A brief history of the Manchester Chorale

The Manchester Chorale was founded and funded by the BBC in 1979, but for the last 15 years has been totally independent. Laura Jellicoe was appointed Musical Director of The Manchester Chorale in 2002 replacing its founding conductor, Jeffrey Wynn Davies. Laura was herself succeeded by Jill Henderson-Wild in 2006. Over the years the Chorale has become one of the most accomplished and versatile amateur choirs in Britain.

The choir has always aimed to achieve high standards and that is reflected in competition successes at Sligo, Worcester and Bangor(NI); and of course the Manchester Chorale has become one of the best known names in the Sainsbury's Choir of the Year Competition with regular televised appearances in the final stages of the competition.

In addition to Choir of the Year, over the years the Chorale has made a number of other diverse television appearances. These include providing a chorus of Elvis Presleys for a Granada TV game show, and a church choir for an episode of the BBC's Comedy-Drama "Common as Muck". In 1998 the Chorale broadcast live from the chapel of Lyme Hall for a Sunday morning magazine "Lent in the Park", and in 2001 was the chosen choir for a special edition of BBC1's "Songs of Praise".

Other highlights include tours to Norway, France and Germany, and performances supporting Wilhelmena Fernandez and José Carreras. But for many members the most memorable performance of all came in September 1995 at the (then new) Manchester Arena in front of 15,000 people, supporting Luciano Pavarotti.

Despite the prestige and excitement of many of these occasions the Manchester Chorale remains a down-to-earth, friendly choir which enjoys as much as anything its famous "TYFTM" style concert - so named after the Abba song "Thank You For The Music", which featured regularly in early programmes. This is the opportunity to put on an evening of entertainment in a smaller venue for a local audience - often in aid of a charity or other good cause - which is invariably warmly received. See Booking for more information about booking the Manchester Chorale.

A separate page is devoted to the Chorale's 21st birthday season which ended with a reunion weekend at the beginning of July 2001. The reminiscences of one of the founder members and a table listing some of the memorable events from over the years give an excellent idea of the versatility, achievements and friendship of which we are justifiably proud.

Please find below a table of some of the main events that have taken place over the years: