DONCASTER CHORAL SOCIETY
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For information  about for the  current 2023-24 concert season please click on the CONCERTS tab above
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Concerts 2015 to 2020

AT THE CROSS OF JESUS
The Crucifixion
John Stainer
The Saviour
William Lloyd Webber

Saturday 14 March 2020 at 7.30pm 
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR

A combined choir will sing Stainer’s Crucifixion regarded as one of the nation’s favourite choral works and contains rich chromatic harmony and considerable expressive power.
This is coupled with 
The Saviour, magnificent yet rarely heard with familiar hymns for audience in the tradition of Stainer’s work.​
​
Featuring...
  • Tenor - Stephen Liley
  • Bass - Thomas Asher
  • Organ - Simon Lindley
  • Conductor - David Houlder
Sponsored by: the Patrons and Friends of Doncaster Choral Society
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Enjoyed this concert but want to know more about the lesser known work 'The Saviour'?
Read about William Lloyd Webber in this short piece written by Doncaster Choral Society's Music Director Simon Lindley:
Lloyd Webber
File Size: 133 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

​COME SING MESSIAH
in Dr Denis Wright’s edition with Brass Band accompaniment
Saturday 30 November 2019 at 5.30pm (rehearsal/sing through from 1.30pm)
Doncaster Minster, 9 Church Street, Doncaster, DN1 1RD

Love to sing Messiah? 
Come and join us in a special celebration of Handel’s masterpiece with brass accompaniment in the magnificent setting of Doncaster Minster.
​
Featuring...
Doncaster Choral Society
The Choir of Sheffield Bach Society
Rothwell Temperance Band
Music Director: David Roberts
Soloists:
  • Soprano - Joanne Dexter 
  • Alto - Alison Hudson
  • Tenor - Ben Thapa
  • Bass - Alex Ashworth
David Houlder at the Minster Schulze Organ
Conductor: Dr Simon Lindley
and yourselves!
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​ST PAUL

Mendelssohn
Saturday 9 November 2019 at 7pm    
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR


Frequently performed in his lifetime, Mendelssohn’s St Paul tells the story of Saul/Paul through some of the most beautiful and dramatic choral music ever written, full of drama, action, intrigue, murderous plots and miracles.

The text of the oratorio is based very largely on the Acts of the Apostles. After a lengthy overture, Part I opens with the martyrdom of Stephen and Saul’s persecution of the Christians. This is followed by the conversion of Paul, his baptism and ordination as a minister by Ananias. Part II finds Paul and Barnabas becoming the ambassadors of the Church. Their duet is followed by one of the oratorio’s best-loved choruses, ‘How lovely are the messengers’. We then hear of the Jews’ attempted entrapment of Paul and the miraculous healing at Lystra of a crippled man. The work ends with Paul leaving his church at Ephesus and sailing for Jerusalem, and new challenges.

Featuring...
  • Soprano - Debra Morley
  • Contralto - Hannah Mason
  • Tenor - Ruairi Bowen
  • Bass - Terence Ayebare
  • National Festival Orchestra - Sally Robinson leader
Sponsored by: DCS Millennium Club
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SUMMER FESTIVAL CONCERT
Saturday 18 May 2019 at 7.30pm    
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR


Requiem  - Christopher Wood
Requiem  - John Rutter

Christopher Wood's Requiem was written in response to the mixture of emotions generated by the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
If the people filing past her coffin had been a choir, what music would they have sung?" This beautiful work is a fitting accompaniment to John Rutter's Requiem, written in memory of his father.

Plus special guests:   
  • Soprano - Kirsty Hopkins
  • Mezzo Soprano - Marie Elizabeth Seager
  • Tenor - Thomas Elwin
  • Baritone - David Guest
  • National Festival Orchestra - leader Sally Robinson
  • We will also be joined by Members of Sheffield Bach Choir

This concert is presented in association with L'Inviti Music Management Ltd

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BLESS THE LORD!
Saturday 16 March 2019 at 7.30pm
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR


Benedicite  - Andrew Carter
Feel the Spirit  - John Rutter

York-based Composer Andrew Carter's Benedicite incorporates Bless the Lord, a set of three cheerful and merry movements for children's choir.
Feel the Spirit, another firm favourite, brings a special magic - new life even- to such well loved titles as Steal Away and Deep River.


