Davies was ill and John Birch (our organist) took over the baton. I have never experienced singing Messiah at such speed. It reduced the run time by some 20 minutes! Norman, bass

What is so special is that I’m using my score of Messiah that I’ve had since I was 12, when I learned my first Messiah aria, ‘Come Unto Him’. It makes me so happy looking through the score to see notes of mine through the years!  Katie, soprano

My elderly mother was blown away by our choir’s sound when she attended my first performance in 2008. It was her last trip to London but I sing from her 1948 score every year! Priscilla, soprano

4. And what does the audience think?

My 17-year old step-grandson was totally overcome that something so old and ‘square’ could be so fantastic. Geoff, bass

My usual gang come every year – and build their Easter around it, so they must like it.  We all then adjourn to mine for a Good Friday supper of fish pie. Tessa, alto

A couple l know never miss a performance and sit on the same seats. Royston, tenor

When my Yorkshire boyfriend (who became my husband) said it was almost as good as a rugby league match! Anon, alto

One set of friends were so impressed that they decided to make our Messiah an annual event. Kate, alto

My former minister said ‘I thought I had died and gone to heaven’. Richard, bass

The long standing ovation last year was pretty memorable ‘audience feedback’. Anon, alto

My family audience members commented that someone in their row fell asleep and started snoring! Julie, soprano

After the first one I did I went to catch the bus outside (tube on strike!) – many people queuing there that I spoke to had been at the performance and had loved it. A great and rewarding sensation. Andrew, bass

Book tickets for this year's performance here.

photo: 2021 socially-distanced performance. c. Andy Paradise

The Royal Choral Society is chuffed to bits that its recording of one our favourite carols, 'In The Bleak Midwinter' has been named as one of five WINNERS in Classic FM's annual carol competition run in association with Making Music, the charity that supports amateur music making. The recording will be played live on John Brunning's Classic Fm More Music Drive show at 6.15pm on Monday 19 December.

The carol was recorded on an appropriately chilly day in February 2022, in the beautiful church of St Giles, Cripplegate. The choir was conducted by Music Director Richard Cooke. You can see the choir's performance of this carol on our YouTube Channel.

The choir chose this particular carol not just for the beautiful unaccompanied setting by Gustav Holst, but because 2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the original publication of the poem by Christina Rossetti in 1872. 2022 also sees the choir's own 150th anniversary, so the carol was the perfect choice to enter into the competition, which is open to amateur choral and orchestral groups. To be one of the five winners and to be broadcast on Classic FM is the perfect ending to the choir's anniversary year!

You can hear it on catch up here (6.15pm ie at 2 hrs 15min).

The Royal Choral Society is currently taking part in 15 carol concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Youth Choirs,  Greg Beardsell presenting and Richard Cooke conducting.

An introduction to our annual Christmas concert, Royal Albert Hall 12 December, 2022

In the Royal Choral Society’s 150^th anniversary year, it will be uplifting to be back in the choir’s ‘spiritual home’ to celebrate Christmas with a feast of seasonal music. Singing or listening to carols in the lead up to Christmas is a special experience, giving us moments in which to reach back into our childhood, while the power and beauty of this music connects us to the generations who sang these songs long ago.

2022 has also seen celebrations to mark English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 150^th anniversary. The Royal Choral Society was conducted by Vaughan Williams himself, including his 70^th birthday performance of A Sea Symphony, at the Royal Albert Hall. In our Christmas concert programme we have included his Wassail Song, first published in 1913, which is a magnificent setting of the Gloucestershire Wassail. A ‘wassail’ was an ancient toast which means something along the lines of ‘good health’, and also a traditional mulled cider that was the centrepiece of many ‘wassailing’ festivities. Vaughan Williams was one of the foremost collectors of folk songs and carols, and many of the carols that we perform nowadays, are still in existence because he saved them from oblivion.

