About the Choir

Twickenham Choral Society is a friendly thriving choir of over 100 voices drawing singers of all ages from a wide area of West London. Programmes are chosen to provide the opportunity to sing great works from the choral repertoire as well as to explore less familiar music, ranging from Renaissance to the present day. Members are regularly canvassed for ideas and preferences.

The choir always works with excellent professional soloists and orchestras, aiming to produce the highest quality performance. Concerts are staged at least three times a year; usually in local venues but sometimes in central London or abroad.

We organize Concert Tours abroad on a biennial basis. To date we have visited such places as Paris, Prague, Budapest, Barcelona, Istria and Mallorca.

Rehearsals are dynamic and challenging with a real feeling of enthusiasm for singing together. They take place on Thursdays from 7.00pm to 9.30pm between September and June in the main hall of the Twickenham branch of the Richmond Adult & Community College in Clifden Road (close to Twickenham Station). Occasional workshops with visiting specialists are organised to polish the choir's vocal technique.

Choir members also take part in many extra-curricular activities, including carol singing, quiz nights,visits to concerts and operas and the annual garden party.

If you are interested in joining please come along to a rehearsal.

Conductor - Christopher Herrick
 

Christopher Herrick, one-time pupil of Sir Adrian Boult, has been the choir’s conductor since 1974. During this time he has been ambitious for the choir’s development, working with them to perform a huge range of repertoire alongside top-class instrumentalist and vocal soloists.

He has performed with them locally, as well as in Westminster Abbey, the Royal Albert Hall, St Martin in the Fields, Guildford Cathedral and in many exciting European venues.

Christopher combines choral conducting with his career as an international concert organist. He is one of the world’s most prolific recording artists in that field, being contracted exclusively to Hyperion.

Christopher has his own web site.

Assistant Conductor and Accompanist – Jonathan Beatty

Jonathan Beatty is currently a vocal coach at the Guildhall School, having completed his Masters there with Graham Johnson and Eugene Asti, and winning all the prizes for piano accompaniment. He has participated in the young Songmakers’ masterclasses and concert and the Britten Pears programme in Snape. Recent performances include Wigmore Hall recitals and regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3

He is also much in demand as a repetiteur and works regularly with the BBC Singers, Monteverdi Choir and Philharmonia Chorus.