Plus special guests:   
  • Margaret McDonald - mezzo-soprano
  • Childrens choirs from Bessacarr and Town Fields Primary Schools and Doncaster Minster
  • National Festival Orchestra - leader Sally Robinson​

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COME AND SING CHRISTMAS
Saturday 8 December 2018 at 7.30pm
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR
​
 
A Gala Concert of Seasonal Music

Plus special guests:   
  • Clifton Handbell Ringers
  • Elli-Mae McGlone - Organ Soloist
  • David Houlder - Organ
  • Conductor - Simon Lindley

​

LEST WE FORGET
Saturday 10 November 2018 at 7.30pm
​CAST Theatre, Doncaster DN1 3BU


The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace: Karl Jenkins
The Spirit of England - Elgar

Plus special guests:   
  • Debra Morley - Soprano
  • Alison Hudson - Contralto
  • Ranald McClusker - Tenor
  • Alex Ashworth - Bass
  • National Festival Orchestra - Sally Robinson (Leader)

In a season devoted to music by British composers, we commemorate the 1918 Armistice with music of remembrance including Karl Jenkins most performed work - music incorporating every style and mood in a courageous and challenging examination of war and peace. Elgar's Spirit of England war-time trilogy captures the magic of Laurence Binyons's texts.

Sponsored by DCS Millennium Club




GLORIA - VIVALDI
MASS IN G - SHUBERT

​Saturday 19 May 2018 at 7.30pm
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR
​

The wonderfully sunny nature of the Gloria with its distinctive melodies and rhythms gives it immediate and universal appeal. Schubert's Mass in G  is full of surprises and musical ideas.

Plus special guests:   
  • ​Joanne Dexter - Soprano
  • David Allsopp - Counter-tenor
  • Jeremy Dawson - Tenor
  • Quentin Brown - Bass
  • David Houlder - Organ
  • ​National Festival Orchestra - Sally Robinson (Leader)

Sponsored by: The Patrons and Friends of the Society




REQUIEM - RUTTER
MASS IN D - DVORAK

​Saturday 17 March 2018 at 7.30pm
Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office St, DN1 1TR
​

John Rutter unashamedly composes instantly memorable tunes and nowhere is this more evident than in his glorious Requiem. In His Mass in D Dvorak created an exquisite work rich in melodic and harmonic imagery.

Plus special guests:   
  • ​Kirsty Hopkins - Soprano
  • ​Laura Lamph - Contralto
  • ​Ruairi Bowen - Tenor
  • Tom Asher - Bass
  • David Houlder - Organ
  • Principals of the National Festival Orchestra - Sally Robinson (Leader)



​
​Saturday 9th December 2017 at 7.30pm
Christmas Oratorio - J S Bach
Parts 1, 2, 3 & 6.  Celebrate the festive season with Bach's rarely heard magnificent masterpiece
Debra Morley - Soprano
Margaret McDonald - Mezzo-Soprano
Stephen Lilley - Tenor
Terence Ayebare - Bass
David Houlder - Organ
National Festival Orchestra - Sally Robinson (Leader)

​Sponsored by: Mr A E Andrews of Leeds

​Venue: Priory Place Methodist Church, Printing Office Street DN1 1TR



​Saturday 11th November 2017  ​7.30pm 
The MAGIC of MOZART  Requiem & Solemn Vespers

plus Clarinet Concerto in A (K622)  &  ​Overture: Marriage of Figaro (K492)
​Priory Place Methodist Church  DN1 1TR
Mozart's Requiem, his final work, is one of the most famous in the choral repertoire. Left unfinished at the time  of his death, it contains hauntingly beautiful music.
​His Solemn Vespers, written at a time of personal unhappiness, is remarkable for its joyous music expression - most notably the Laudate Dominum with its soaring soprano solo.
​In addition the National Festival Orchestra will treat us to to the wonderful and very popular Overture from his opera The Marriage of Figaro and the sublime Clarinet Concerto in A,
one of Mozart's final completed works, and his last purely instrumental work .