One of our favourite carols, In the Bleak Midwinter, also marks its 150^th anniversary this year. This poem by Christina Rossetti was first published under the title ‘A Christmas Carol’ in the January 1872 issue of the magazine Scribner’s Monthly. In 1906, English composer Gustav Holst set the poem to his tune ‘Cranham’ and it has remained a firm favourite ever since.

This year also marks the 350^th anniversary of the death of German composer Heinrich Schütz, ‘father’ of German Baroque, who paved the way for Bach, Handel and much of the development of Western music. In our concert, the choir performs Schütz’s ‘Dank Sagan wir alle Gott’, the joyful closing chorus from his Christmas Story. It was first performed in 1660.

Other German carols also appear on the programme. Hieronymus Praetorius’ Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein is a beautiful antiphonal carol that would have been sung at Vespers after the Magnificat during the Christmas season. A near-contemporary of Schütz, Praetorius was an organist and pre-eminent composer based in Hamburg. Although his music output was prolific he is perhaps best known for this setting of Joseph Lieber and In Dulci Jubilo, both eight-part works for double choir.

Sung in German, but in fact Austrian in origin, Stille Nacht (‘Silent Night’) is one of the all-time best-loved Christmas carols. Its composition was a collaboration between two friends, Pastor Joseph Franz Mohr who trudged through the snow on Christmas Eve 1818 to visit his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, to see if Gruber could set his poem to music in time for the Christmas Eve church service that night. Because the church organ was out of commission, the carol was performed before the altar of St Nicholas Church in Oberndorf with guitar and choir accompaniment. It must have been spellbinding. The Royal Choral Society will sing an arrangement of this carol composed during the depths of the Covid pandemic by the Royal Choral Society’s Music Director Richard Cooke. The first performance was by just 48 socially-distanced members of the choir at the Christmas concert at the Royal Albert Hall in December 2020.

From Germany and Austria, we head north to Sweden, for Jul, Jul, Strålande Jul, probably one of, if not the best-loved Christmas carol in Sweden, which deserves to be more widely known. Composed by Gustaf Nordqvist and published in 1921, the title translates as ‘Christmas, Christmas, shining Christmas’, and the song describes a glistening snow-filled scene – more Scandinavian than English, and offers blessings with a wish that Christmas brings light and peace above the blood and sounds of war.

In the season of peace and goodwill, the choir members are keeping the people of Ukraine in their thoughts, with a Ukrainian carol included as a support to the many Ukrainians in the UK and as a reminder of the ongoing war. Spy, Isuse Spy (‘Sleep, Jesus Sleep’) a lullaby by Olya Fryz arranged by Roxanna Panufnik, is being performed this year by choirs all over the UK with proceeds from buying the music going to the British Refugee Council. This work includes a stunning soprano solo, performed at this concert by Mary Bevan.

Mary also performs the aria ‘He shall feed his flock’ from Handel’s Messiah in the first half of this concert. Although this choral masterpiece is traditionally associated with Christmas, Messiah was in fact composed to be performed in the lead up to Easter. The Royal Choral Society sang the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Messiah in its first season 150 years ago in 1872, but in 1876 the choir’s tradition of performing this masterpiece on Good Friday afternoon at the Royal Albert Hall began, and in the last 146 years, only the Blitz in World War Two and the Covid lockdown have prevented the annual performance. After two years where audience numbers have been adversely affected, the choir is looking forward to filling the Hall for Messiah on Good Friday, 7^th April 2023: tickets for this great Easter tradition are now on sale.

The ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ will take pride of place in the celebratory programme for the Royal Choral Society’s 150^th Anniversary Gala Concert on Sunday 7 May 2023 at the Royal Albert Hall. The concert will feature exceptional choral music, with all the works chosen for their special significance for the Royal Choral Society, including excerpts from works premiered in the UK by the choir (Verdi’s Requiem, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and Panufnik’s Cradle Song) and music from composers associated with the choir (Elgar, Holst and Coleridge-Taylor), as well as a few surprises along the way. As it is also Coronation weekend, this concert of double celebration will open and close with a couple of ‘big sings’, the coronation anthems by Handel (Zadok the Priest) and Parry (I Was Glad).  We are inviting the audience to join in ‘beltissimo’ with I Was Glad at the end of the concert, and help raise the roof for our new King! Tickets are now on sale, and the music for I Was Glad will be provided. If you are in a choir do spread the word!

