Bradford Festival Choral Society |
St George's Hall, Bradford was opened in 1853 and is still in use, which makes it one of the oldest functioning concert halls in the UK. German Jewish wool merchants who had moved to Bradford because of its textile industry, partly financed the building of St George's Hall, and were instrumental in its construction.
Bradford Festival Choral Society was founded in 1856 to perform in the hall, and the choir is still going strong. Since 2008, their music director has been Thomas Leech. They give four major concerts throughout the year, while also being heavily involved in community work, running 'learn to sing concerts', and the city's choir for refugees and asylum seekers, Bradford Friendship Choir.
Bradford Festival Choral Society will be back at St George's Hall on 29 April 2023 when they join forces with the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra for Mozart's Requiem. Thomas Leech and Ben Crick conduct a programme which also includes music by Handel and Elgar, with soloists Lorna James, Hannah Mason, Joseph Doody, and James Creswell. The orchestra will be led by David Greed, who recently retired as concertmaster of the Orchestra of Opera North.
The orchestra was originally founded in 1953, but disbanded in 1958 and was reformed under conductor and composer Ben Crick in 2021 to support a talent pool of first-rate northern musicians and provide a cultural voice for the North.
Further information and tickets from Bradford Theatre's website.
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