OUR MUSIC

We aim to perform to a professional standard. We sing many well known and loved pieces of music such as Handel’s Messiah, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and the St John and St Matthew Passions by JS Bach. Alongside these we include less familiar music. We performed the world premiere of James McMillan’s Gloria in 2012 and the European premiere of John Rutter’s The Gift of Life in 2015.
On the lighter side we have included songs from Wicked and arrangements of Shakespeare songs by jazz musican George Shearing in our concerts.
You can see below the major works we have performed since Rachel Mahon took up the baton as Musical Director in 2022. Alongside these are many shorter pieces which we included in our annual carol concerts.
| Year | Composer | Music |
| 2023 | JS Bach | St John Passion |
| Elgar | Dream of Gerontius | |
| Handel | Let Their Celestial Trumpets All Unite | |
| Monteverdi | Beatus Vir | |
| JS Bach | Lobet Den Herrn | |
| Purcell | My Heart is Inditing | |
| Vaughan Williams | Three Shakespeare Songs | |
| Shearing | Songs and Sonnets | |
| Barber | Agnus Dei | |
| Rheinberger | Abenlied | |
| Gjeilo | Ubi Caritas | |
| Rachmaninoff | Vespers | |
| Handel | Messiah | |
| 2022 | Vaughan Williams | Toward the Unknown Region |
| Vaughan Williams | Lord, Thou hast been our refuge | |
| Vaughan Williams | Te Deum in G | |
| Vaughan Williams | Dona Nobis Pacem | |
| Parry | I Was Glad | |
| Walton | Te Deum | |
| Purcell | I Was Glad | |
| Gibbons | O Clap Your Hands | |
| Willan | O Lord, Our God | |
| Howells | Behold O God our Defender | |
| Handel | Four Coronation Anthems | |
| Finzi | Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice | |
| Chilcott | St John Passion |
Last year saw the Chorus take a new direction, performing four pieces of acapella music, including the hour long Rachmaninoff Vespers. Our audience certainly enjoyed the music!
" It was a delight to hear such different music in the Cathedral - it took me straight back to St. Petersburg."
"The music really suited the atmosphere in the Cathedral, and the music was wonderful and well sung."
"Simply sublime."
"Glorious. We didn't expect to stay right to the end but we did because the music was so wonderful."
"Thank you for a sublime evening."