The Royal Choral Society was saddened by the death of our former Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in September. Her Majesty had sent us greetings on our 150^th anniversary in May and we enjoyed performing in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall in June to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. This Christmas we remember her with affection and gratitude, and we are proud that her very first visit to the Royal Albert Hall was to our annual Christmas Concert on 15 December 1934, as Princess Elizabeth, accompanied by her mother HRH The Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) and sister HRH Princess Margaret.

Merry Christmas from everyone in the Royal Choral Society!

Wassail!

The Chairman, Trustees and Members of the Royal Choral Society are deeply saddened at the death of our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen. We send our heartfelt condolences to all members of the Royal Family at this time.

The Royal Choral Society turned 150 on 8 May 2022, and has kicked off a busy year of celebratory concerts to mark this musical milestone. We were back at the Royal Albert Hall for our Good Friday Messiah - the first with a full house and orchestra since 2019, which was an emotional occasion – and we are now looking forward to our concert of Verdi's Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall. Our anniversary season culminates in a gala concert of choral classics at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2023. Visit our concert page for details.

Our performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 30th May, delayed from Good Friday to Trinity Sunday, was an emotional and powerful occasion for performers and audience alike. This was the first concert performance for the full choir since Christmas Eve 2019, following the banning of amateurs singing in large groups for either concert or rehearsals since March 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our 2020 Good Friday Messiah had to be cancelled – the first cancellation of this annual event since the Blitz.

The mitigations in place at the RAH to prevent the transmission of Covid were second to none, as was to be expected from the Hall’s excellent event management team. Singers were admitted on evidence of a negative Covid test, with everyone scanning in to the NHS test and trace system. Masks were worn at all times except when singing and everyone maintained 2-m social-distancing at all times. This meant that the 117-strong choir was ranged up each side of the organ and onto the stage (with the stage extension on). 

But what about singing under these conditions?

Conducted by Richard Cooke and accompanied by Richard Pearce on the organ (instead of with our usual orchestra, the RPO), the choir had been able to rehearse at the Royal Albert Hall on the Thursday preceding the concert, as well as in split rehearsals in two other venues during the two weeks prior to the concert, and on Zoom before that! This meant that we were concert-ready, and because we know Messiah so well (it’s an annual event and Richard always rehearses it thoroughly), the 2m social-distancing merely ensured that everyone concentrated that little bit harder!

We had four exceptional soloists: Mary Bevan, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Benjamin Hulett and Edward Grint. Like amateur singers, they have also missed out on many performances due to Covid and it was obvious how much they enjoyed the performance and seemed impressed by the sound made by the choir – and amused by Richard Pearce’s rendition of ‘All We Like Sheep’. The Amen Chorus has never sounded so impassioned. What a moment!

A standing ovation followed from a very appreciative audience. It was certainly a day to remember! 

Video of Hallelujah Chorus from 30 May on Facebook:
https://fb.watch/5Ur1r_d-6i/

The Royal Choral Society’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, delayed from Good Friday to Sunday 30 May, 2.30pm at the Royal Albert Hall, conducted by Richard Cooke, is going ahead as planned.

The Royal Albert Hall will ensure that this concert goes ahead within government guidelines regarding Covid safety measures.

Our view, and that of the Royal Albert Hall, is that the Performing Arts guidance released by the DCMS on Tuesday 18 May, that states that non-professional singing indoors should only take place in a single group of up to 6 people, does not apply to professional activity. The Royal Choral Society’s choir is made up of amateur singers, however the environment is professional and the performers taking part in the presentation of Handel’s Messiah on Sunday 30 May will be behaving in a professional manner in front of a paying audience. We believe that this situation is within the guidelines.

