Romsey Choral Society

Welcome to Romsey Choral Society

News
We are delighted to bring you the details of our first live concert for many months!

Saturday 3rd July 2021 in Romsey Abbey

We can't wait to be able to sing in person together in this wonderful setting as the opening event in the Romsey festival, and we hope that you will be able to join us.

We will be following all the national and local advice to ensure that our singers and our audience members can enjoy the event safely.

Tickets are available via choir members, or you can book online via the 'Music in Romsey' ticketing system hosted by ticketsource. Click here to go to the site and then click on the ticket symbol against the relevant concert.

Tickets can also be obtained from Romsey Heritage and Visitor Centre, 13, Church Street, Romsey (next door to the Post Office). Telephone bookings are accepted. Telephone: 01794 512987. Opening times Mon - Sat - 10am - 5pm .

Romsey Choral Society

Welcome to Romsey Choral Society which is recognised as one of the best choirs in Southern England. Please have a look around this site to discover more about the choir. The season's repertoire is listed in the Concert Diary pages. For our latest choir newsletter click here.

Rehearsals usually take place every Tuesday at 7.30pm at the Romsey Methodist Church, The Hundred, Romsey, SO51 8BZ .

We have been using Zoom for rehearsals but we have now booked the Chandler's Ford Methodist church for the rehearsal leading up to the concert on 3rd July. This is a huge space and enables us to meet safely with sufficient social distancing.at present.

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Want to hear us sing?

Click below to see and hear a short YouTube excerpt from Visions of Heaven - Saturday 28th March 2015

Hear an excerpt

Summer 2020 recording

Christmas 2020 recording

Click here to read our latest concert review

Concert reviews

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Richard Pearce
RCS Musical Director

Richard took up the post of Musical Director in September 2019 as we transitioned to our next stage of development, building on six brilliant years under the baton of Jamie W. Hall.

Richard Pearce was organ scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in music. He is now a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, coaching singers and instrumentalists for careers in opera and the concert platform, and is a trustee of the Josephine Baker Trust, which supports young soloists at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London.

Richard is busy as a conductor, pianist and organist with professional choirs. He records and broadcasts regularly with the BBC Singers. He recently conducted works by James MacMillan, Judith Bingham, Britten and Roxanna Panufnik for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. As organist and pianist he has performed with many of the UK’s best-known choral conductors, including David Hill, Stephen Cleobury, Paul Spicer, Bob Chilcott and Sofi Jeannin. Richard has a long-standing association with the Royal Choral Society, and performs with them several times a year at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Richard has been musical director of the Waverley Singers, based in Farnham, Surrey, since 2009. During this time, he has led the choir in some 40 performances. Particular highlights have been concerts in Guildford Cathedral of Monteverdi Vespers, Verdi Requiem, Beethoven Mass in C, Brahms Schicksalslied, Mozart Requiem and Bach Magnificat in D. Alongside these major works he has introduced new and varied repertoire to the choir, including commissions by composer Will Todd, and many newly-written compositions.

Richard is regular organist with the Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestras in London; with them he has performed with many inspirational conductors including established maestri Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Andrew Davis, Sakari Oramo, Marin Alsop and Ed Gardner, as well as up-and-coming stars such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Valentina Peleggi. Recent performances have included the solo organ part in the European première of Unsuk Chin’s Le Chant des Enfants des Étoiles with Esa-Pekka Salonen in London’s Royal Festival Hall, and a tour of China performing Saint-Säens organ symphony with Vladimir Ashkenazy. He also performs regularly in Promenade concerts and recordings, including at the Last Night of the Proms to a worldwide television audience.

Richard frequently conducts and plays for services at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster and at the Houses of Parliament.

Light at the end of the tunnel!

It's been a long time coming, but we are now planning for a real live in-person concert for the first time since the end of 2019!

We had to cancel the concert which we had planned for March 2020, at the beautiful church of St Cross in Winchester, due to the onset of the COVD 19 virus.

But we are delighted to announce that it was merely postponed, and we can now bring you the music which we had prepared as our contribution to the Romsey Festival 2021.

Hilary Mitchell
RCS Admin Secretary