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ABOUT US

Reading Festival Chorus is an amateur mixed choir, first established in 1945, with a current membership of 80 singers. Our patron is John Lill CBE. We perform three to four concerts a year of sacred and secular music, ranging from early to contemporary music in varied venues in and around Reading. We perform with both professional and amateur soloists and orchestras.

The aim of the Chorus is to give the people of Reading and its surrounding communities the opportunity to learn, perform and hear varied choral music of the highest standard.

In April 2020, during lockdown, individual members of the Chorus recorded We'll Play Our Part, a piece by Paul Ayres, which our Music Director stitched together into this clip:

In 2023 the Chorus recorded a number of items demonstrating a small range of music we sing. (Click on the items in the list below. These files are quite large and may take a moment before streaming).
2023 recording Haydn Guerrero Haydn Mendelssohn Victoria

Our rehearsals, on Monday evenings, involve fun, challenge, humour and passion and we aim for a high standard of singing and performance. In addition to our formal concerts we are involved in a variety of other musical events. We have regular exchanges with our twin choir Johanneskantorei in Düsseldorf and sing carols at various venues over the Christmas period where we raise monies for charities.

We provide a choir for weddings and memorial services. If you require a choir for such an occasion, please contact Bill Ellison (see Contact Us).

We also have open evenings throughout the year and singing workshops working on our technique and musicality. We have a lively and varied social life including regular post-rehearsal pub visits, quizzes, dinners and fundraising events such as singing carols.

We warmly welcome enthusiastic singers who are reasonably proficient at reading music and are able to commit to regular attendance at rehearsals and concerts. For further information, see the Singing with us page.

GREG HALLAM - MUSIC DIRECTOR

Greg Hallam is Musical Director of Swansea Bach Choir, Reading Festival Chorus and Bracknell Choral Society.
Greg was Assistant Music Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain for several years and founded the Ulster Youth Junior Choir in 2017. He is tutor to the postgraduate choral conducting students at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, guiding them in the use of gesture and technique alongside how to lead efficient and effective rehearsals.
As singing teacher at Wellington College and Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford, Greg teaches individual lessons to young singers aged 8-18. He works closely with Worcester College, Oxford, delivering regular workshops for the chapel choir, providing vocal tuition to undergraduate students and helping to produce their four most recent recordings.
Greg's conducting and rehearsing style is drawn from his experiences as a singer. As a baritone, Greg has sung with a number of groups including London Voices, Philharmonia Voices, Voces8 and Dieci Voices.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music, Greg was awarded an ARAM (Associate of the Royal Academy of Music) for his significant contribution to the music profession in 2019.
June 2023 marked the first of Greg's 'choral retreats', taking place at the foothills of the Brecon Beacons and accompanied by fabulous food. See choralretreats.com for more information.

JUDITH CREIGHTON - ACCOMPANIST

Judith began learning the piano at the age of six and went on to study Music and German at the University of Southampton where she specialised in piano accompaniment, accompanying many music students for their final recitals.
She is currently the regular accompanist for Reading Festival Chorus and the Twyford Singers, and occasional accompanist for numerous other local choirs and operatic societies. Highlights include playing in the pit for West Side Story and almost mastering the piano part for Sondheim’s ‘Into the Woods.’
She teaches piano at Crosfields school and helps to lead worship at Shinfield Baptist Church. Judith plays the flute and belongs to a local flute choir.
She also practises Taekwondo and has achieved her first Dan black belt.


PREVIOUS MUSIC DIRECTORS

1945
1945 to 1967
1968 to 1971
1971 to 1984
1984 to 1988
1988 to 1996
1996 to 2003
2004 to 2011
2011 to 2017
2018
Dr Reginald Jacques
W Ewart Masser
Maurice Miles
Peter Edwards
Gregory Rose
Jonathan Grieves Smith
Jacques Harry Cohen
Janet Lincé
Edward-Rhys Harry
Andrew Haase (Guest)

 

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