About Eltham Choral Society

Eltham Choral Society was founded about 100 years ago, the precise date is not known, though a performance of Haydn's Creation was reviewed in 1908. Over the years, it has established itself as a choir with a wide ranging repertoire. It is independent, affiliated to Making Music, is a registered charity, and is supported by members' subsciptions. A mixed choir of about 90 voices, it admits singers without formal audition, though occasional voice appraisals are held. Bursaries are available for two young singers; currently the age range is from 18 to 70 plus. The choir is directed by Peter Asprey. Past directors have included Thomas Wilson, Nicholas Jenkins and Miriam Coe

Rehearsals, with Peter Asprey and Charles Andrews, rehearsal accompanist, are held at St Luke's Church, Westmount Road, Eltham, SE9 on Thursday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30 (normally during academic term time).

Concerts are usually given locally three or four times a year, with orchestra and /or piano or organ accompaniment, with professional soloists for major choral works. Additionally, by invitation,the choir gives concerts in country churches. In April 2000, in Eastling, near Faversham, the choir gave a preview performance of Edmund Jolliffe's commission for the choir, Missa cum Jubilo, prior to its premier at Holy Trinity Church, Eltham. Foreign tours have resulted in concerts in Chartres and Paris , in Belgium, Amsterdam and more recently in the Cathedrals of Barcelona and Girona and in Florence and Montecatini, and most recently in 2010 to Normandy

Recent joint ventures with Blackheath Choir have included Tippett's A Child Of Our Time , Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, a concert performance of Verdi's Nabucco and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony. In 2005, ECS participated,with a number of other choral societies, in the joint commission of The Kestrel Road by Peter Maxwell Davies and the Society has recently commissioned a work by Bob Chilcott for performance in 2008 as part of the celebration of 100 years since that first-known review. In March 2011 another joint venture with the Choir of J.A.G.S. and the Choir and Orchestra of Blackheath Halls resulted in three performances of Verdi's Requiem.

Eltham Choral Society, their then conductor: Nicholas Jenkins (right), Accompanist: Chris Eastwood (left), together with Bob Chilcott (centre). The concert on 29th March, 2008 in which the world première of Bob's work, "Aesop's Fables", commissioned by Eltham Choral Society to mark their centenary year, was performed. photograph by Brian Morris

Eltham Choral Society with conductor, Peter Asprey, rehearsing the Verdi Requiem at St Luke's Church, February 2011 photograph by Ken Timbers See more photos in this series at Ken's web-site

Other Works performed in recent years include:

Orff:	Carmina Burana		Brahms:	Requiem
Mozart:	Mass in C Minor		Jenkins:	The Armed Man
Bach:	St John Passion		Dvorak:	Mass in D
Rutter:	Magnificat		Haydn:	Creation
Haydn:	The Seasons		Verdi:	Requiem
Bernstein:	Chichester Psalms		Byrd:	Mass for Four Voices
Vivaldi:	Gloria		Britten:	St Nicholas
Rutter:	Gloria		Mendelssohn:	Elijah

.....plus works by such composers as: Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Fauré, Monteverdi, Pergolesi, Poulenc, Stamford, Purcell, Handel, Beethoven, Bruckner, Gorecki, Mathias, Schubert, Vaughan Williams, plus the 'lighter side of ECS' (songs from the shows)...

The choir is governed under a formal constitution and a statement of account and annual report is published each year.

ELTHAM CHORAL SOCIETY CONSTITUTION

The current version of the Society's Constitution formally adopted in 1997 is available in Adobe Acrobat format

Download Constitution Document in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format

To view PDF format files you will need an Adobe Acrobat Viewer, Download the latest version from Adobe's Web Site Now! This is distributed absolutely free of charge.

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ELTHAM CHORAL SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010/2011

The Society's Statement of Accounts and Annual Report are available in Adobe Acrobat format. the documents are posted following adoption at the Society's Annual General Meeting, normally held in November following the end of its financial year on the 31st August.

	Download Annual Report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format			To view PDF format files you will need an Adobe Acrobat Viewer, Download the latest version from Adobe's Web Site Now! This is distributed absolutely free of charge.
	Download Statement of Accounts in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format

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