Come and sing with us
Solihull Choral Society is a friendly choir of around 60 singers, from teenagers to octogenarians, who share a love of the great choral repertoire. We perform four concerts a year – Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Bach, Duruflé, Vaughan Williams – with professional soloists and orchestras such as the Sinfonia of Birmingham, mostly in the fine acoustic of Solihull School Chapel. If you want to sing big works properly, with an orchestra in front of you and a real audience behind them, this is the choir for that.
Try us out first. Just turn up to a Wednesday rehearsal and ask for Sue Lawrence, our membership secretary, who will look after you and find you a seat next to someone experienced in your voice part. Or use the form below and we’ll expect you. You’re welcome to sing with us for a few weeks before deciding whether to join.
What to expect at your first rehearsal
- When: Wednesdays, 7.30–9.30pm, September to June, with a coffee break halfway.
- Where: David Turnbull Music School, Solihull School, 793 Warwick Road, Solihull B91 3DJ – free parking on the school site.
- Music: we’ll loan you a score for the evening; members hire scores for a small charge.
- Experience: about a quarter of our members describe themselves as inexperienced musicians, and many use rehearsal recordings alongside the score to learn their part. You don’t need to sight-read – you need to enjoy singing and be willing to practise.
- Bring: a pencil, a bottle of water, and no nerves – everyone was new once.
Auditions
A few weeks after you start, you’ll have a short audition with our Musical Director. It’s friendly and informal – its purpose is to place you in the part that suits your voice and to make sure you’ll be comfortable with the demands of our repertoire.
The Choral Society provides bursaries to young singers who commit to the choir. The standard of singing these teenagers achieve augurs well for the future of choral singing. The Society should be congratulated for initiating such a scheme.
Malcolm Ross
Young Singers Bursary
Getting young people into choral singing is a very important part of what we do. New and young singers are the future of choral singing so we are putting our money where our mouth is!
We run an annual bursary scheme for young singers. The bursaries are awarded in September and last for one year, although you may apply in consecutive years.
Applicants should be in full-time education, and under 21 years old (on September 1st in the year you are applying) and there are usually a number of bursaries on offer.
If you are successful you receive
• Free membership of Solihull Choral Society.
• £100 per annum, paid in instalments after each concert. There are normally 4 concerts a year.
• The possibility of solo work, and the chance to build your musical C. V.
• Free musical scores
In return we ask that you attend regular rehearsals, and to sing at all concerts.
Choir Social Life
A few times a year a social event is planned – these are often double up as fund raisers. Examples have included quizzes, concerts, barn dances and every year there is a main choir social event at the end of the season. These events are well attended and are thoroughly enjoyable.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals start at the beginning of September and continue until the summer concert in June, with breaks of about three weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter. There are usually four concerts a year, which take place in various venues in and around Solihull. The rehearsal starts with a short warm-up, and then it’s heads down for some hard, but enjoyable, work. We break for coffee part way through, which is a good opportunity for getting to know each other and catching up on news. There is also an afternoon rehearsal on the day of the concert, at the concert venue.
Now and again, we need to use an alternative venue, and this is usually St. Alphege Junior School, Widney Manor Rd, Solihull B91 3JG.