All choir members taking part will have to present negative Covid test results to gain entry to the Hall. They will be 2m-distanced from each other at all times once inside the Hall, which will be well ventilated. To further restrict numbers on stage, the choir will be accompanied by Richard Pearce on the mighty Royal Albert Hall organ, rather than with an orchestra. Finally, the audience numbers will be restricted to just 800.

Choir members will continue testing after the concert, and the Royal Albert Hall will have details of all performers and audience through the NHS Test and Trace app, and through ticket booking details.

We are pleased to be able to support the Royal Albert Hall in its 150^th year, particularly to be one of the first events after its reopening. We hope this concert will set an important precedent for the safety of future events, so that choirs can get back to singing together.

We stand with all choirs and singers who have been disappointed by the recent confusing advice from the DCMS, and we fully support the action being taking by musicians across the country to have the DCMS guidance clarified so that all amateur choirs can return to singing, which is such an important part of the musical life of the nation.

Concert & ticket information here.

As we move out of lockdown and get back to ‘normal’ rehearsing, it’s also time to throw open our doors and invite newcomers! In addition to concerts and rehearsals, we have lost a year of recruitment, so we would love to welcome new members. If you have been thinking about joining a choir, or you haven’t found a choir since leaving school or university, then do consider joining the Royal Choral Society in 2021.

There couldn’t be a better time to join the choir. 2022 sees our 150^th anniversary and we are planning an exciting year of concerts including Verdi Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall and our 150th gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

All the information about how to join the choir is on the website. You can just apply for an audition, or you can come along to an Open Rehearsal – the next one is on Monday 21st June when all Covid restrictions will, hopefully, have eased. We’ll be rehearsing repertoire for our Classical Spectacular autumn concert at the Royal Albert Hall (opera choruses and other choral classics), and it’s a great opportunity to try us out and mingle with the choir members afterwards over wine and nibbles, to ask further questions.

We’re a friendly bunch, so do come along! See you on 21st June! 

The Royal Choral Society is delighted to announce that we will be returning to our ‘spiritual home’ the Royal Albert Hall for a performance of Handel’s Messiah on Sunday 30th May at 2.30pm. This will be one of the first concerts to be held at the Hall after a prolonged period in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the concert will be held in accordance with government Covid guidelines. Due to social distancing, the audience numbers are restricted to just 800, and the 120-strong choir will be accompanied by Richard Pearce on the mighty Royal Albert Hall organ, rather than orchestra. The concert will be conducted by the Royal Choral Society’s Music Director Richard Cooke, and a quartet of superb soloists completes the line-up.

This concert is a postponement of the choir’s annual Good Friday performance. Since 1876, the choir has performed Handel’s Messiah on every Good Friday except on four occasions: twice during the Blitz 1940/1 and in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2020 the choir members filmed themselves singing the Hallelujah Chorus from home, and the film launched the #RoyalAlbertHome digital concert series. You can watch it here.

Tickets are on sale now via the Royal Albert Hall website.

During lockdown, our Music Director Richard Cooke kept us entertained and informed with his weekly blogs, hosted on his website. Each week, Richard wrote about a favourite work (not necessarily choral music, as we know a bit about that). This musical diversion encouraged us to listen to something new, or to familiarise ourselves with a much-loved orchestral piece, informed by Richard’s commentary. There was a wonderful range of works chosen and Richard included some entertaining stories from his varied career (cue plenty of name dropping!) as well as stories from ‘behind the scenes’ of famous recordings and performances that we may not have known about. Who knew, for example, that Richard (as a student) conducted Peter Pears in a performance of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, or that he conducted the soundtrack to a Ken Russell movie?

You can find Richard’s blogs on his website and the introductory videos are on our YouTube channel.

Lockdown continues and until restrictions ease we are back rehearsing on Zoom. If we turn a corner in the pandemic once vaccines are rolled out, and are able to get back to live performance, we hope to sing in our annual Good Friday Messiah, perhaps in a reduced capacity.