Philippa Hyde - Soprano
Hannah Mason - Contralto
Ben Thapa - Tenor
Quentin Brown - Bass

​Helen Blamey - Clarinet

David Houlder - Organ
​National Festival Orchestra - Sally Robinson (Leader)





​Saturday 13th May 2017  7.30pm       ​Favourite Choral Classics
Feast of classic favourites including "I Was Glad"; Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" and "Zadok The Priest". Along with Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory the concert with have a "Last Night of the Proms" feel. Come prepared to do some singing!!
​
​Soprano:  Claire Wheat
​Organ and Piano: Jonathan Gooing
​


Saturday 1st April 2017 7.30pm at CAST Theatre Doncaster
Messiah
​
A special celebration of Handel's great masterpiece to mark the 275th anniversary of the work's first performance in Dublin.​
The National Festival Orchestra

​Joanne Dexter - Soprano
Margaret McDonald - Mezzo-Soprano
Richard Rowe - Tenor
Alan Fairs - Bass
David Houlder -  organ. 



Saturday 10th December 2016  7.30pm
​Come Sing Christmas

​A Gala Concert of seasonal music - a celebration in words and music including carols for all to sing .
​Featuring guest artiste:  Carey Williams
Venue: Priory Place Methodist Church. Printing Office Street DN1 1TR



Saturday 5 November 2016    7.30pm   ​Mendelssohn:    ELIJAH

Soprano: Julie Cooper
Contralto: Alison Hudson
Tenor: Ben Thapa
​Bass: Ben Davies
Treble: Andrew Farn
​
Organ: David Houlder
with
HARROGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL CHAMBER CHOIR
and
​The National Festival Orchestra - Leader Sally Robinson
Venue: Priory Place Methodist Church. Printing Office Street DN1 1TR




Saturday May 14th 2016   ENGLISH GLORY
James Walker: Night Songs & John Rutter: Psalmfest

Walker’s Night Songs were commissioned for the centenary of choral singing in the town by Doncaster Choral Society in 1998. The songs have been performed elsewhere by Sheffield Bach Choir and was previously revived in the Doncaster choir’s 125th anniversary in 2013, a project generously supported by the Friends and Patrons of DCS.
The Concert also included John Rutter’s
Psalmfest contains some of Rutter’s most attractive music with its mix of rhythmic vitality and melodic beauty.
Soprano: Phillippa Hyde
Tenor: Stephen Liley
​Bass: Terence Ayebare

​The National Festival Orchestra
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March 12th 2016 Rossini - Stabat Mater  & Dvorak - Te Deum

Considered a masterpiece by many, the Stabat Mater, a gigantic success at its first performance, Is a wonderfully melodic work veering rather more towards the operatic than the religious, whilst in the Te Deum Dvorak was inspired to write his finest music, suitably festive and appealing to his deeply felt religious convictions.
​
Stabat Mater Soloists:  
Sop Kristina James
Alto Kathryn Woodruff
Tenor Stephen Liley
Bass Quentin Brown
Organ David Houlder 

December 12th 2015   Handle - Messiah

The Choral Society perform Handle's Messiah bi-annually, normally at Priory Place Methodist Church, Doncaster.A complete performance “ cover to cover ” with an international line-up of soloists directed by our conductor from the harpsichord following the tradition of the composer himself

Messiah Soloists:
S
oprano Debra Morley
Alto Margaret McDonald
Tenor Ben Thapa
Bass Alex Ashworth
Organ David Houlder

National Festival Orchestra

Lesley Garrett sings with Doncaster Choral Society  - November 14th 2015

VENUE:  CAST Theatre Doncaster

Overture: The Marriage of Figaro
 
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LESLEY, CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA
Mozart – Laudate Dominum*
Stanford – Magnificat in G 

Rutter – Gaelic Blessing 

LESLEY, CHOIR  AND ORCHESTRA
Mozart – Coronation Mass** – Kyrie – Gloria – Sanctus/Benedictus/Agnus Dei
All Around my Hat
LESLEY AND ORCHESTRA
A North Country Lass
The Bold Grenadier


CHOIR
The Ripon Sword Dance 

ORCHESTRA
Warlock – Capriol Suite 
LESLEY AND FRIENDS with ORCHESTRA 
Vivaldi – Laudamus Te [Gloria]
Mozart – La Ci Darem La Mano 
with the CHOIR
Verdi – Brindisi [La Traviata] 

CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA
Verdi – Va Pensiero [Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves]

LESLEY AND ORCHESTRA  
Rodgers – Lover [Love me Tonight] 
Theile/Weiss – What a Wonderful World 

LESLEY, CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA  
Mancini – Moon River [Breakfast at Tiffany’s] 
Rodgers – Some Enchanted Evening [South Pacific]
encore: You'll Never Walk Alone


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