Hope springs eternal. We will sing again, we are just not sure when. As soon as we have news about Messiah on Good Friday we will post here. Stay safe.

It was back in the late 1980s that Raymond Gubbay hit on the idea for a concert of popular classical music at the Royal Albert Hall, not just with a top-flight orchestra and choir, but with lights, lasers and even fireworks – a ‘Classical Spectacular’. Raymond insisted that whatever else was played, the programme MUST include Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. The first concert was on 8 October 1989 and was an instant success, with annual concerts running for the next thirty years, twice a year with six shows each time. Three million people have been to the shows!

The Royal Choral Society was engaged for the first time on 1 November 1995 and has since performed in rep with another choir on alternating nights. The other choirs have come and gone, but since 1985 we have been there every year. While we may outwardly grumble that
we are not given enough to do on stage, I am sure that these concerts are our ‘guilty pleasure’: when else do we get ringside seats for all the best classical tunes? And who doesn’t like a bit of cannon and mortar effect!?

I met Raymond a year or so back and asked him how he got involved in the ‘business’. He said, “It’s simple. I went for a job interview with Victor Hochhauser [a musical promoter of some note] and he asked me two questions. He said, ‘Are you Jewish, and can you start on
Monday?’. I replied yes to both, and here I still am.”

Thirty years’ achievement was noted at the performance on 21 November 2019 with a speech by Craig Hassell, Chief Executive of the Royal Albert Hall, and the Gubbay organisation presented all the musicians with a very nice key ring memento and a glass of champagne in the interval. Raymond retired from the business a few years back, but we wish him and the organisation well, particularly in these difficult times for all involved in
concert promotion.

Richard Reeves, Summer 2020

In an Easter treat designed to lift the nation’s spirit during the first lockdown in April 2020, the Royal Choral Society performed Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Messiah digitally on Good Friday, continuing (in part) a Royal Choral Society tradition that has been going for 144 years – broken only by the Blitz in 1940/41. This special performance saw 82 members of the Royal Choral Society singing from their own homes. Conductor Richard Cooke joined from his garden, with Richard Pearce – regular organist for the Last Night of the Proms – providing accompaniment. The individual videos were then spliced together to present the choir performing as if together. The video was presented as part of the #RoyalAlbertHome initiative from the Royal Albert Hall. The video had over 250,000 views over the Easter weekend, with viewers tuning in from all over the world.

Watch the video below:

The final element in our Victoria and Albert bicentenary celebrations came in November 2019 with an invitation to serenade the grand unveiling of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Christmas tree. But this was no ordinary tree. Entitled ‘Freedom’ and constructed from powder-coated aluminium, glass blasted steel and paper, the spectacular installation featured 200 ornately folded white paper origami birds, each with the V&A’s original logo stamped on their tail. It was simply stunning and a world away from the over-tinselled Nordman fir trees usually seen during the festive season.

The tree was gifted to the V&A by the city of Coburg – the Prince’s birthplace, a highly appropriate gesture given Prince Albert’s encouragement of Christmas trees in homes during the festive season. The tree was created by design student Anna Huennerkopf as part of a competition for students of the University of Applied Sciences in Coburg, who were briefed with redesigning the Christmas tree for a modern age. The tree evoked tranquility and joy, and encouraged us to take a moment of peaceful reflection. 

We were delighted to be part of this special moment and enjoyed singing a selection of Christmas carols from the marble balcony of the V&A’s foyer. The acoustic was perfect and, after a quick rehearsal in a private room (those stairs!), O Tannenbaum, Once in Royal and O Come, All Ye Faithful and other carols were soon ringing round the atrium, much to the delight of visitors and museum staff. 

After the singing concluded, a small group was invited to join our friends from Coburg and ‘Victoria and Albert’ in a private reception, where votes of thanks and gifts were exchanged, and speeches made, including by Sir Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A. The choir was presented with a miniature version of the tree as a memento, and we were thanked for participating so enthusiastically in the bicentenary celebrations.

Jackie Freshfield, December 2019